This year's Freshmen Orientation Week began Tuesday, August 21, and included various educational and social activities geared to Washington College's newest students. In addition, the newly developed Peer Mentor program was put into effect to help ease any fears and confusion associated with the college transition.
The program included many of the same activities as last year, such as Play Fair, Into The Streets and Outdoor Movie Night. Some new programs included Survivor Night, Sex Rules and Mall Crawl.
Freshman Eleni "Nike" Pantazes thoroughly enjoyed "Play Fair." She shared, "I enjoyed meeting new people, but I wish I had more time to get to know them."
For the Into the Streets program, students traveled throughout the Kent County community as they had done in the project's past years. Some service projects included working with Women In Need, helping out at the Kent Center Carnival, petting dogs at the Humane Society of Kent County and creating trails at Eastern Neck Island Preserve.
Senior and Peer Mentor Gia Grier explained her views on Into the Streets: "While some participants either love the project or hate it, it's a great way to get your hands dirty - which a lot of people never have before - doing service while providing a great look at all the different aspects of the Kent County community."
Dean Maxcy said that the program received positive feedback from the community as well as the mayor, which can be seen in the Kent County Times News Section.
Survivor Night was a fun-filled evening of interactive and team-building games, held in the Lifetime Fitness Center and coordinated by Bob Hooey. The games included "Orientation Square," "Tarp, Trip, Flip and Sing" and "Network Bingo."
Sophomore and Peer Mentor Mandi Appler said of Survivor Night, "My favorite game, in the respect of team-building, was 'Tarp Trip, Flip and Sing.' It gave us a chance to get to know each other and learn how to work as a team to achieve a goal."
Appler also shared her views on Sex Rules: "It was a self-esteem builder for everyone in the audience. The speaker incorporated serious issues in a comic manner."
Said Maxcy of the speaker, "Students enjoyed the up-front but humorous presentation."
This year, instead of the Peer Mentors only working with their mentees for the first week, they are able to continue assisting them with the college transition by keeping an ongoing relationship with the freshmen throughout the semester.
"Although last year's Orientation Program was successful, it did not provide for any interaction with the freshmen outside of one week. I think that this year, by extending [the] program to cover more time, we have been and will be able to aid the students as they encounter difficulties throughout their first semester and also get a better sense of how easy or hard the transition into college is for them," shared Junior and Peer Mentor Heather Russell.
Peer Mentor and Junior Joseph Cioni explained, "I feel that the program is an enormous success due to the coordination of Dean Maxcy, Dean Hoesly and Sarah Feyerherm."
Grier added, "I don't think that people know how hard they worked throughout the summer and Orientation Week."
When asked why she became a Peer Mentor, Appler replied, "I wanted to help make Orientation Week better so that incoming students will remember it in a positive sense. I also wanted to be able to help them ease into college life."
The ongoing concern that Maxcy shared was "the length of Orientation Week, which is determined by time needed for individuals to settle into their dormitory and meet fellow classmates, mentors, and professors."
The program is continually being changed and improved from year to year. Maxcy continued, "The final determination for the success of the program will be made by the incoming students."
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