Oriented toward success, the freshman class expresses gratitude towards summer sessions
By Emily Entress
As the new school year starts, the walkways and classrooms of Santa Clara University are adorned with a slew of fresh faces, and every single one of them has gone through the school's orientation program.
The question remains, however, whether or not they have been prepared by orientation to succeed in the college environment. The consensus? Santa Clara's orientation program does an excellent job preparing students for college, particularly in the areas of social development and student life.
"Orientation helped give me get a sense of what Santa Clara is about," said Jeremy Chung, a member of the freshman class of 2014. "It was awesome how we got to register for our classes and learn about our respective RLCs, as well as meeting with fellow Broncos of the class of 2014." Chung highlighted what many other students have mentioned as their favorite aspects of the orientation program, the most prominent of these being the chance to bond with fellow new students inside and outside of their respective RLC's.
"I got to not only meet people from my RLC, but now I know freshmen from every other RLC, as well as all the orientation leaders by name," agreed Tennyson Jones, another member of the freshman class.
Another important aspect of orientation that helped prepare students for college life was the mandatory overnight stay in the dorms. For many freshmen who had never lived in a dorm before, the overnight stay gave them a taste of the freedom they would have in college. It also helped to cement the bond that they created with fellow members of their RLC.
Each of the six freshmen orientation sessions is packed full of information that the orientation leaders work tirelessly to convey to the new students.
"Although we load the students with information, our goal at orientation is to ensure that all students feel prepared to come to Santa Clara knowing about all of the different programs offered," stated Stillman. "We want to give them the tools to succeed, but we want them to enjoy the experience at the same time."
The majority of students were able to enjoy the experience, in spite of the overload of information. According to Jones, "Orientation was a lot of information to take in in two days, but was still extremely helpful. It made the fact that I'm starting college all the more real and exciting!"However, there were some aspects of orientation that could stand to be improved upon, such as class registration. Many students reported that they felt stressed and unprepared when it came time to register for classes, stating that they hadn't been given ample time or direction to pick classes.
"I found it somewhat confusing to sign up for classes," admitted sophomore Carolyn Entress when reflecting on her orientation experience. "I had a hard time knowing what classes to pick, especially because I was undeclared, so it felt like I was just picking random classes."
One possible way to remedy this confusion is to send a packet to incoming students before they arrive at orientation containing example class schedules or suggestions of general requirements for freshmen to take, suggested Monica Griffith, a Santa Clara student who experienced the same stress while registering for classes at transfer student orientation.
"I would have liked to have more time to plan for the classes I needed, especially coming into school as a sophomore." Other than the stressful class sign-ups, however, the orientation staff receives overwhelmingly positive feedback from both parents and students who attend the different sessions throughout the summer. While the students might not have the exact schedule they want for the first quarter, they are more than prepared to tackle dorm life and the social development that the college experience brings.
Contact Emily Entress at eentress@scu.edu or (408) 554-4546