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Many first-year, low-income STEM students do not remain in STEM majors past their first year and complete STEM degrees. Our project aimed to support low-income, STEM majors financially and promote their STEM identities by creating a learning community focused on developing positive relationships among students, faculty, and peer mentors. Our research examined how first-year interventions such as a cohort-based STEM-themed first-year experience, peer and faculty mentoring, community meetings, and STEM seminars and conferences provided opportunities for students to (a) develop a sense of belonging, (b) develop competences in biology and math, (c) perform biology and math practices, and (d) be recognized for their competence and performances. This work is needed due to the importance of understanding how interventions may increase retention and graduation rates contributing to the national need for well-educated STEM professionals. We analyzed data from the first year of an NSF-funded S-STEM project, STEM Success Scholars in a small public liberal arts university. Qualitative methods were used throughout. Data consisted of observations of scholars in the first-year experience course and during meetings and seminars, and semi-structured interviews following a modified Seidman’s (2013) three-interview protocol. Artifacts such as course papers, peer and faculty mentoring logs, and email communications were used as secondary sources. Findings inform how interventions during STEM majors’ first year of college can support students’ STEM identity.