Incoming students got acclimated to university life through new student orientation programs held before classes began.
The Class of 2009’s orientation lasted only seven days compared with 10 days in previous years. Mandatory events remained unchanged.
“There were no ‘required events’ cut for this year’s program,” Orientation Director Alecia Matthews said. “The only thing that we cut back on were the social activities. Members of the Class of 2009 still received the same amount and quality of assistance, guidance and support as those members of previous classes.”
The ice cream social, party on the quad and drive-in movie were only a few of the popular nighttime activities returning from past years’ programs.
“I liked anything where they gave away free food,” freshman Dana Kaplan said. “The ice cream social was a lot of fun.”
Also back from last year was an incentive program designed to reward those residence halls with the most participation in orientation activities.
The winners on Hoeing 2 short hall were treated to an appetizer party at the Distillery restaurant.
“I thought the whole orientation was really well organized,” freshman Joey Flyer said. “I had fun meeting my hall because they are all really cool.”
The Rochester EveryDay program improved on their enjoyment of the day out in Rochester.
“We only used the red and the green lines this year,” Rochester Center for Community Leadership Coordinator Bryan Rotach said. “RAs and D’lions took their halls out for a day of learning the bus lines and exploring the city.”
About 400 students utilized the bus lines, which will remain in place for the remainder of the year.
Transfer students took part in two days worth of activities geared toward freely exploring the campus and its services.
After tours of the campus and athletic center and attending information sessions, students were able to get off-campus and socialize.
“We extended the program to a second day to give students the chance to meet each other and become comfortable with the campus,” Matthews said.
Social programming was planned over the summer by the student Orientation staff members, sophomores Heidi Knoblauch, Elisabeth Campisi and Cait Ganley, junior Priscilla Egan and senior David VanScott. The professional Orientation staff began planning in January, and solicited student volunteers in the spring.
“We had a record number of both individual and group applications submitted, so it was hard to pick who would be chosen to help this year,” Matthews said.
Borchardt can be reached at jborchardt@campustimes.org.
