Sophomore Success Initiative
Reimagine all that your second year can be with courses, activities, mentorship, and research options that help facilitate real-world experiences and even internship opportunities.
A New Approach to Sophomore Year
At St. Lawrence, the phrase “sophomore slump” isn’t in our vocabulary because we support you through every stage of your academic journey. We see your sophomore year as a time to build on the foundational skills you learned during your first year with hands-on learning, career exploration, and creative research projects.
Use your sophomore year to let your curiosity flourish as you explore academic passions and come closer to declaring your major, tap into the alumni network and begin forming lifelong connections with fellow Laurentians, and hone the leadership and advocacy skills you’ll need to make a difference, big or small, in the communities that matter to you.
Unique Opportunities for Sophomores
When it comes to your second year of college, there are endless possibilities and all of them can set you up for future academic and professional success.
Dive deeper into your academic interests with interactive seminars that will build on the skills you strengthened during your first year.
Some of these options include community-based learning components that allow you to enrich your understanding of course material by immersing yourself in our North Country community. Others encourage you to learn by doing--whether that’s investigating and writing your own news stories or learning how to curate and present a collection of artifacts.
Past seminars include:
- Somatic Transformation: From Self-Care to Social Justice
- On the Move? The Physical Activity of America’s Children
- African American Art and Visual Culture
- Does Money Make the World Go Round?
- Parks and People
Investigate and understand the digital platforms transforming our society today with a digital scholar fellowship.
Digital fellowships help sophomores explore creative uses of digital technologies while reflecting on the impact they have on our world today. There’s really no limit on what that might mean for your project--whether you’re interested in coding, archiving, drafting, or map-making.
As a sophomore, you can secure funding to support research, creative projects, volunteer efforts, or internship opportunities to take place the summer between your sophomore and junior year at St. Lawrence.
The interactive project you devise could draw on a topic, theme, or region that sparked your interest in class or integrate a co-curricular activity that you’re passionate about. Throughout the course of your project or internship, you’ll work closely with a faculty member and collaborate with community partners.
These grants are intended to help you expand your research skills, grow your network, hone your leadership abilities, and build confidence as you work to positively impact the communities you’re a member of.
Student Stories
The Saints Start Challenge Grant program enabled Noah Neverette ’21 to intern at the Adirondack Sky Center and Observatory. He led informal science education classes for youth in the community during the week and hosted stargazing events on Friday nights.
Sophia Alvarez ’21 used her grant to conduct ethnographic research on Garifuna communities in Guatemala, Honduras and Belize. She learned how their culture is reflected in the education of their children through interviews with educators and parents. She also had the opportunity to connect with Garifuna anthropologists, psychologists, and sociologists throughout her research process.
A desire to learn more about coding and programming drove Carmen Libombo ’23, an international economics and multi-language double major, to become a digital scholar fellow. She’s passionate about furthering the goals of sustainable development, and hopes to leverage her digital skills to create innovative solutions in her home country of Mozambique.
Matthew Derouchie ’23 enrolled in a Sophomore Seminar to explore his interest in the economics major at St. Lawrence. Throughout the course, he learned about the role of the Federal Reserve, discussed monetary policy decisions in real time, and had opportunities to hone his networking skills while conducting informal interviews with alumni.
“The digital scholarship fellowship helped me get to know classmates and be inspired by their career paths while finding common ground in our experience with technology. Now, I feel comfortable using different web design formats and resources.”
Fernanda Leon Canseco
2022
Government and global studies double major
Get Career Ready
Sophomore year is an excellent time to continue exploring career interests and internship opportunities, building your professional network, and honing professional skills like writing a cover letter or interviewing.
Study Off Campus
At St. Lawrence, 61% of students study off campus at least once. As you figure out where your academic interests are alongside your advisors and mentors, you can simultaneously plan any off-campus adventures you wish to embark on.