• students standing for a group photo

    2015-16 Broncos FIRST students with their course facilitator.

  • students working together at a table

    Broncos FIRST students meeting with a community mentor.

  • students working together on creating posters

    Broncos FIRST Students Working on a Project During the Spring Semester Welcome Back Celebration

Hello Future Bronco!

Thank you for checking out the Broncos FIRST webpage! Broncos FIRST is a program available to first-year students only and is designed to help you get off to a great start here at Western. The program has two parts, a year-long first year experience course and a mentoring experience. You will be led by a course facilitator and a student co-facilitator, who was in your shoes one year ago: new to the college experience and ready to get connected to all that WMU and Kalamazoo has to offer! Broncos FIRST is not just a class, it is an experience that will set you apart from your other classmates by tackling issues such as:

  •  Transitioning to college.
  •  Handling finances (day to day and financial aid).
  •  Balancing academic and social activities.
  •  Navigating and accessing resources at WMU.
  •  Non-academic surprises and challenges (commuting, roommates!, talking with professors).
  •  Career preparation (professionalism, landing an internship or job).

If you don’t remember anything else, remember the folks who work with the Broncos FIRST program are here for you! We want to help you learn all the things you “didn’t know” that you “need to know” so that you will start off your college education headed in the right direction. Everyone who works for Broncos FIRST (from the office staff to the class leaders) believes you have the ability to be successful at WMU and given the right tools you will be!

Take a look at the other pages on this site and feel free to contact me if you have questions or want to learn more!

Stop by our info table during orientation to say hi! We will be in the dining hall, look for the gold tablecloth!

Go Broncos!

Monica Liggins-Abrams, MPA 
Associate Director