Belonging without Breaking the Budget
How CCSJ Built a Graduate Identity in Weeks
"It only takes one person. Everyone else gets inspired thereafter."
Dr. Suzanne Henderson was the first person in her family to earn a PhD. Today, that family includes MDs, DOs, JDs, and MBAs. Her belief in what one person's momentum can do for everyone around them shaped the graduate orientation Suzanne built at Calumet College of St. Joseph (CCSJ).
A Program Without a Shared Identity
Before Suzanne built her Advantage Orientation, CCSJ had no institution-wide orientation for its graduate students. A student's orientation experience depended entirely on their department, and there was no way to know if everyone was getting the same information, or any information at all. That inconsistency mattered to Suzanne for a simple reason: she wanted every incoming graduate student to start on the same page, informed about registration, campus resources, and where to turn for support. She also wanted to make sure every student felt like they belonged.
CCSJ's graduate students are mostly adult learners: career changers, career advancers, people juggling families and jobs, sometimes caring for aging parents alongside coursework. With about 90% of CCSJ's graduate programs delivered online, an in-person orientation wouldn’t meet students where they are. With an online experience, information became accessible anytime, anywhere. Plus, the experience doubled as a first, low-stakes taste of what an online CCSJ classroom would actually feel like.
The Right Price, the Right Pace
When Suzanne started researching online orientation vendors, she ran into a wall fast. The price points she found weren't just high, several would have consumed her department's entire budget on their own. What made Advantage different wasn't only affordability, it was fit. Looking through demos from other institutions, she noticed each one felt personalized, like you could feel that institution's culture coming through the screen. Combined with pricing that was workable, scalable, and renewable as her needs grew, the decision became clear.
"You could really get a feel of what that institution was like, the climate and the culture of that particular institution."
The build itself moved quickly. Suzanne pulled content straight from CCSJ's own website, so students got the same information already published, just organized and expanded. There was no coding and no heavy lift. She also personalized a few of the built-in videos with her own colleagues on camera, so students would see real names and real faces. In her words, the whole process was "so easy," and genuinely enjoyable to watch come together.
Before launch, she shared the finished orientation with every department that had taken part. Staff were excited to see themselves in it. What started as one director's project became a cross-campus achievement, something the whole institution had a hand in building.
The Numbers That Backed It Up
Suzanne, an academic at heart, built a formal evaluation into the orientation from day one. The results spoke for themselves:
- 88.1% of students rated their academic clarity a 5 out of 5
- 89.6% of students rated their awareness of campus resources a 5 out of 5
- 91% of students rated their knowledge of expectations and safety a 5 out of 5
She brought that data to CCSJ's Board of Trustees, who told her they'd never seen anything like it at the institution. When grant funding was cut elsewhere on campus, as it was at so many institutions, the administration found the money to renew Suzanne's orientation anyway. The data had already made the case.
“They were very, very pleased when they saw the price point that we got the package for, and to see how effective it was… They definitely felt like it was a good investment, something that they wanted to continue to invest in.”
Takeaways for Your Institution
For anyone considering the same path, Suzanne's advice is simple: just start. Don't recreate the wheel, your own website likely already has most of the content you need. Always build in a completion incentive (Calumet College of St. Joseph uses a swag box). Most of all, let real people and real voices carry your institution's culture through the screen.
If budget and time feel like the barrier standing between your institution and a real, unified graduate orientation, Suzanne's story is proof of what's possible in a matter of weeks. Request a live tour of Advantage Orientation to see what you can achieve at your institution.