Tim Tai

On Friday, over 350 rising seniors were notified about the results of their applications to the first-year counselor — or FroCo — program. 

The program’s application process began in December, with the release of written response questions due in January. 132 students learned last week that they will serve in the position next term.

The announcement came as an email from the applicant’s residential college; accepted students received a follow-up email from the head of the program and the Associate Dean Residential College Life Ferentz Lafargue GRD ’05 later in the afternoon.

“I’m really excited to just be around people that don’t really know a ton about Yale and are kind of navigating it the way I was,” said Victoria Vilton ’26, a future FroCo in Branford. “And hopefully being a person that they can have in their corner.”

Vilton noted that she had not initially considered applying for the position. However, after her younger sister was accepted to Yale’s incoming class, she thought about mentoring the incoming class and decided to apply.

She emphasized her excitement about working as a counselor and supporting younger students. Vilton hopes her advice will help students “grow into independence” and eventually no longer need to rely on her.

“The fun part is that you’re not going to be able to understand where [the students are] coming from from your own experiences,” said Josh Li ’26, a future FroCo in Morse. “You have to try to step into their own shoes by taking in as much information as you can and parsing that through new methods.” 

Although Li acknowledged that a potential difficulty was supporting students across different interests and experiences, he was confident that he would be able to navigate this challenge.

He said that relying on fellow FroCos will allow him to help first years connect with resources and other students who can guide them throughout their initial semesters of college.

“I’m super excited to work with a team of students,” echoed Alejandro Rojas ’26, an incoming FroCo in Pauli Murray. “I actually know of all of them already … I could fondly remember us when we were first there as being at the duties together.”

According to Lafargue, residential colleges offer meetings in the spring regarding room selection and transitioning between the current and future FroCo cohorts.

He noted that counselors will often “inherit” furniture and other household items — such as couches or waffle makers — from preceding FroCo classes. The program will also host training sessions in April, offering workshops and providing further information.

“We don’t ask much of the students in the spring, in large part because we want them to finish out their spring,” said Lafargue. “We try to make it clear that there aren’t any major formal responsibilities until they get back in August.”

However, he noted that any updates on academic planning that is happening over the summer would be communicated to FroCos in the spring, to prepare them for any potential questions that they might receive from incoming first years.

He added that residential colleges are currently filling the spots of students who declined the position. According to Lafargue, as of Tuesday afternoon, it did not appear that colleges would have to rely on applicants from outside their pool of applicants this year.

FroCo move in day will occur between Aug. 11-12.