Discovery, Connection, and Passion:
The Impact of Five Years of Wintersession
I. Introduction
II. Wintersession Facilitator, Offering, and Registrant Across Five Years
III. Wintersession’s Impact on Well-Being and Belonging
IV. Conclusion
I. Introduction
January 2025 marked the fifth year of Wintersession, a two-week conference/festival organized by the Office of Campus Engagement. Data collected from thousands of Wintersession participants and facilitators show that in just five years of existence, Wintersession has proven positive mental health, belonging, and community-building impacts and benefits for undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty, and staff. Wintersession is living up to its mission of providing all members of campus the opportunity to experiment and explore through unexpected, active, and intriguing non-graded learning and growth opportunities. Further, the Office of Campus Engagement (OCE) brings the principles of Wintersession to its other major campus-wide initiatives: leading the Peer to Peer Collective, Community Care Day, and co-leading Princeton Research Day, extending the values and impact of Wintersession throughout the academic year.
This following summary will provide key data points and patterns across the five years of Wintersession. Readers should note, however, that Wintersession had to navigate restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic in its first two years. Wintersession 2021 was completely virtual. Wintersession 2022 had to contend with restrictions caused by the omicron-variant of the coronavirus and was a “hybrid” Wintersession, with about 41% of all offerings taking place virtually. By January of 2023, Princeton University was no longer acutely responding to the COVID-19 pandemic; for that reason, Wintersession 2023 is considered the “true” baseline year and will be the main comparison year used in this report.
Key Cross-Year Wintersession Data
Figure 1.1 below gives an overview of key Wintersession data points across the five years. Some overarching trends seen over the past five years are:
The number of Wintersession offerings increased greatly over the five years.
Between the first Wintersession (2021; fully virtual) and the true-baseline year (2023), the total number of offerings increased by 35% (167 offerings).
Between the true-baseline year (2023) and the most recent Wintersession (2025), the total number of offerings increased by 5% (26 offerings).
The number of unique on-campus facilitators increased over the five years.
The number of unique facilitators increased by 44% (125 offerings) between the first Wintersession (2021) and the baseline year (2023).
The number of unique facilitators increased by 22% (89 offerings) between the baseline year (2023) and the most recent Wintersession (2025).
The numbers of unique registrants increased across the five years.
The number of registrants increased by 59% (1,866 unique registrants) between the first year (2021) and the baseline year (2023).
The number of registrants increased by 33% (1623 unique registrants) between the baseline year (2023) and the most recent Wintersession (2025).
The increases across the measures above illustrate the growing interest that campus community members have in taking part in Wintersession.
It is significant to note that the single greatest increase in registrants and attendees of Wintersession occurred between year 4 and year 5, indicating that Wintersession’s growth is not yet complete. Five years in, many at Princeton feel that Wintersession is part of the fabric of campus, and participants across all campus roles tell us they look forward to it each year.
II. Wintersession Facilitator, Offering, and Registrant Across Five Years
Wintersession Offering Types Across Five Years
Each Wintersession begins with a proposals season during which members of the university community submit ideas for sessions they would like to facilitate. Each accepted proposal is scheduled according to the proposed timespan of the event; Figure 2.1 provides a breakdown of the total offerings by timespan.
Single/Mini Workshop: 3 hours and 90 minutes respectively.
Multisession Workshop: variable in either 3-hour or 90-minute blocks over multiple days.
Intensive Workshop: 5 hours (10:00am to 3:00pm) with 45-minute lunch break.
Evening Event: event taking place after 5:00 pm; usually 2-to-3 hours in length.
Off-campus Trip: variable in length.
Wintersession Facilitators Across Five Years
Any student or staff member of the Princeton University community can facilitate a Wintersession offering. As can be seen in Figure 2.2, the number of facilitators, like the number of offerings, increased across the five years. However, unlike offerings, the number of facilitators continues to increase (including by 17% from 2024 to 2025), suggesting that interest in facilitating and co-facilitating offerings continues to grow.
When asked to share their favorite part of being a Wintersession facilitator in the annual Wintersession Facilitator Survey, some responses included:
“I loved being able to share any knowledge, skills, or experiences I have gained. I had the opportunity to foster a stronger community, which is extremely meaningful to me.”
“I don't usually get to interact with Princeton individuals outside of my department and this was my first time doing so. It was absolutely wonderful, and I already look forward to the next Wintersession.”
“I love sharing things that I am passionate about with others. The practice of using the knowledge we gain to enrich the communities we are a part of is such an important habit to instill in students.”
Unique Registrants Across Five Years
All members of the Princeton University community who have a netID are eligible to register for Wintersession evening events and workshops. Wintersession off-campus trips are open only to undergraduate and graduate student registrants. Figures 2.3, 2.4, and 2.5 detail information about Wintersession registrants across the past five years. Some trends from this data include:
The number of unique registrants increased dramatically across the five years.
The number of unique registrants increased by 64% (1,942 registrants) between the first Wintersession (2021) and the true-baseline year (2023).
The number of unique registrants increased by 33% between 2023 and 2025.
Focusing on undergraduate students, the data in Figure 2.4 is highlighted to allow each cohort to be followed from year-to-year.
The number of undergraduate registrants increased by 46% (794 registrants) percent between the first Wintersession (2021) and the baseline year (2023).
The number of graduate registrants increased by 187% (897 registrants) between the first Wintersession (2021) and the baseline year (2023).
The number of undergraduate registrants increased by 25% (635 registrants) between the baseline year (2023) and the most recent Wintersession (2025).
The number of graduate registrants increased by 44% (598 registrants) between 2023 and the most recent Wintersession (2025).
Looking at undergraduate and graduate Wintersession registrants in proportion to their respective class sizes as in seen in Figure 2.5, there were increases in the percentage of both undergraduate and graduate students who registered for Wintersession when compared to their total class size. However, the rate at which graduate registrants increased outpaced the rate of undergraduate student across all give years.
The percentage of undergraduate registrants compared to total population increased by 9% from the first Wintersession (2021) to the baseline year (2023) while that of graduate students increased by 27%, a factor of 3.
The percentage of undergraduate registrants compared to total population increased by 9% between the baseline year (2023) and the most recent Wintersession (2025) while that of graduate students increased by 18%, a factor of 2.
III. Wintersession’s Impact on Well-Being and Belonging
After each year’s Wintersession, the Office of Campus Engagement surveys registrants and facilitators on their experience participating in Wintersession. Respondents include undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty, and staff.
The following charts summarize the questions that were designed to help the OCE team identify Wintersession’s impact on participants’ well-being and belonging, core areas in the Campus Life strategic plan. The questions displayed here used a 5-point Likert scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree.
Wintersession Allowed Me to Try New Experiences or Skills
An average of 95% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed across the five years that attending Wintersession offerings allowed them to try out new experiences.
Wintersession was a Welcome Break to my Schedule
An average of 96% respondents across the five years agreed or strongly agreed that participating in Wintersession was a welcome break to their regular schedule.
Participating in Wintersession Positively Contributed to my Mental Health
Beginning in 2022, the Wintersession post-event participant survey began to include questions that mapped directly to Campus Life strategic goals to increase students’ sense of belonging to the Princeton community and to ensure that health and wellbeing are institutional priorities at the university. We asked respondents to rate on a 5-part Likert scale to what degree they agreed that Wintersession contributed positively to their mental health.
Exceeding our expectations, 93% of respondents during the first year the question was asked agreed or strongly agreed that participating in Wintersession contributed positively to their mental health. The average across the four years the question has been asked is 95% of all respondents agree or strongly agree that participating in Wintersession positively contributed to their mental health.
Beginning in 2023, OCE added three additional questions to the post-event survey, to further understand Wintersession’s impact on mental health, belonging, and inclusion, with the cross-year data shared below.
Participating in Wintersession Made Me Feel a Sense of Belonging
An average of 92% of respondents across the three years agreed or strongly agreed that participating in Wintersession made them feel a sense of belonging on the campus community.
Participating in Wintersession Made Me Feel a Sense of Connection
An average of 92% of respondents across the three years agreed or strongly agreed that participating in Wintersession made them feel a sense of connection with others on campus.
Participating in Wintersession Made Me Feel Like I Fit In
An average of 92% of respondents across the three years agreed or strongly agreed that participating in Wintersession made them feel a sense of connection with others on campus.
“Folks gathering with the usual academic year hierarchies: working with 1st years, advanced undergrads, grad students, staff, and other faculty as equals contributing to a single task is what part of what makes Wintersession events so important for building community in a non-classroom setting.”
– Attendee
When asked to share more details on what they most enjoyed about participating in Wintersession, respondents shared:
“I love how willing people are to make new friends and connections during Wintersession. This time on campus is one of the few moments outside of orientation when people are really just eager to get to know others and spend time in conversation to build new relationships. The opportunity to strengthen our social connections without the pressure of classes and typical school year stressors is simply invaluable for student wellbeing and belonging.”
– Facilitator
“I was glad to lead something fun for students rather than being purely situated in my professional role. As much as I like to engage with students about fun topics during my advising, we’re on the clock, so I feel a need to maximize the time for meeting their needs. Wintersession allowed me to engage with something where fun (and associated learning in my event) was the objective.”
– Facilitator
“I enjoyed the opportunity to meet and engage with undergrads and administrators. Wintersession is one of the only times I have the opportunity to network the entire campus and most people are accessible, either through hosting their own workshop or running into them at the dining hall.”
– Attendee
“I loved the opportunity to do or try things I otherwise wouldn’t have had the opportunity to do, but I also really loved the excitement and sense of community that Wintersession gave me. I’ve always struggled to feel like I fit in with the other students here, but the Wintersession events made me feel connected with the other students at the events.”
– Attendee
IV. Conclusion
In just five years of existence, Wintersession has become a beloved and sought-after campus tradition. Wintersession offerings students and staff alike a time to interact with each other and the campus in different ways than during the semester, and significantly contributes to all groups’ positive mental health and sense of belonging. The Office of Campus Engagement (OCE) has made adjustments to Wintersession each year, but the fundamental model of anyone on campus being able to teach and anyone being able to attend has connected with the Princeton community from the start. Facilitators and participants alike give high ratings to their experience during Wintersession, and OCE plans to continue listening and acting on both their positive feedback and their constructive feedback.
