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A "Senior Launch" could foster critical skills like curiosity, creativity, and communication.

Lifelong learning fuels success; a Senior Launch emphasizes risk-taking and imagination.

Emotional intelligence and networking are key aspects of the Senior Launch experience.

As a college professor for over 30 years, I’ve watched the hyper-fetishization of the first-year experience. Do colleges and universities not also have an ethical responsibility to students, families, and the larger community to offer just as much deep and thoughtful planning and programming for college seniors? I believe institutions should think much more seriously about instituting what I’m calling "the Senior Launch" as an infrastructure of support for seniors to bookend the college experience.

While there are some colleges claiming to be doing something of the sort, they’re often advertised as, “Need a credit? Take this.” Essentially, that’s cheap filler. What I’m speaking of is something immersive and deep that extends outward as students develop a sense of community beyond college when on their own.

Designed to socialize students into the entirety of the college experience, first-year courses serve as a sort of incubator: a space with intentionality for faculty and staff to help students chart their growth and ensure they’re on a good path to success. So too, Senior Launch courses would be a sort of socialization into life after college as well as an incubator for reflecting on the college journey, envisioning future growth, and creatively and strategically nurturing new opportunities, mentoring, and networking.

Supporting the Senior Transition

After having individuated from families of origin to adjust to living at college, students in their senior year are once again leaving and individuating, this........

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