JULY 6, 2012<\/p>\n
by Erikah Haavie, Contributing Writer<\/p>\n
Assignment: Find someone in your group who hasn\u2019t tried sweet tea.<\/p>\n
Maddy Craft, a resident of Minneapolis, Minn., suddenly found herself surrounded.<\/p>\n
Though she had to disappoint the group (she sampled sweet tea awhile back), Craft said she is already feeling a special bond with Furman after being part of \u201cGroup 6.\u201d \u201cI\u2019m not alone,\u201d Craft said of her orientation group. \u201cEveryone is so friendly . . . and we\u2019re all learning together.\u201d<\/p>\n
A new approach to freshman orientation this year brought large groups of incoming students and their families to campus in June for five two-day programs packed full of activity.<\/p>\n
A total of 552 freshmen from California to Massachusetts attended the orientation sessions, along with an estimated 650 parents and other family members, according to Austin Arias, an intern with the National Orientation Directors Association who assisted with Furman\u2019s program.<\/p>\n
Furman\u2019s new take on orientation emerged from two years of research by J. Scott Derrick, director of the Trone Student Center; Jessica Berkey, associate director for student activities; and members of the First Year Experience Committee. The committee looked at orientation programs\u00a0used across the country before developing the two-day summer sessions.<\/p>\n
The new system featured a variety of activities, among them programs about academics at Furman, a resource fair to introduce students to various offices and departments on campus, and bonding activities with other members of the class. Students also worked with advisors to plan their initial class schedules. For parents and family members, sessions included information on housing and residence life and a panel discussion on campus safety, security and alcohol policies.<\/p>\n
In previous years, freshmen would arrive for orientation \u2014 which included advising and course selection \u2014 five days before fall classes began. This year freshmen will arrive on Thursday, Aug. 16, before classes begin Monday, Aug. 20. They\u2019ll participate in additional transitional activities during the first few weeks of classes.<\/p>\n
Before coming to orientation, Kristen Marakoff of Fort Mill, S.C., said she was unsure about choosing courses and didn\u2019t know what student organizations were on campus. Now, she has her answers.<\/p>\n
It was the simple things, including the icebreaker games and eating meals with other students, that she said she enjoyed most: \u201cI feel a lot more comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Monica Williams of Columbia said she was grateful to be included in the orientation program with her son, Jason Pecorella. \u201cIt\u2019s very open to the parents,\u201d she said. \u201cI already feel a connection with everyone. They are helpful and up front with the information we need to know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Craft, who plans a career in sportscasting, brought her grandfather, Ed Craft of Beaufort, S.C. Coming from a high school with 3,600 students, Craft said she likes the cozier feel at Furman.<\/p>\n
Both were impressed with what they saw. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to quantify, but there\u2019s a personal touch on everything here,\u201d Ed Craft said.<\/p>\n
Dianne Chiles of Greenville, who joined her son Justin Paden for the program, said, \u201cI know Furman\u2019s reputation in the community . . . so I felt very comfortable with him coming here.\u201d She added that the orientation provided many insights into what she would need to know to help Justin prepare for his first semester.<\/p>\n
Her son attended sports camps at Furman while he was in high school and always hoped he would be able to attend Furman as a college student. \u201cWe were nervous while waiting to hear if he was accepted,\u201d Chiles said. \u201cNow we\u2019re really excited.\u201d<\/p>\n
Students who were unable to participate in the June sessions are in the process of being contacted for a virtual orientation, either by phone or online.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
JULY 6, 2012<\/p>\n
by Erikah Haavie, Contributing Writer<\/p>\n
A new approach to freshman orientation this year brought large groups of incoming students and their families to campus in June for five two-day programs packed full of activity. A total of 552 freshmen from California to Massachusetts attended the sessions, along with an estimated 650 parents and other family members. By all accounts, the new approach was a success.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":265,"featured_media":645,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,34,27,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-administrative","category-admission","category-student-life","category-top-stories"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}