Knowing me, knowing you: Building strengths awareness, belonging, and persistence in higher education

This goal of this study was to examine the benefits of a campus-wide initiative to build first-year students' strengths awareness. The results of a survey of the first-year class (n = 1,421) suggest a positive and significant relationship between students' strengths awareness and their belief that the strengths initiatives on campus positively influenced their sense of belonging. The results also suggest a positive and significant relationship between students' strengths awareness and retention to their second year of study. Qualitative analyses of survey data suggested strengths initiatives enhanced students' self-awareness and confidence, facilitated introductory conversations with peers through the development of a common language, and fostered friendships and a deeper understanding of others - factors that are hypothesized to have contributed to students' sense of belonging and retention.