This study looked to situated learning (Lave & Wenger, 1991) in order to explore students' participation in the social practices of first-year learning communities. Wenger's (1998) elaboration on "communities of practice" provides insight into how such participation transforms learners. These perspectives frame learning as a socialization and identity shaping process in which learners gain knowledge and skills contextualized, and legitimized, by their communities. We used a survey method and open-ended questions to examine three facets of participation: students' access and motivation to join the community, meaning of their experiences within the community, and trajectory of learning--that is, how participation influenced their later academic or professional decisions. Our findings emphasize that students are motivated by, and find value in, the academic content and engaged pedagogical approaches offered by first-year learning communities; the meaning of their experiences, however, is negotiated through social relationships.