The South African National Resource Centre’s (SANRC) annual First Year Experience (FYE) and Students in Transition conference was held in the Johannesburg suburb of Sandton, May 22-24. This annual gathering of higher education scholars and university administrators presented CSHPE students with a unique opportunity to engage with colleagues from all over South Africa.

Besides simply attending the conference, students also served as volunteers to help with registration and way-finding

It also represented the amazing chance for our students to present at an international conference!

Starting in January 2024, with the supervision of Dr. Charles Davis, CSHPE students decided upon the major themes for a workshop session, titled “Reimagining First-Year Student Success Through Contexts, Collaboration, and Curricular Development.” From this, three team presentations were developed:

*Reimagining Black First-Year Student Success in U.S. Higher Education

*Achieving First-Year Student Success Through Interdepartmental Collaboration

*Sociopolitical Pressures and curriculum Development in First-Year Teaching

An engaging question and answer session, facilitated by Dr. Davis, followed the presentations. The feedback from conference participants was glowing. Our students did great!

And, since CSHPE students presented on Day 1 of the conference, immediately following the Keynote address, the rest of the time could be spent enjoying breakout sessions and engaging with fellow attendees. Students also got a chance to kick up their heels during the lively gala dinner event.

We are grateful to SANRC Director, Dr. Annsilla Nyar, for the generous collaboration which made it possible for our students to add to their learning in this way.

–by Melinda Richardson, co-lead