Through its new BEST program, the Department of Biology is hoping to make the large university setting a little more personal.

BEST, an acronym for Biology Education Success Teams, includes 47 freshman biology students who are in many of the same classes and live in Knapp Hall. The goal of the program is to provide a community learning environment.

“New students often feel isolated, and we want them to feel like they belong,” said Adah Leshem-Ackerman, advising coordinator for BEST.

The BEST program is necessary because a lot of freshmen drop out their first year, said Steven Richardson, director of the Center for Teaching Excellence.

“The idea is to help biology students work and learn together. This program helps the students feel like part of a community,” he said.

Students in the program are placed in the same English, biology and chemistry classes where professors work together to plan the curriculum. For example, Voyage of Beagle, is required reading for biology class, but the book will be covered in an English class as well.

The English department has also issued lap-top computers to 24 of the program participants who are enrolled in English 105 this semester.

“We want to find out if having access to computers makes a difference in students’ learning,” Richardson said.

Once a week, five groups of about 10 BEST students meet and interact with a faculty mentor and a senior biology student mentor. Groups discuss tips for talking with professors, study skills and orientation topics, Leshem-Ackerman said.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity for freshmen to interact with faculty and upper-level students,” she said.

BEST is an effort to retain students and encourage them to stay in the biology major, said Jim Colbert, associate professor of botany and a faculty mentor for the BEST program.

“The goal is to help entering freshmen adjust to the university and get the most out of their major,” he said.

Colbert said he looks forward to interacting with biology students on a one-to-one basis.

“My experience and exposure to freshmen biology students is that they’re an exciting group of people who are interested in learning new things. I want to do all I can to help them,” he said.

Amy Cruise, a student mentor, said she wishes the BEST program was available when she was a freshman.

“This program will help students start off on the right foot and get over the jitters of beginning college,” she said.

Cruise said BEST students can call or e-mail her about anything, even if they just want to “hang-out.”

“I hope they use this program to their best so they can get everything out of it,” she said.

Monica Moss, a BEST participant, said she feels the program has been helpful.

“They basically try to keep us in the same classes so if we have problems we can ask one another, since we’re all sitting right there,” she said.

Richardson said BEST is in the beginning stages and its future direction depends on available funding.