By Evan Walsh, Chief Copy Editor
A series of administrative changes have been made to the orientation programs for this coming summer and fall for new students.
Brad Pulcini, assistant dean for student engagement, is organizing these programs.
He said the goal is to register students for classes while introducing them to the university on a more personal level.
Three sessions will be held. Group sessions ordinarily held in the fall will be moved to the summer. StART will now just be called Orientation Camp OWU, formerly known as FreshX, will now include Ohio Wesleyan faculty in addition to the 100 or so students Pulcini hopes will attend. Students will have more activities to choose from (i.e. ropes courses and rock climbing) that have not been offered in the past.
The school is trying to make the same effort for parents as they prepare for their child’s next four years.
“Our program for parents is going to be more involved than it has been in the past with a focus on college finances,” Pulcini said.
New to the itinerary is the first ever “Oh-Woo Welcome” which will follow Orientation. The renaming to “Oh-Woo Welcome” is accompanied by changes of its own.
As opposed to previous years’ events, this year’s will begin that Sunday, not Saturday. On Sunday, first-years and new students will have convocation followed by move-in.
The Student Involvement Office is co-ordinating with OWU’s Residential Life.
The groups will be assigned based on which dormitory first-year students will live in.
“The idea is to get new students adjusted to where they’re living and who they’re living with,” Pulcini said.
Another change to the focus of these group activities is to get students acclimated to the nuances of OWU’s academic life. According to Pulcini, the results of an incoming student’s focus group indicated that these students were not yet comfortable with online resources like Blackboard and Self-Service.
Current and returning students are encouraged to get involved, too. OWU’s Campus Programming Board has agreed to help organize several different events which will be available to the rest of the OWU community when they return later that week.
Pulcini said the orientation teams leading the students will be smaller. Applications for “Camp Leader” positions were due last week and will soon be reviewed by Student Involvement staff.
Junior Alexander Pacilio has been an orientation leader in the past. He said he believes that most of the changes will improve the process.
However, he also said that along with other orientation leaders, he was disappointed to learn that there are only going to be two orientation team leaders, instead of the usual four.