First-year students arrive at liberal arts institutions at the precise moment they are forming their intellectual and ethical identities as scholars, and they arrive already using AI. At Middlebury College, we designed a coordinated, multi-modal approach to help students critically engage with AI within that formative context. Our model centers on GenAI @ Middlebury, a short asynchronous Canvas course, paired with custom in-class workshops co-developed with First-Year Seminar (FYS) faculty, and peer support for students. Together, these resources equip students to analyze AI's role in their learning - to shortcut or support - while giving faculty the knowledge and confidence to facilitate meaningful classroom conversations. In its first year (AY 2025–2026), 250 people engaged with the Canvas course and we partnered with 11 FYS faculty to build tailored workshops for their courses. This lightning talk outlines our development process, faculty partnership strategy, and preliminary student outcome data.
