Jan. 2024 Department Debrief: STEP

January 23, 2024

Second-year Transformational Experience Program (STEP)

To contact STEP: Attend an information session, call (614) 247-7837, email step@osu.edu or visit the STEP website

Department Debrief is a monthly article from the Parent and Family Relations office dedicated to helping family members and supporters better understand the services, opportunities and support offered by particular offices for students.

This month, our team met with the Second-year Transformational Experience Program (STEP) to discuss how students can further develop their personal and professional leadership skills, receive financial coaching, faculty mentorship and real-world experiences and design an approved project for a fellowship if desired.

1.) The STEP Expo starts in 30 seconds, but your friend asks for you to explain STEP to them before it starts. How would you explain STEP to your friend?

The Second-year Transformational Experience Program is dedicated to providing sophomores at Ohio State the opportunity to receive faculty mentorship, financial education and a $2,000 fellowship towards an approved project, Julie Schultz, program director for STEP and strategic student initiatives, said.

“[STEP] is focused on personal and professional development, mentorship from a faculty member and a hands-on learning project, which is what students present on at the STEP Expo,” Schultz said.

STEP prioritizes student development, growth and experiential learning by offering a fellowship they can put towards a project that aligns with their interests, academics pursuits or career aspirations. Receiving the STEP fellowship, however, is optional, so students are not required to submit a project proposal and can participate in the program regardless.

Roughly 2,900 students will participate in STEP on the Columbus campus, but STEP is an option for students at Ohio State’s regional and Agricultural Technical Institute campuses as well, Schultz said.

STEP began as a program dedicated to helping support second-year students after construction of the North Campus Residential District and the second year on-campus living requirement came into effect, Schultz said.

Later, STEP evolved to additionally support commuting students and all second-year students.

“STEP, with mentorship, personal and professional development opportunities and ultimately the learning experience of the signature project, is designed to help students in those middle years of college when there is a lot going on,” Schultz said. “It’s helpful on a big campus to have more resources to help navigate what Ohio State has to offer.”

STEP additionally hosts information sessions for students to attend, Schultz said. Student ambassadors or professional staff will host these meetings to provide more information on the program, its expectations and past participant’s experiences.

2.) What are the requirements a student must meet to receive STEP funding?

The process of receiving a STEP fellowship requires first-year students to state their interest in the program through their housing reselection form in February, Chelsea Black, manager of academic program services for STEP, said. Students not planning to live on campus their second year will instead receive emails from STEP notifying them of the opportunity.

In March, students will receive an email from STEP to confirm their interest in participating, Black said. Eventually in July, students will be able to select the date, time and mode of their weekly STEP meetings.

Starting their second-year, students must attend weekly STEP meetings during the fall semester with a faculty mentor, attend a STEP Expo, complete a financial coaching session and an online financial wellness course and attend at least two Professional Development Co-Curricular sessions, Black said.

For participants who want to utilize the STEP fellowship and participate in a Signature Project, they must also finalize and submit their project proposal, Black said. After their project is completed, they must write a reflection and share their own experience at a STEP Expo.

Weekly STEP Cohort meetings are with roughly 15 other students and a faculty mentor and are offered in-person, online or in a hybrid format, Black said. Within these meetings, students discuss their STEP project and a variety of topics designed to develop their financial literacy, personal growth and goals, potential career paths and more.

“These weekly meetings are about an hour and a half and students are able to select a meeting time leading up to their second year that works for their schedules,” Black said.

The STEP Expo is an opportunity for current participants to learn about the experiences of former STEP students and potential projects they could use their fellowship for, according to the STEP website. One occurs in both the fall and spring semester.

“[The STEP Expo] allows them to talk to their peers about the projects they’ve done which is helpful as they are planning their own projects and [discovering] what they’re interested in and what that may entail,” Black said.

Partnering with Scarlet and Gray Financial within the Student Wellness Center, STEP additionally requires students to participate in a group coaching session and an iGrad course to acquire financial literacy skills, Black said.

By the end of their sophomore year, STEP participants must also attend two Professional Development Co-Curricular sessions of their choice and write an associated reflection.

For students who wish to utilize the STEP fellowship, participants must work with their faculty mentor to produce a proposal of their project during spring semester, which must fall into one of six categories: a creative and artistic endeavor, education aboard, leadership, internship, service-learning or undergraduate research, Schultz said.

“These [categories] are types of learning that nationally, have a lot of research around them and that we know are important to students and really significant to their experience, both with their personal and professional development. A STEP Signature Project is an experience that will be meaningful after graduation,” Schultz said.

Past examples of creative and artistic endeavors include learning how to play an instrument or taking sewing lessons, Schultz said. Internships, Buck-I-SERV trips and EMT certifications are additional examples of former projects in other categories.

Once finalized, participants submit their proposal to the STEP Dashboard online, according to the STEP website. If a student’s proposal changes, they must resubmit a Project Change Request.

Students have 15 months to complete their STEP project (from May 1 to Aug. 15), according to the STEP website. Once the students project is completed, they have 30 days to submit a reflection. Students will also have to participate in a STEP Expo to share their project with new participants the following academic year.

3.) Can fully funded students apply for STEP?

Students who are fully funded or receive financial aid that covers the cost of attendance are often the students with the most financial need, Schultz said.

“One of the goals with the fellowship is we don’t want finances to be a barrier and reason a student can’t participate in a really important hands-on-learning experience,” Schultz said.

Around 15% of STEP participants are fully funded, Schultz said. For those students, they cannot receive a scholarship above their full cost of attendance.

Schultz said, however, STEP works directly with these students to discover other ways in which the fellowship can be utilized, such as study abroad, which adds to a student’s cost of attendance and provides more room for scholarship funds or doing a program that has a participation fee the fellowship can directly pay for, such as a Buck-I-SERV trip.

“We have great partners in financial aid that work directly with those students,” Schultz said.

Schultz said STEP additionally holds webinars for fully funded students and has a designated section of their handbook that provides more information.

4.) If you could offer parents, families and their students interested in STEP one word of advice, what would it be?

STEP works to support second-year students and ensure they receive exposure to the available resources they have at Ohio State, experience opportunities beyond their academics and obtain faculty connections, Black said.

“Being able to pair them with a faculty mentor they get to work with one-on-one during their second year and beyond really helps strengthen their community here at Ohio State and hopefully help them down the road,” Black said.

Providing students with the support to explore their interests, the opportunity to participate in an activity of their choosing and receive financial funding in the process is the heart of STEP, Black said.

Many universities work to provide students with a variety of hands-on-learning opportunities, but Ohio State also works to provide guidance and funding, so there are no obstacles students must overcome to obtain such experiences, Schultz said.

Encouraging the importance of mentorship and community amongst students is paramount for a good college experience, Schultz said.

Motivating your student to explore the various types of experiences and opportunities available to inform student growth, real-world knowledge and decisions is essential, Black said.

Brooke Tacsar
Student Assistant
Parent and Family Relations