FLiP – Freshmen Leaders in Progress

Freshman Leaders in Progress provides incoming freshmen with a support system and social foundation, while teaching them valuable leadership skills that will benefit them for the rest of their college experience, as well as life after college. FLiP creates the foundation for lifelong friendships and empowers its members to achieve the goals they set for themselves by incorporating leadership development, service, and social skills. FLiP’s purpose is to shape and enhance the overall college experience for the incoming freshmen.

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Why apply to FLiP?

The purpose of FLiP is to enhance the overall leadership experience of freshmen at Texas A&M. By exposing motivated freshmen to leadership concepts such as teamwork, delegation, decision making, leadership styles, creativity, problem-solving, shared vision and building interpersonal relationships it is expected that these freshmen will further these concepts during the rest of their college career as well as their lives. By implementing these skills through mentorship programs, outreach and service it is believed that these freshmen will enhance and progress in their leadership development.

Fall Application & Informational Schedule

About FLiP

To provide a glimpse into what the experience of being in FLiP looks like, the FLO’s student leaders completed an assessment of their previous year. The following should be used as information to help you make an informed decision about being a member of FLiP, but please note that your experience may look different.

What does a “week in FLiP” look like?

Monday – Monday night meetings: we meet at the MSC for dinner at 7:30, then have the meeting at 8:30.

Tuesday – Taco Tuesday, we pick a different local Mexican restaurant in College Station and meet there for dinner.

Wednesday- Nothing

Thursday – Crew: the freshmen are split up into “crews” at the beginning of the year and participate in weekly competitions such as dodgeball, lip sync battles, minute-to-win-it games, etc. Winners of the year-long crew games are announced at the end of the year.

Friday – Neal/FLiP Friday: we go to Neal Elementary School and hang out with the 3rd graders during their recess and teach them a valuable lesson, such as kindness or friendship, at the end of recess and how they can implement that into their everyday lives. After that, we have FLiP Fridays, where we just hang out as an organization and watch a movie, go to the rec, etc.

Every event is also optional, so freshmen can put the amount of time they want into the organization.

What did the remote experience look like due to COVID-19?

FLiP adapted in numerous ways when going remote. Some of our changes included an organization Instagram, where we posted participants and winners of our Thursday “Crew” competition events. These events included competitions such as best TikTok, best meme, Jeopardy, etc. We were able to post these easily on our Instagram and keep members involved and engaged. On Tuesday, counselors went live on our Instagram and taught members how to cook a certain food—we called this “Cooking with a Counselor.” Apart from our Instagram, we had Houseparty/FaceTime groups so everyone could further build on the relationships they had started forming that year.

Organization Size

Position	*Freshmen*	*Counselors*	*Executives*
# Students	56	14	4

Being involved with FLiP I can expect to pay…

Dues & Known Costs

· Fall Semester: $100

· Spring Semester: $100

Financial Aid

(if available)

Willing to work out payment plans with freshman regarding dues.

Does FLiP have a Big/Little Program?

Yes

What does the Big/Little Experience entail?

The Bigs offer guidance/advice regarding the freshman’s first year of college, such as schoolwork, classes, organizations, etc. They are introduced through planned mixers, and we have different events including Bigs during the year as well.

Want to learn more?

Attend the FLAC Coordinated livestreams, informationals, and reach out to the student leaders using the contact information available on this page. Find the full recruitment schedule here.

FLO Evaluation

FLOs are evaluated yearly based on several factors. Three of these factors are Leadership, Service, and Social. Here is what last year’s members experienced in these areas:

Leadership

Lead meetings – freshmen have the opportunity to lead meetings second semester.
Find sponsors – they can find local business sponsors for certain events we put on.
Advertise at FLO/organization meetings – they can attend another organization’s meeting to advertise our public events.
Speaker Jim Olson – 1 hour on loyalty and public service
Speaker Craig Rotter – 1.5 hours on tradition
Speaker Brandi Plunkett – 1 hour on business and professionalism
General meeting activities – every Monday night meeting we have an interactive game/activity pertaining to leadership

Service

Neal Drive – we collect school supplies for the students at Neal Elementary.
Big Event – we team up with another FLO and participate in The Big Event.
Mosaic Valentine – we host a Valentine’s Day-themed party at a nursing home and provide food and games for the residents.
Winter Service Retreat – we plan a service retreat in Houston. Last year we volunteered at The Forge for a day.

Social

Bro Bowl – we host and plan the boys’ FLO flag football tournament.
3 FLO Social – we made s’mores at a park with FAST and FORME.
FLO Social – we usually plan a FLiP Friday with another FLO once or twice a year; last year we hung out at the Rec with FORME.
Attend FLO Bowl
Attend Mr. FLO
Franklin Safari – we go to Franklin Safari as an organization second semester.
Taco Tuesday – we eat dinner at a Mexican restaurant together every Tuesday.