Remember wandering the halls aimlessly your freshman year. Overwhelmed and confused, you hope you found the right classroom. Most of us surely remember how nerve-wracking it was to approach our professors for the first time. Surrounded by unfamiliar peers and professors, asking for guidance seems daunting.

Thankfully, the university recognized the challenges first-year students face. The administration established University 1001 to combat these issues. The class is one of the university’s most underrated yet crucial resources to help freshmen navigate their college careers.

Full disclosure: I teach a University 1001 course as a peer leader. My experience allows me to recognize its benefits. ULM’s curriculum describes the goal of UNIV 1001 as “to maximize the student’s potential to achieve academic success and adjust responsibly to the challenges of collegiate life.” The course gives students opportunities to learn about their new environment.

University 1001 teaches students several skills, both emotional and practical. Students will learn to acquire self-awareness while building connections with their peers to form a support system. Those connections play an important part in relieving stress as well as maintaining a healthy balance of productivity and fun.

Beyond emotional skills, University 1001 will teach students how to use campuswide applications, which are the backbone for managing coursework. The seminar also teaches different methods and strategies to help students find a study method that matches their style.

A unique part of the course is the involvement of upperclassmen as peer leaders. Since the peer leaders experienced the trials and tribulations of their first year, they will relate more to new students. Talking to a peer leader is less intimidating than a professor, especially about on-campus resources.

Students leave the class with knowledge of on-campus resources, such as the Title IX Department, the Office of Information Technology (IT) and the Office of the Registrar. The information provided in University 1001 makes the stress of college more bearable.

Spending 50 minutes in this class will save new students hours or even days of trouble in the upcoming semesters. What some consider a useless course is a key to college success.