2024 Video Transcript

Speaker 1: [Music] Self-discovery… it is at the heart of the University of Maine’s Research Learning Experience, or RLE.

Speaker 2: The research opportunities offered by this course are, like, just unparalleled. Other schools don’t offer such an opportunity at basically the freshman level coming in straight from high school you generally you’re in these lectures with 200 other people. You are not going to be talking to very many of them, you are not only making connections with students but you’re also talking to older UMaine students, TAs, MLAs, and also faculty you will interact with many faculty here at UMaine.

Speaker 1: Even before classes begin, through RLE, first-year students are embracing bold adventures and meeting other students in a no pressure environment.

Speaker 2: To be coming across the US to this class, like scared, timid, shy, and when you’re in this group of just 15 people and a professor or two it really lets you sort of interact with people in a more safer environment.

Speaker 1: RLE sets incoming freshmen up for success and introduces them to learning in a completely different way.

Speaker 3: Essentially it’s a way for first year students to, you know, get a hands-on research from their first year and not have to wait until the end. You know, you’re not stuck in a classroom all day, reading books, writing essays, it’s more engaging so you’re doing work outside of the classroom.

Speaker 4: I now know kids in my other classes because of this class I am able to go in my other classes and see my partners that I worked with and go get lunch with them after. It’s more of a community building doing research, it helps you build friendships that you otherwise wouldn’t have built.

Speaker 1: The university-wide initiative is supported by generous donations from the Harold Alfond Foundation and others and provides an immersive experience through skill building and hands-on learning.

Speaker 3: These skills are transferable to any degree and to any field of study, you know, and to any career path after graduation. So whether you want to be an engineer or an artist, it doesn’t matter, we all need those fundamental, you know, skills in our research learning experiences, you know, provide those skills and emphasize those skills.

Speaker 1: RLE gives new Black Bears the chance to meet and get to know other students in their area of study while helping them to understand the basics of a research and exploratory mindset, preparing them, as a team, for success. Giving them access to world-class faculty and the best opportunities UMaine can offer them all while building their confidence.

Speaker 2: You can build really strong connections with these people and obviously those friend groups will grow as time goes on.

Speaker 1: UMaine’s Research Learning Experience promoting success from day one.