This year, like every year, late August found the new freshman class arriving on the Connecticut College campus to the sounds and sights of cheering upperclassmen and an undisclosed individual in a camel suit. These freshmen, the Class of 2017, were about to embark on their first college experience: Freshman Orientation.
After a hectic, but successful, move in day, the freshman class proceeded to attend meetings and lectures galore. New to orientation is a community service element organized by the College’s Office of Volunteers and Community Service (the program is in its second year). Day two consequently found the freshmen up early and loaded onto buses, off to tackle one of the many service projects that had been organized. Some students helped clean up Ocean Beach, while others helped local public schools prepare for the upcoming first day of school.
Kelsey Hayden ’17 went into downtown New London to touch up the paint on some apartment buildings, while Becca Quirke ’17 volunteered in a local park to weed, plant and generally tidy. “We were prepping the park for the outdoor concerts they hold there, making sure the leaves and debris were cleaned up as well as planting flowers to improve the general aesthetics. The park volunteer who was leading our effort also had a lot of history and information to share with us about the park and New London in general which was really interesting. Seeing the passion the adult volunteers had for their local park and the preservation of the green spaces was really inspiring.” Quirke said.
Kim Sanchez, Assistant Director of OVCS, added that getting students involved in community service so soon after they arrive on campus encourages them to engage with their host community. This starts the year off on the note of positive experiences through community action.
When the Mayor of New London, Daryl Justin Finizio, spoke at a presentation later in the week, he was quick to thank the freshmen for their contributions to their new community. These sentiments were echoed by this year’s Freshman Orientation co-chair, Julia Cristofano ’14: “[The community service component] has been one of the best additions to orientation. Conn has a history of being separated from the town and community in New London so getting kids down there on the second day of orientation is great because it shows new students what New London has to offer while showing local communities that we want to take part and volunteer our time for them.”
The community service day ended with the freshmen reconvening in the Arboretum and sharing their experiences with one another. “One great aspect of community service day was that my friends and I all saw different parts of New London that we then had on our radars to check out as the semester progressed,” said Valerie Urban ’17. It seems as though this community service element succeeded in benefiting not only the greater New London community but Conn students as well.
Overall, orientation continued to be a great way for freshmen to meet one another and bond with their dorm communities. “The ice breaker games were way funnier and less awkward than I thought they would be, honestly, and having student advisors is a nice way that Conn helps you to meet some upperclassmen, if only to have a friendly face in your hall,” said Murat Edin ’17.
The general sentiment seemed to be that it was really welcoming to see how passionate and excited the upperclassmen were during orientation. Along this line of thought, the screening of the lip dub created by the orientation committee for the incoming freshman class was a highlight of the week. “One of my favorite things about orientation is the lip dub.” Cristofano said. “It takes about 200 of us over two days to film the whole thing and I have been a part of the last two. It’s exciting to see all these people dressing up in the most bizarre clothes they can find and running all over campus because they want to get the freshmen excited to be here. The enthusiasm of the upperclassmen can easily make or break how successful orientation is.”
The freshmen become quickly oriented if only because of how jam-packed the orientation schedule itself is. Cristofano said, “As the semester has progressed and I’ve gotten to know the freshmen class a little better it seems to me that they are actively getting involved with clubs and other organizations. I hope that with each year participation in events and activities on and off campus will continue to flourish.”
Orientation was just the beginning — the College community now looks forward to seeing what the class of 2017 has in store for Conn over the course of the next four years.
