News and Views
Surviving Freshman Orientation
"Go!" With a lurch, we blindfolded freshmen rushed out. Feeling the carpet with my hands, I fumbled blindly for a ball. Each of us had someone else yelling directions at us. "Go to the left!" my guide shouted. Feeling the carpet, I found a ball. My arm swinging back, I threw it hard towards a person in front of me. We all pummeled each other. This was one of the many orientation activities we freshmen enjoyed.
My team was probably the worst at the balance beam. We were supposed to organize ourselves in age order. Unfortunately for us, our feet were not supposed to touch the ground. If there was a prize for falling off the most times and looking ridiculously stupid, my team would have won it -- but we formed good friendships while falling off together.
I moved to OWU knowing absolutely no one. Because of this fact, I really appreciated the first few days of freshman orientation. After talking to some of the other freshman, we all agreed that the best thing about it was the mentor groups. Having the Downstream Salmon (my group), gave me people to sit with in the first few awkward days of not knowing anyone. Others I talked to agreed. Molly Spahn said, "I liked the mentor groups because it gave me a group of people to hang out with and to get to know."
I was surprised that the school made such an effort to help us meet people. It contrasted sharply with many of my friends' experiences at big state universities. They are all envious that I had such a relaxing and fun first week, while they were thrown straight into the pressures of Rush. By contrast, we OWU freshmen went straight from orientation to Eagle Week.
Sliding down a giant slip-n-slide was definitely the highlight of my week. I went to the barbecue first just to check it out, casually observing what it was like. But everyone was having so much fun that I just had to slide down myself. Getting dirty is a crucial part of the experience according to most of the students. I got into a mud fight with some guys ... (They started it.)
I can't help but wonder what the rest of the semester will be like. What will happen once classes have really gotten going? Will the friendships formed in the first few weeks still be strong? I can't wait to see what the rest of the year will hold.