The new undergraduate Arts, Sciences and Engineering class arriving on the Medford campus today will begin a week-long orientation program. Scheduled events range from panel discussions with Tufts faculty members, a performance by the band "Harry and the Potters," and a class of 2009 spelling bee.
Unlike in past years, this year's orientation coordinators, seniors Katherine Drizos and Anita Sinha, chose not to have a theme. "The theme this year is just the incoming students, the class of '09," Sinha said. Last year's orientation theme was All Paths Lead to Tufts.
Orientation begins with the matriculation ceremony on the Academic Quad. Freshmen and incoming transfer students will hear speeches by Director of Admissions Lee Coffin and University President Lawrence Bacow.
Following the ceremony, students and their parents can attend open houses at the culture centers, the library, and various campus offices. There will also be meetings with coaches for students interested in participating in fall sports.
Throughout orientation, students will be guided by student orientation leaders, previously known as Peer Academic Leaders. Orientation leaders will not only provide friendly faces for incoming freshmen, but also help the freshmen select courses for the fall semester.
The orientation leaders have been receiving training for the past week in diversity, University academic requirements, and other issues they will confront in their week of duties.
Sophomore Orientation Leader Judy Winglee said she is looking forward to the new orientation events. "I'm so excited about meeting my new freshmen," she said.
Drizos and Sinha held a competition to design the class T-shirt. The winning design is an elephant made out of the numbers 0 and 9. The t-shirts will be distributed at the class dinner this evening in the Gantcher Family Sports and Convocation Center. The dinner will run longer this year than in past years, due to more a capella performances and performances by drama and dance groups.
Sinha had wanted to tie the orientation events together in the theme of a circus, and some aspects of the idea will appear throughout the week. A cotton candy machine will be running in the campus center, "as a carry-over of my circus obsession," Sinha said.
Prior to the coming week of orientation events, many incoming students participated in the various pre-orientation programs, including FOCUS, FIT, Tufts Wilderness Orientation, and International Orientation.
According to Director of Student Activities Jodie Nealley, more students participated in pre-orientation programs this year than in the recent past. "Sometimes the pre-orientation programs are more exciting to the students than the actual orientation," she said.
Drizos and Sinha are adding other events to the orientation lineup, including a "Harry Potter" book discussion led by members of a previous Ex College class, and a sponsored trip to Target.
