An oft-repeated adage is “today is the first day of the rest of your life.” It’s become platitudinous now, but it would have been an apt remark on August 31, or rather, “this week is the first week of the rest of your life”. The shift to University is one of the most, if not the most, significant changes in one’s life. It’s also difficult! We’re a mere two weeks into the term, and already you can hear the lamentations of burgeoning engineers (myself included).
It’s no wonder that the University members feels obliged, out of the kindness of their heart (and maybe just a little out of our bank accounts) to ease the transition. Thus, we have orientation week, the result of a collaborative effort between the Federation of Students, Graduate Student Association, College Pathways, Waterloo International, the Student Success Office, and each faculty.
It’s a gargantuan effort. Thousands of frosh and one week to cram full of activities. And not just any activities, but ones that must be fun, informative and safe, and must all occur together without conflict. It is surely no easy feat. Was it successful?
Let’s first consider the general orientation events, those being the ones that didn’t occur within any one faculty. Kicking things off was the Warrior Welcome, the large assembly in the PAC gymnasium. Done in earnest, but with the wrong intent. All of us in that gym chose Waterloo. So tell me, why do we need to be reminded of the immaculacy of this University and ensured of our success here? Have we not been berated by Universities showering praise on themselves for the last year? We’re in already! You got us! The assembly was simply unnecessary.
Thankfully it wasn’t a sign of things to come. The assembly was informative; the rest of the activities were entertaining. Entertaining on a broad scale. Some may have enjoyed the iridescence and volume of the many dances, others may have preferred a comedy show, and still others may have just wanted to engage in some mock-casino gambling. There was something for everyone. Even those fascinated by hypnotism! Campus was coursing with entertainment during o-week, and few things welcome as well as entertainment.
Now we come to the faculty-specific events, the faculty in question being engineering. Here things were much less open; this is where the “orientation” had to be put into orientation week. The engineering faculty was met with the difficult task of giving us an idea of what it’s like to be an engineer in a fun and engaging manner. In some activities, the seams were visible where an activity was hurriedly attached to something that was to be taught. For example, the activities put on by ed-com on the Graduate House Green, which ranged from matching pictures to placing plastic balls in a hard-hat. All the information dispersed through those activities felt very minimal. We’re not little kids anymore. If it’s something that can’t be adequately communicated through an activity, just have us attend an oral presentation containing the necessary information.
The hands-on activities were far superior. Junkyard Wars in particular was an amazingly well put-together event, and it succeeded in entertaining us and giving us an idea of what it feels like to be an engineer. Another highlight was the creation of a ramp out of junk. Again, our intuition and creativity were challenged in an engaging activity. Engineering O-week needs more activities like those two: hands-on and open-ended.
There were many times when the sheer size of the engineering frosh contingent (1700+ students) was painfully obvious. Never was this more apparent than during the cruelly-timed rainstorm that occurred on the Tuesday. Being frantically herded through narrow hallways with your personal space wholly compromised was torturous. “Herded” was a pervasive feeling during engineering’s o-week activities. No one wants to feel like cattle. That was engineering orientation’s biggest flaw: too big a group being strung along too tight a schedule. General orientation was successful because it gave us freedom and choice. It never felt constraining, like the Engineering orientation often was. It should be structured in the same way as general orientation. Give us a run-down of the events going on, and let us choose which one to attend. Don’t cram us into groups and drag us across campus!
Considering, however, that there were 1700 frosh to deal with, they did a terrific job. For the most part, everything ran smoothly and the bigs and huges did an amazing job moving their groups around campus. Even though some activities were mediocre, they all offered an opportunity to interact with others and become more socially comfortable in this new environment.
So, I say orientation week was a success. It’s been going on for over 40 years after all! Say what you will about the hackneyed activities, or the goofy cheers, or oversized groups; orientation week was fun, inspiriting, and friendly. Who could ask for more out of the first week of the rest of their life?
Leave a Reply