Colorado State University’s Black/African American Cultural Center Rites of Passage program is designed to support all 1st year students as they transition to college. This is accomplished via a retreat, outings and workshops designed by upper-class students as they serve as mentors!
Established in 1977 and revised in 1982 to incorporate current structure, ongoing changes since.
Rites of Passage Retreat
For this first year student experience we take students to the beautiful YMCA of the Rockies at Estes Park and spend a couple days together. During this retreat we have activities, discussions, talent shows and all the food and laughs that you can handle. We don’t want to give too much away, but this retreat has been happening since 1988 and has been a positively impactful retreat for generations of Black Rams. Fill out the application below and join us for this extraordinary experience.
This year's Retreat will take place the weekend of September 8-10, 2023.
Peer Mentoring
One component of Rites Of Passage, ROP, is our peer mentoring program that aims to connect with every incoming freshman at CSU who identifies as or with the Black/African American Culture. While you may have plenty of friends coming into CSU, chances are they know as much about the campus as you do. Having someone who is always there to have your back and get you connected to the resources you need can prove to be extremely beneficial in both the short and long terms. Through the ROP program, every freshman gets a mentor, an upperclassman, who has experienced some of the obstacles you may encounter throughout your career at CSU. This will be a person you can virtually go to about anything from troubles with a class, how to deal with a professor, schedule advice, events to attend, how to get a tutor, who to talk to about financial aid and even personal matters is you so choose.
