Camino a UCF is a Valencia College – Osceola campus program started in 2013 designed
for any student planning to participate in DirectConnect™ to UCF and who intends to
major in Business, Hospitality, Psychology/social science, or Criminal Justice. It
is a two-year cohort program for first-time college students offered at Valencia College’s
Osceola Campus. The program, simply known as Camino, is designed for degree-seeking
students who plan to continue their education at the University of Central Florida
(UCF) through the DirectConnect to UCF partnership after graduating from Valencia
College.
Students who apply to the program meet the following eligibility criteria: declared
DirectConnect to UCF; majoring in either business, hospitality management, criminal
justice, or psychology; enrolled as a full-time student in the fall and spring terms;
and committed to participating in a series of co-curricular activities which included
workshops on topics such as team building and communication, citation and research,
and grammar boot camp. Students also visit the UCF main campus and participate in
Spirit Splash (homecoming event), a UCF campus tour, and attend UCF events. This partnership
between Valencia College-Osceola and UCF is designed to drive an enhanced pathway
from Valencia College to UCF which provided students a more individualized experience
though a supportive learning community of peer students, faculty, and staff.
Design:
- Cohort-based experience to create a learning community with high personal commitment
- Reduce or even eliminate "unknowns" in students' schedule
- Include meaningful and connected co-curricular experiences
- Create experiences for students to "feel" like UCF Knights while at Valencia
Benefits:
- Cohort-based enrollment for students wishing to major in psychology, criminal justice, business, or hospitality management
- Guaranteed schedule at Valencia leading to Associate of Arts with all program prerequisites for major in respective program (psychology, criminal justice, business, or hospitality management)
- Intentional inclusion of face-to-face, mixed mode, and online courses
- Dedicated UCF and Valencia Advisors
- Guaranteed admission to UCF
- Spirit Splash at UCF
- UCF Events, e.g. sports and theater
- Exclusive Tour of UCF Main Campus
- Workshops conducted by Learning Support teaching practical skills - active reading, brain storming, note-taking, and citations
- Challenging, immersive, and rewarding undergraduate experience through academic rigor
Majors/Tracks
- Begin at Valencia: Associate in Arts, Exploratory
- Transfer to the Universiry of Central Florida