The Holy Cross First-Year Program is an exciting, innovative program for first-year students interested in exploring the connections between learning and living--between what happens inside the classroom and the world outside the classroom. The program brings together 160 first-year students and a group of distinguished teachers from a variety of disciplines. Together, you will explore some of the basic intellectual and ethical questions that are of enduring importance to each of us as members of the human community and challenge us at the beginning of a new century.

Each year a new faculty group designs the year's seminars and activities around the theme of the program. By tradition, it incorporates Tolstoy's question How, Then, Shall We Live? The question is the heart and soul of the FYP and it is a question central to the educational mission of Holy Cross as a Jesuit, liberal arts college. Whether one is a student making college-course and life choices, or a faculty member grappling with the demands of family and professional life, this is the question everyone in the FYP asks and works to answer.

How will you explore this question in the FYP? In a variety of ways, including:

• the FYP seminars - a year-long classroom experience with 15 other FYP students and a distinguished member of the faculty;



• the Common Readings - each semester every seminar shares three texts that bring out different aspects of the theme of the program and force us to come to terms with fundamental questions about human existence;



• the Co-Curricular Events - students and faculty participate in a rich variety of co-curricular events that include films, concerts, lectures, excursions, retreats, and residence-hall discussions; 



• and the Hanselman Experience - FYP students live in Hanselman Hall, a centrally located "hill" residence facility, and have a unique opportunity to build a community together.

"I've learned how we can still remain our individual selves and be part of a larger whole."

"The sense of togetherness and general friendliness that this program was able to generate was fantastic."