Orientation
Today,
I met a young woman taking a campus tour accompanied by her grandparents. The
tour guide introduced us and informed me that the student was enrolled for the
fall, but had not been able to visit campus before making the trip across the
country to attend orientation.
I
never cease to be inspired by young people who take a leap of faith and enroll
in an institution not because of how it made them feel (although that can be a
surprisingly important point of discernment), but because through careful study
they have determined that that university’s curriculum, or setting, or
articulation of community values resonates with their aspirations and
expectations.
We
have about 140 returning student leaders who will play a variety of roles in
orientation later this week. They are our RAs, SCAs, and the infamous O-Team.
This remarkable group of young people has committed a week of their lives to
help our incoming students to become “oriented,” to feel valued, and to make
the most of one of the biggest transitions in their lives. Many of these
student leaders have told me that their own orientation experience was
significantly transforming, and they want to help incoming students to “love
Susquehanna as much as we do.”
While
our student leaders were preparing to welcome the incoming first years and
transfers, our faculty were engaged in a series of valuable workshops with
goals that meaningfully overlap with the students’ preparations. The faculty
spent the morning refining strategies for improved advising, particularly as it
applies to our GO Program (Thanks to Swarna Basu, Jimmy Black, Scott Manning,
and DuBois Jennings for their presentations). The faculty spent the afternoon
in a session with Randy Bass, Vice Provost for Education and Professor of English at
Georgetown University, discussing new paradigms for integration and inclusion
in the teaching and learning work we do with students (Kudos to Betsy Verhoeven
and Matthew Duperon for their work in organizing this session).
The energy and purpose of my
colleagues and our student leaders to prepare our campus for the incoming
students was a wonderful affirmation that the young woman I met earlier in the
day had made a great decision—sight unseen. In the coming days, I know she will
be happy in her choice. We are delighted that she is here.
