The Cornell Daily Sun (https://cornellsun.com/tag/orientation/)
After a year on zoom, in-person orientation is back for incoming first year and transfer students with movie nights, field day and New Student Convocation at Schoellkopf Field
The Student Assembly Health and Wellness Committee successfully expanded its Wind-Down Zones initiatives during orientation weekend, helping students enjoy the night safely and welcoming first-years and transfer students to Cornell.
From formal academic meetings with peer advisors in the daytime to informal social treks to Collegetown at night, orientation week is a universal experience shared by freshmen across all seven colleges to get them started on their Cornell journey.
Orientation week at Cornell is always fun. It can be FUN. “FUN.” Funnnnnn. Or just fun, which comes out sounding a lot closer to, “fine,” than “fun.” This year, however, was the most FUN. As a junior, two orientation weeks have come and gone for me.
Somehow, every freshman is simultaneously horny and anxious and tired and excited and sweaty during O-week. Part of my on-campus job involves trying to parse through these feelings with first-year students, assuaging their fears and elevating their excitement. I generally try to keep things positive. I tell them how I love the Ithaca Farmers Market, Manndible oatmeal chocolate chip walnut cookies and running through Forest Home Drive. I slipped up last year when I was on a student panel for Cornell Days and a really perceptive prefrosh asked what I didn’t like about Cornell.
When I was a freshman, every reputable national newspaper had a 40 year-old writing about how to “do college” correctly and effectively. And while crumbs of their advice were useful, I also felt like the prescriptions for how to act and perform were more stressful than anything else.
Members of the Cornell Orientation Steering Committee and Student Assembly addressed concerns from first year students at a forum hosted during Thursday’s Student Assembly meeting at Robert Purcell Community Center. After concluding the S.A. general meeting, President Jordan Berger ’17 opened the forum by asking members of the community — especially first-year students — to come forward and share what they felt was missing from their transition to Cornell. OSC co-chair Ethan Kramer ’17 — along with OSC members Finn McFarland ’18 and Emily Hunsinger ’18 — fielded questions from the community. After a few minutes of discussion, ILR student Joseph Anderson ’20 sparked a long conversation on the required orientation events Tapestry and Speak About It by recalling a hostile exchange between a student moderator and an audience member during a Tapestry question and answer session. “At least in [my Tapestry event], it got very hostile between the student moderator and the students who were questioning,” Anderson said.
Student volunteers help incoming freshmen with the move-in process on Friday.
One of the main challenges for each Orientation Steering Committee is putting a new spin on the annual event.
According to Jack Cao ’10, one of the members on the OSC, this year the committee is trying to give the orientation theme a more prominent role than previous years’ themes.
“What makes 2009 unique is the emphasis on integration,” Cao said. “The theme of technology is meant as a metaphor for the OSC’s attempt to get the new freshmen integrated and connected to Cornell.”
For two days during Orientation Week, students, parents and community members formed a queue outside Helen Newman Recreational Center for the Dump and Run sale. The sale, which runs every August, features items that Cornell students donate at the end of the spring semester. For those unfortunate enough to be at the back of the line, there were times where it took them up to three hours to get into the building to see what was for sale.
Yesterday, all those who helped make the Dump and Run sale possible came together to celebrate the success of the event and distribute the proceeds from the sales.