For the past three years, the University You program—a signature partnership between Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) and Belmont University—has helped local high school students chart a new path toward a brighter future by demystifying the college experience.
University You focuses on rising juniors and seniors in the academic middle who are first-generation college students and need support to envision themselves continuing their education after high school. Intended to be a two-year commitment, students attend consecutive sessions and complete a total of six credit hours after two summers.
“This initiative is really well aligned to what Belmont is and wants to be,” said College of Education Dean Dr. Jim McIntyre. “With whole-person formation, we are not only providing a group of students with an extraordinary academic experience, but we also have an entire series of non-academic experiences that the Office of Student Success and Flourishing has developed.”
The program has seen tremendous growth since its inception and this year welcomed 34 rising juniors and seniors, representing all zoned Metro Nashville Public High Schools. The two-week intensive invites students to campus for an immersive university experience where they live in a residence hall, eat in the campus cafeteria and participate in campus programming, giving students a holistic picture of college life.
Leading the charge is Assistant Professor of Global Leadership Studies and Honors Dr. Mary Ellen Pethel. Interdisciplinary to her core, this is her second year serving as program director. “To lead a group faculty who are teaching high school students where the whole point is to be interdisciplinary… this is academic collaboration at its finest,” she said.
Previously teaching at the high school and community college level, she brings to the table all the right pieces to bridge together a university experience while knowing the skillsets and experiences these students would bring with them.
“For me, a program like University You isn’t simply interdisciplinary, but also collaboration with other people that pulls a thread all the way through,” said Pethel. “These trends are the future of education—collaborative, active learning—and that’s what these students are doing.”
Along with Pethel, instructors teach two courses together—Living in a Global, Digital World for juniors and Data Storytelling for seniors—which cover humanities, art, design and STEM. University You instructors include:
- Dr. Bryon Balint, Professor, Business Systems & Analytics
- Dr. Heather Finch, Assistant Professor, English
- Dr. Tisha Gaines, Assistant Professor, Computer Science
- Dr. Peter Kuryla, Associate Professor of History
- Dr. Michael Oliver, Assistant Professor of Psychology
- Dr. Emmanuel Saka, Assistant Professor of Experiential Graphic Design
For each class, a lead instructor teaches for the hour with others in a supporting role, creating a team-teaching environment.
“There was careful thought and planning that went into building these courses, but when we get into the class, we’re able to build these connections [to various subjects] more organically than you can imagine,” said Pethel. “When you have faculty who are willing to learn from each other, that’s when you get true interdisciplinary classrooms.”
The first year of the program for juniors is spent learning how to think critically and how to participate and engage in class discussion. The second year takes the foundation built previously and seniors learn how to ethically use data to tell a story. Both years, students dig into complex problems that face the local community and provide tangible solutions based on research and data analytics.
“It’s a neat learning progression,” said McIntyre. “Like college students, they have to find the balance of how to use their time and how to do that wisely. There’s no one looking over their shoulder telling them when to do their reading or when to do their homework. At the same time, there’s lots of time for great social interactions and conversations.”
While classroom time filled a majority of the schedule, students had plenty of time for outside learning and recreation. The cohorts took field trips to Fort Negley, the Adventure Science Center and the Nashville Public Library Civil Rights Room; participated in campus programming for Juneteenth; and attended a Belmont student film screening of “Exit 207: The Soul of Nashville” at the National Museum of African American Music.
Pethel shared how gratifying it is to see how students grow from year to year and how they’ve matured since last summer. “We’re giving them this new set of skills and experiences that, frankly, has raised the bar for them. It’s going to have a positive experience on their junior and senior years.”
She went on to share conversations of students asking questions like, “what was your senior year of high school like?” or “how was your first year of college?”
University You identifies students who were not planning for college and puts them in a position where they can envision themselves continuing their education. In fact, two 2022 program alumni are heading back to Belmont this fall as recipients of the Bell Tower Scholarship, largely due to their experience in University You.
Giving students options and opportunities, University You helps students grow both the skills and confidence necessary to envision themselves in college.
“It’s a significant investment for both Belmont and MNPS, but the impact is substantial,” said McIntyre. “This program is going to help students—whatever their pathway and wherever they go—to be even more successful moving forward, and we’re really proud of that.”