Residential College WELL Program

Additional Navigation

Our We Empower Learners and Leaders (WELL) Program gives you the confidence you need to succeed and helps you find your purpose, passion, and path to the future.

WELL touches every piece of your Bay Path journey. Here's how:

LEARNING WELL
The academic component of WELL, formed by four credit-bearing classes, ensures that you will have the knowledge you need to be a successful learner and leader.

LEADING WELL
Through a series of experiences both on campus and off, WELL provides you with the framework you need to develop your own leadership identity and potential.

WELL SUPPORTED
Our learning commons gives you access to comprehensive support systems that will help ensure your success in WELL.

WELL ADVISED
WELL provides you with a team of advisors: faculty advisor, major advisor, peer mentor, and career coach.

SHARING WELL
WELL is a common intellectual experience that is engaged by our entire Bay Path community. Regardless of where you are on your WELL journey, you will have someone to share it with.

ACHIEVING WELL
You will have numerous opportunities to earn recognition for your achievements in WELL.

PREPARING WELL
WELL seamlessly integrates personal, professional, and academic learning experiences that enable you to thrive at Bay Path and prepare you for a constantly changing world.

WELL Program Courses:

Have you ever thought about what your career aspirations are and the confidence you will need to get there? What communication and leadership skills do you bring to the table? These are some things you will learn about in your 4 WELL courses. You will be engaged in self-exploration that will be mapped to educational, career and life planning. Confidence building begins here as you define your personal brand and story, hone your leadership skills, and learn how to effect community-based change.

We Empower Learners & Leaders: WEL100

This is where you begin to connect your values with what you want to do: think of it as your passion and your potential. You’ll be introduced to the annual University Theme through the first-year read. The book will also be your springboard in the WEL100 class, where you start to develop your voice and style through discussions and writing. Your peer mentor, an upper-class student who has taken WEL100, will help you navigate the transition to all aspects of college life, an important first step in gaining confidence.

Present Yourself: WEL200

What is your story? Learn how to tell it in WEL200. Not just in a classroom, but on stage. WEL200 is taught in Mills Theatre, home of Bay Path's performing arts events. Your audience is your classmates and now it’s your turn to shine. You’ll be asked key questions such as “How do you present yourself?” “What is your body language?” “How do you relate to your listener?” These are skills you’ll be using in interviewing, networking, and presenting yourself professionally. It’s an essential part of building your confidence.

Strategies for Career & Personal Growth: WEL310

Are you ready for your career jump-start or graduate school? WEL310 prepares you for just that. You’ll participate in job shadowing, mentoring, internships, fieldwork, and practicums. Plan to take WEL310 in your sophomore or junior year prior to your internship or fieldwork, and the Sullivan Career and Life Planning Center (SCLP) will help you take concrete career steps through interviewing, resume building, LinkedIn profile, and a portable e-portfolio that represents who you are and what you’ve done. Throughout the course, you’ll be receiving feedback not just from the SCLP staff, but professionals in your prospective field. From lawyers to accountants to counselors, your connection will be strengthened. The WELL program has been building to this moment--you’ll start to own your confidence and your convictions.

WELL in Practice: WEL400

Leadership, critical thinking, research, writing, analysis, and public presentation, these are the skills that you will hone in WEL400. By the end you will be ready to blend all these skills you have learned during the WELL program with and apply them to a community service project. Empathy, respect, and tolerance are the core human values that are stressed. It’s what every good leader needs in order to confidently shine.

About the Program

Personal Support Team of Advisors

You and every other student will have a personal support team consisting of a full-time faculty or a staff member who is your advisor for your major, a WELL advisor, an upperclasswoman who will be your peer mentor, and a career coach from the Sullivan Life and Career Planning Center (SCLP). Think of them as your own "safety net" whom you can count on to advise you, teach you and assist you—and to catch you before you fall and congratulate you on a job well done.

Learn More About the SCLP

Learning to Lead

Through experiences that are woven into the classroom and community projects, you will be guided to develop your own definition of what is a leader, and what is your leadership style. Role models are important, too, and you’ll been able to attend Bay Path’s annual Women’s Leadership Conference (WLC) and listen to the stories of remarkable women leaders as Queen Latifah, Barbara Walters, Gloria Estefan, Soledad O’Brien, and Maya Angelou.

Learn More About the WLC

Digital Portfolio

Beginning in WEL100, you’ll create a digital portfolio that will document your growth as a learner and a leader. Think of it as a digital diary that will hold your research papers, reflections on job shadowing or internships, awards and recognitions, as well as photos and videos. By WEL400, your digital portfolio will be an album of your accomplishments that can be tailored to meet your particular career and educational needs. When you graduate with diploma in hand, your digital portfolio will be also be proof of all you have achieved at Bay Path.

Support Services

Through the state-of-the-art Learning Commons, academic support is available for all students in all courses at all times. You’ll also have access to a wide range of academic writing, learning, and study strategies through the assistance of peer tutors, workshops, and special sessions. Our goal is to provide you with resources and tools for academic success.

Contact Info

Gretchen Heaton

Dean of Career Development and Executive Director of the WELL Program

Bay Path University
588 Longmeadow Street
Longmeadow, MA 01106 413.565.1573 gheaton@baypath.edu