August
29, 2003
Class
of ’007 Bonds during Orientation
You
arrive at Mount Holyoke over a weekend, parents in tow, looking
at an entirely new experience. A week or so later, you’re
negotiating the demands of classes, residence hall living, social
life, and community involvement like a seasoned MHC veteran. What
lies between?
Orientation. From August 31 through September 7, 518 students
of the class of 2007, as well as 35 transfer students and 32 Frances
Perkins Scholars, will take part in a set of activities and programs
designed to show them key aspects of life at Mount Holyoke—and
to ease the culture shock of being on their own for, in many cases,
the first time.
“For many of the new students, it’s the first time
they’ve done a lot of things: decide their own classes,
figure out their own schedule, even pick what they want to eat,”
said Jennifer Roth ’04, student co-coordinator for orientation,
along with Sybil Obiri ’04. “Then suddenly classes
start and things go pretty fast; it can be very scary. That’s
the reason we have the orientation program, to help quell some
of those fears.”
A special focus of orientation each year is acclimating international
students not just to Mount Holyoke, but to a new country as well.
“For international students, it can be hard to communicate
and to get used to things, so we have a preorientation that helps
with the transition for them, and we have some small-group events
where they can get to know each other,” said Obiri, a native
of Ghana whose first trip to the U.S. was to enter MHC.
Similarly, the student and administration groups that work on
orientation have designed the “Passages” program for
ALANA (African American, Latina, Asian American, and Native American)
students, who also have a preorientation. Transfer students and
Frances Perkins Scholars attend events aimed at easing their transition
into college life.
Obiri and Roth have worked with the Student Orientation Board,
interim dean of students Karen Cardozo-Kane, and associate dean
of the College Elisabeth Hogan to tune up and implement the orientation
program over the summer. In addition to annual activities such
as academic, health, and cultural orientations, and Orientation
101 (the yearly upper-class welcome and talent show), incoming
first-years can expect some new wrinkles, such as Museum Mania,
a scavenger hunt at the art museum, and the New Roommate Game,
where students will see just how much they really know about their
new residence hall partners.
Cardozo-Kane noted that instilling a sense of connection has become
the overarching philosophy of orientation. As an example, she
cites the small-group event series, which forms a thread of continuity
throughout the program: the same groups of 15 new students, led
by trained upper-class women, will reconnect at major events each
day, such as “Excelling at Mount Holyoke,” or “Many
Voices, One Community.” This year “Many Voices”
will include the creation by new students of a unique collaborative
fabric art project that will showcase their tremendous diversity.
Such programs, said Cardozo-Kane, counter the temptation to view
new students as “passive vessels into which we pour information
about the campus.” Rather, Cardozo-Kane noted, “we
have tried to introduce newcomers to Mount Holyoke in ways that
enable them to participate right from the start as valued members
of the community.”
This year’s orientation will emphasize living relationships
a little more than in the past, according to Roth: “The
small groups will be more dorm-based,” Roth said. “They’re
the people you’ll be hanging out with the most at first,
and it makes sense to have them get to know each other right from
the beginning.”
“We hope these groupings increase the likelihood that connections
instilled during orientation will deepen naturally over the course
of the year,” Hogan said.
The main part of the process culminates with convocation on Wednesday,
September 3, where the first-years will mix fully with the Mount
Holyoke community and go through the honor code ceremony on Wednesday
evening. However, Cardozo-Kane noted, “the spirit and aims
of orientation continue in multiple forms well into the first
year.”
Printed orientation schedules are available to new students. The
full schedule and supplemental information can also be found on
the Web at http://www.mtholyoke.edu/offices/dostdnts/orientation/
orientation.shtml.
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