Getting freshman oriented to succeed

Careers and Colleges, March, 2002 by Traci Mosser

From camping in the Uinta Mountains of Utah to canoeing the scenic waters of Wabikimi Provincial Park in Ontario, freshmen orientation at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana, has become a wilderness adventure. These optional four-week retreats cost $2,275, but according to college officials, the 10 to 15 percent of freshmen who participate earn three credits and definitely benefit from the experience.

"We constantly get comments from professors that a student who went on the trip is more capable of speaking up in class and has made friends quicker," says Jay W. Roberts, director of wilderness programs at Earlham.

As more colleges look for ways to get incoming students better acquainted and enthused about school, orientation programs are becoming more like outdoor adventures instead of just exercises in waiting on line. Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, now offers orientation options such as "Yoga in the Woods" and "City Slickers Go Campin'." University of Texas at Austin motivates its freshmen with water sports and other "bonding" activities.

Other colleges are turning to community service projects to motivate their new students. At Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, faculty and students come together to wash fire trucks. "It's a win-win situation where the community has some specific needs and the students are able to fulfill those," says Deborah Woods, director of volunteer programs and service learning at Susquehanna.

Freshmen who participate in the "Streetwise" community service program at Colorado College in Colorado Springs, offer volunteer services such as improving animal habitats at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. Roanoke College freshmen build houses for Habitat for Humanity in Salem, Virginia.

Anita Graeser, a freshman at Earlham College, says the wilderness program changed her life. "I wouldn't have been prepared for life at Earlham had I not gone," she says. "It's such a powerful experience that you share with people who you are going to spend the next four years with."