The spring new student orientation is held four times during winter break, with two sessions being held on the Haverhill campus and two on the Lawrence campus. The orientations are held so students know all that is offered on campus, from class information to counseling services.
Kadee Tapley, a programming assistant in the Student Engagement Center, said, “I think it’s important so the new students can see what resources are available to them. It also helps them to meet new students, so when they do start classes they have some friendly faces on campus.”
New students are often anxious about starting college and a new school. The students seem to relax a bit when they realize, that students who have experience on the NECC campuses are holding the orientation.
Joseph Meli, a communications student felt that because of the direct experiences of the student orientation leaders it made it more enjoyable Meli said, “It’s nice to hear it from students.”
The orientation starts out with an icebreaker called “Human Bingo.” The object is to get up and work the room and try to find fellow new students with qualities that relate to them on each others board.
Elfie Grusing, a general studies student and an orientation leader, said, “This is a great icebreaker as the bingo game progresses you can see the connections being built between the students.”
The students then come upon their very first pop quiz as college students. The pop quiz is meant to be fun and the table that answers the most questions correctly wins a prize. The quiz is basic NECC information, such as when classes start and where the campuses are located. It also goes over specifics on a syllabus, dates of finals, where the grading system be found, and professors contact information.
Orientation Leaders go over time management with a small exercise in which a volunteer from the orientation is handed a pile of cash.
The entire room gasps and wonders why they did not volunteer. The student is asked to count the money and let everyone know how much is there. The money totals $24, to signify 24 hours in a day.
The students are then asked about different activities they do throughout the day. When they are asked how long they sleep, work, prepare and eat meals or hang out with friends, they have to hand over that dollar amount. At the end the student ends up with no money left in their hand, but they do get a prize for participating.
Students also learn about things that are less exciting, but seemed to have generated the most questions such as, paying for college, requirements both in and out of the classroom and what to expect when you do not follow the student code of conduct.
Angelina Gard, an education major, said, “The orientation was pretty cool, I liked it a lot. They were very informative and it was very easy to get through.”
The students had a chance at the end to ask any questions they had. Meli said, “All the questions I had before I came to orientation were answered before I could even ask them. I feel ready to start school next week.”