BGSU's Unique First Year Approach

BGeXperience is the University's values program. This most prominent educational program is designed to help all first-year students make a successful transition to college and jump start their college career. Through the BGeXperience values courses students develop relationships that connect them to the BGSU community, and they begin to develop skills that prepare them to succeed academically.

All first-year students are required to participate in the BGeX Introduction component that runs from Friday through Sunday before the beginning of the fall semester. Students come to campus for the BGeX Introduction before other classes begin. In small groups led by a faculty member who will be one of their teachers during the fall semester, and an upper-class peer mentor, students participate in lively, interactive discussions. The sessions are designed to help students learn about the expectations of academic work, introduce them to concepts useful in exploring values, discuss a common reading, and examine the role that values play in decision-making and in shaping attitudes and actions.

Because the BGeX Introduction is an integral part of the curriculum, there is no additional cost for participation in the program. Following the BGeX Introduction, students continue with the same small group, professor, and peer facilitator in the general education values course that they selected.

BGeX courses focus on values exploration that encourage students to reflect on their own values and understand the values associated with scholarship and academic study in college. It provides a foundation for the learning and critical examination of values in future courses. BGeXperience also helps first-year students make connections with faculty that are critical to academic success, and connects them with an upper-class student who can provide guidance and help them in adapting to the BGSU campus.

The BGeXperience Mission Statement:

Bowling Green State University is committed to preparing well-informed, engaged, principled citizens-reflective individuals who can think critically about the private and public choices they make, assess the ethical dimensions of those choices, and become active participants in their community, state, and nation.