Sophomore Summit

Check out Sophomore Summit 2022 to see all of the great things you can do with this opportunity! Started in 2015, come and be a part of this UNH Residential Life tradition!

Sophomore Summit is for rising sophomores who are returning to the residence halls next year. In order to participate, students are nominated by their Residence Hall Director (RHD) as someone who is positively contributing to their residential community and whom they are confident will make a positive difference in their hall community next year.

By now you’re probably thinking, what is this Sophomore Summit exactly?

It’s an excellent opportunity sponsored by UNH’s Department of Residential Life for about 100 first-year students!! This year it will be an overnight retreat (aka summit) occurring immediately after finals where rising sophomores can reflect on their first year of college, meet new friends, eat good food, be off-campus, and just have fun while learning a thing or two about themselves and what they hope to accomplish next year as students returning to UNH residence halls.

This experience involves community building, fun, reflection, mentorship, bonding, lessons about stewardship, leadership, and values, and time to decompress and set goals for the next year while building a sense of pride in their hall community. You will have the chance to explore how you wish to do more living on campus and be more of who you truly are among your friends, peers, future neighbors, and incoming students as a sophomore.

Why Should I Accept the Invitation?

Well, we could say, "Why SHOULDN'T you accept our invitation?" but we understand wanting to know more. Many first-year students get through their first two semesters wanting more - more connection, more academic success, more direction in their life. Students who have experienced UNH's Sophomore Summit have felt this opportunity did just that for them. Click below to see what they had to say for yourself.

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"During downtime, we were able to play with football, Frisbee, and other games and feel like a carefree kid again. "

"I think that the teamwork activities were excellent for learning things about each other and also the ropes course was a lot of fun personally."

"I enjoyed the campfire, that was when I had the best chance to talk to the people that I had met during the day and get to know them a little bit better."

"Meeting new people and being able to work with them and create a special bond in the community service project."

"My favorite part of Sophomore Summit was probably the reflection we did on our first year at UNH and learning about other people’s first-year experiences."

"Through the reflection activities I learned that many other students had similar experiences and challenges as me during their first year when I thought I was alone in my struggles."

"I learned that there are a lot of interesting people on campus who I've never met or seen before and I'm glad to have gotten to know them and become friends with some of them."

"That it is ok to be myself and put myself out of my comfort zone I learned that in order to make friends and develop good communication skills you really have to portray confidence and put yourself out in the world - people aren’t as scary as they seem!"

"I learned to better see myself as a leader."

Stock shot of backpacks in the wilderness

Wondering what to bring to a Sophomore Summit? Here is what we recommend that has been helpful for students over the years. It's camp - you will be outside, have some downtime, and a chance to have some fun with new friends. Don't let being cold or the wrong kind of shoes get in the way of taking full advantage of this opportunity!