College is a four-year-long marathon -- whew! Each year also includes more than a dozen "sprints" -- finals, papers, etc. -- whew again!

Does it help to show up two weeks early, spend several hours a day working on academics, especially writing and math? Does it help if you can also get to know the campus, the offices, the people of Knox?

Yes, according to students who took part in Knox College's new SPARK Program. After completing the program prior to the start of the regular academic term this fall, participants say that SPARK does exactly what it says -- Student Preparation and Readiness for Knox -- and more.

The students worked with faculty on academics, receiving a half-credit-course on their transcripts. They took part in workshops with library staff on research skills. The students also crafted collages in the art department and went on field trips to Knox's urban farm and 700-acre biological field station.

For two afternoons, they fanned out across campus to meet Knox faculty and key personnel in campus offices. 

Giving students an in-depth preview of how a liberal arts college "works" is one of the goals of the faculty and staff who organized SPARK. It's the kind of information that a SPARK faculty member, history professor Catherine Denial, wishes she had known when she was in college.

"Many of the SPARK students are the first in their families to attend college," Denial says. "I was also a first-generation college student, and I can look back now on a lot of "If I'd only known" moments -- I didn't ask for help, I didn't go talk to my professors, because I thought I'd be bothering them. I thought that I was the only one who didn't know how to use the library. I vividly remember what it was like to be in their shoes."

Daily classes focused on academic challenges -- math, writing, critical read, analysis and discussion. 

"For me, the challenging part was also the fun part," says Aziza Bentsi-Enchill of Matthews, North Carolina. "There was a lot of work that had to be done at the same time, and you had to figure out how to get it all done on time. The sense of accomplishment that I feel is really great."

At the same time that students are running a four-year marathon, they're also running a balancing act, according to another SPARK faculty member, history professor Konrad Hamilton. 

"Knox students are famous for wanting to work in the community, and they also want to balance their activities -- academic, extracurricular, and in the community," Hamilton says. "We hope to show that you don't have to do less, that you can be active inside and outside the classroom in a coordinated way and experience the whole range of being a Knox student."

"Time management," says Teresa Ricks of Galesburg. "Making sure the homework was done, and still having time to relax with friends."

Several upperclass Knox students served as peer mentors, working the SPARK students in their academic and campus activities.

"The program was very academic, much more than I expected, but the students did a good job of balancing academics and extracurriculars," says one of the peer mentors, Nils Leitz, a Knox senior from Melrose, Massachusetts.

Even after four years on campus, Leitz says, he still experienced something new during SPARK. "I've learned where the chemistry research lab is... I'm an international relations and German major (both departments on the other side of campus from the science center), and I'd never been down here (in the chemistry lab)."

"It gave me a head start on what college is about, especially here at Knox," says Van Johnson III of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. "I knew Knox was a lot different from colleges across the country, and I thought, this might be the place for me, for the things I'm interested in. I'm definitely glad I did it."

"I got established," says Domanique Rahman of Chattanooga, Tennessee. "I have a lot of upperclass friends now. We'll branch out, and I think we'll still come together. I'll be able to say 'That's my brother, that's my sister, were in SPARK together.'"

Photos: Top of page, SPARK students with mathematics professor Mary Armon. Below: SPARK students get to know faculty, including Spanish professor Fernando Gomez; working in an art studio, gathering at Alumni Hall.

• More photos from SPARK 2015