By providing upcoming Penn State students with on-campus college experience, the Learning Edge Academic Program, LEAP for short, is a summer program hosted by the main campus of Pennsylvania State University to help adjust their new students to university life. LEAP is open to any first year student who is offered admission to the Penn State main campus.
Each student selects two classes, that either fulfill general or degree-specific requirements, and completes these classes before the fall semester begins.
The chosen classes don’t have to tie into their major, they can just fill in required general credits for their degrees.
According to college counselor Tom Overberger, taking these summer classes can be beneficial to students.
“Academically, it prepares you. The lighter load of courses eases you into college classes,” Overberger said.
This program also earns each participant six credits towards their degree. With the average Penn State degree requiring 120 credits, LEAP students can get a nice head start on working towards their degree.
Although the credits definitely help students’ academic careers, according to Overberger, the social aspect of arriving early is the best advantage of LEAP .
According to Overberger, it’s a great idea to start with a small group of students as opposed to showing up on the first day and there being tens of thousands of people on campus.
“Socially and environmentally it’s just a big advantage to you,” Overberger said. “Meeting people and easing into the situation as opposed to moving in on day one [of the fall semester].”
For the most part, students do not regret spending their summer completing the program.
“Initially some students are skeptical because they lose a portion of their summer,” Overberger said, “but I’ve never heard a student regret doing the summer session.”
Every student participating in LEAP is placed into a group called a “pride” which is made up of up to 24 total students.
Each pride also has a designated peer mentor who is specifically chosen by Penn State staff to be a good role model.