The Talent Development Program would like to officially welcome the freshmen class of 2018! With over 300 new students successfully completing the Talent Development Program Summer 2014, their journey has begun. 338 students successfully completed the program (91.6%); over 50% of the students achieved a 3.0 GPA or higher, with 11 of those students earning a perfect 4.0. As a result over 130 students are eligible for the URI Honors Program.

With that said, it was a special summer that began on Father’s day, June 15 2014.  During that first week of the program on June 18^th students were enlightened by a presentation of the history of Talent Development with a particular focus on the history of activism via a comprehensive lecture lead by Assistant Director Frank Forleo, followed by Assistant Dean of Arts & Sciences Earl Smith, and several members of the TD staff speaking on their own Talent Development experiences.

The following week was the TD Career Seminar on June  24^th & 25^th .  All TD students participated in a 2 hour seminar designed to encourage career exploration & major selection.  Students were given valuable information on campus-wide offices and services available to them (i.e.: the Office of Career and Experiential Learning, the Office of International Education etc.) as well as practical guidance on a variety of topics such as: “How to speak to your professor when you have a concern”.

Two events took place on Wednesday, July 10th. The first was the TD Student Life Fair.  This event provided TD students the opportunity to learn about the many extra-curricular activities available to them on campus.  Representatives from a various student organizations and student life offices were available to meet and speak with students.  Immediately following, the students attended the TD Meet the Colleges Fair. This event provided incoming students with the opportunity to meet the deans and in some cases, faculty from the various colleges and academic departments withing the university.  The event was designed like a career fair in that, students were free to walk around and explore as many colleges as they wished.  They were also encouraged to take as much literature as needed to develop a full understanding of the university’s academic offerings.

The 4^th annual TD to PWC event took place during week 5 when 40 of TD’s incoming Business students participated in a full-day visit to Price Waterhouse Coopers accounting firm in Boston, MA.  While at PWC, the students engaged in informational workshops geared toward the accounting profession and PWC.   The students were hosted by both PWC partners and professional staff while being mentored by 8 Talent Development students who were interning at the firm during the summer.

Also taking place in week 5 was the first annual “Miawene” Leadership Meeting and lunch sponsored  by the URI Honors program, the URI Native American Advisory and the URI Division of Student Affairs. The theme of the meeting was “Diverse Leadership Perspectives” and took place in the URI Honors Auditorium.  After a brief luncheon , potential TD honors students  were presented with a speaking  program and panel discussion with opening remarks from TD Assistant Director Frank Forleo and a panel moderated by  URI Honors Program Director Dr. Lynne Derbyshire. The panel consisted of President Emeritus Dr. Robert L. Carothers, Vice President for Student Affairs Dr. Thomas R. Dougan, Narragansett Indian Tribal member Mrs. Bella Noka, and First Councilman of the Narragansett Indian tribe Mr. Randy Noka.

The culmination of the summer program was the traditional TD Summer program cookout on the URI quad where all faculty, staff, students and friends of TD celebrated the ending of the six week summer program. The final signpost in the summer journey was Friday July 24^th; move-out day the official end of TD Summer 2014. What an inspirational summer it was!!!!!

TD NATION