Freshmen can attend “Sophomore Swagger” this weekend to for dinner, games, prizes and information about the next three years of their lives.

Kathy Stone, director of student success and retention, worked with a committee of faculty, administrators and students to develop an event designed to help freshmen students feel at ease about surviving college.

“We were looking at a program to make sure students are prepared and ready to go for sophomore year,” Stone said.

The event will be held Friday at 3 p.m. in Redwood, beginning with a series of breakout sessions to answer students’ questions about key aspects of college life such as housing issues, choosing the right major, finding financial aid, dealing with stress and planning for an internship.

“Research tells us that during freshman year, their main focus is just to get through the year,” Stone added. It’s sophomore year when students start to panic, thinking about their major, the required research and internships, the financial realities of completing a degree, and other challenges upperclassmen face.

Stone said one of the problems is that students aren’t always aware of the support services and offices on campus that can help them.

Each breakout session has a title to match the night’s theme, “Sophomore Swagger.” Some sessions include: “Got Skill$?” (internships and jobs), “Swagger your way around the world!” (study abroad) and “Checkout Ashland’s cribs!” (housing).

Stone said she researched 30 other schools’ programs while planning “Sophomore Swagger.”

“A lot of schools actually do it during the sophomore year because of ‘sophomore slump,'” she said. “The sophomore slump is typically a time when students question why they’re in school…[and] if there’s a purpose.”

Stone added that many students who experience that “sophomore slump” drop-out of school.

“I think we needed to intervene sooner,” she said. “If students feel confident about the next three years and what they’re going to get into, it’ll help with retention.”

This year, AU’s retention rates were 69 percent, a figure the university is hoping to improve. Stone hopes the “Sophomore Swagger” event will help.

“We’ve had a great response,” Stone said. Expected to attend are 43 faculty and staff members, and 158 students, as of Tuesday.

Sixty prizes will be raffled off throughout the evening. Some of the prizes include four iPod Touches, an AU parking pass, clothing, Eagle Dollars, AU Bookstore items, gift cards for stores such as iTunes, Starbucks, Walmart, and Applebee’s, and dinner with President Dr. Fred Finks.

Students earn a ticket for every breakout session they attend, and all students who stay for dinner will receive a ticket for a chance at one of the iPod Touches.

The first 150 students will also receive a free t-shirt that reads “Turn Your Swag On.”