Getting a head start

By Lethbridge Herald on August 30, 2025.

School of Liberal Education instructor Brendan Cummins teaches University of Lethbridge (UoL) Early Start Experience course to students Friday The course promotes student success by easing the transition from high school to university.

Joe Manio
Lethbridge Herald
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Going to university after high school can be stressful, even before students start their classes. For first-year students – many away from home for the first time, especially from small communities with populations less than the 8,000 at the University of Lethbridge – it can be overwhelming, like a fish going from a small pond directly into the ocean

The U of L’s Early Start Experience program is designed to relieve some of that stress. Open to first-year students in all bachelor’s degree programs, the course has been developed to promote student success and ease transition from high school to university, while giving credit towards their degrees. 

“The students get lots of time to explore campus, get connected to services and generally feel more comfortable with ULethbridge,” says School of Liberal Education instructor Brendan Cummins. “Students who take Early Start know what to expect when the semester starts, and they’re already in the rhythm of an academic year.”

First-year students are taking advantage of the program in record numbers. This year, the two-week, full-credit course has the most participants ever at close to 100 (almost doubles that of 2024).

“This was originally the concept of myself and Dr. Shelly Wismath,” says Cummins. “We put this together because we started to see a lot of students struggling in their first year.

“I teach a version of this course in the 12-week semester that’s meant to introduce students to this type of environment and we thought: ‘What would it be like if we gave students the opportunity to do this over that first two weeks before the regular semester started?’” 

Cummins says they we were amazed at the impact during the first we years, so they kept growing and expanding the program, trying new things to the point where students say that when they came out of the program, they were thankful for for getting a chance to experience the institution in a way that other students did not before class started.

Student Sherianna McBean is a biological sciences major from Calgary. 

“I really enjoyed the class,” says McBean. “I took a gap year so I wanted to have something to help me reconnect with my studies before actually starting my university classes. 

And because it gives me three credits, it helps me have less classes in the fall. So I’m not as stressed as I would be.” 

Addictions, counseling and psychology major and teaching assistant (TA) Kienna Grosul is from Edmonton, and took the class last year.

“I am from northeast of Edmonton, so I have moved quite a ways, and this was a great introduction to not only university life, but also being in Lethbridge,” says Grosul. “I feel it really prepared me for a lot of the anxiety and fear I was facing coming here, and it helped with my essay writing, getting to know people, and getting to know my professors. I recommend it to everybody.”

Grosul says that some of her anxiety stemmed from a sense of community. Coming from a very small town where she was related to many people and where everyone knew each other; and then moving to a place where she had no friends and knew no one was quite the shock. 

“In this course, I have made lifelong friends. I still talk to a lot of the people that I met in this class, and I think that is super important.”

Just like acclimating fish to the water before transferring them to a different aquarium tank, the Early Start Experience program acclimates students to academic life from a small pond to the bigger ocean at the UoL.

“I actually talk about that if a fish doesn’t know water, these students (are like fish who) don’t know the environments that they’ll be living in. They come here, and this is a new culture. We’re introducing them to a new way of thinking, living and working…for a lot of them, it is a culture shock. At least here, they get to do it with a lot of support.”

And because it gives me three credits, it helps me have less classes in the fall. So I’m not as stressed as I would be.” 

Addictions, counseling and psychology major and teaching assistant (TA) Kienna Grosul is from Edmonton, and took the class last year.

“I am from northeast of Edmonton, so I have moved quite a ways, and this was a great introduction to not only university life, but also being in Lethbridge,” says Grosul. “I feel it really prepared me for a lot of the anxiety and fear I was facing coming here, and it helped with my essay writing, getting to know people, and getting to know my professors. I recommend it to everybody.”

Grosul says that some of her anxiety stemmed from a sense of community. Coming from a very small town where she was related to many people and where everyone knew each other; and then moving to a place where she had no friends and knew no one was quite the shock. 

“In this course, I have made lifelong friends. I still talk to a lot of the people that I met in this class, and I think that is super important.”

Just like acclimating fish to the water before transferring them to a different aquarium tank, the Early Start Experience program acclimates students to academic life from a small pond to the bigger ocean at the UoL.

“I actually talk about that if a fish doesn’t know water, these students (are like fish who) don’t know the environments that they’ll be living in. They come here, and this is a new culture. We’re introducing them to a new way of thinking, living and working…for a lot of them, it is a culture shock. At least here, they get to do it with a lot of support.”