First Year Orientation always begins the Wednesday before classes start, making this year’s Orientation just over a week away! Next Wednesday morning, a few hundred students will arrive at McDaniel College with parents, family members, and other loved ones in tow. By early afternoon, the new first year students will have settled into their new dorm rooms in Whiteford, Rouzer, and Daniel McLea Halls, and after Convocation, a ceremony to welcome the arrival of the new class of students, their families will depart and the real fun–that of their new-found freedom–will begin.
It’s all hands on deck for first year move-in day! Even McDaniel College President Dr. Roger Casey helps students move into their new digs. I nabbed this shot of him at last year’s move-in day, which I got to take pictures of for McDaniel’s student newspaper, the McDaniel Free Press.
But first year students aren’t the first students to arrive on campus. While it’s true that most sophomores, juniors, and seniors will move back in on the Saturday and Sunday before classes start, lots of lucky students get to move in earlier.
Students on several of McDaniel’s Green Terror sports teams are among the first students to move back to McDaniel before fall semester starts, allowing them ample time for practice. RA’s (resident assistants) also move in a few weeks early so they can receive training and be on hand for when the first year students move in. Peer Mentors, who are older students who serve as peer resources for first year students as part of the First Year Seminar program, also move in early so they too can receive training and be ready to welcome to campus their new “mentees.”
Students in various other organizations can also get permission to move back to the Hill before everyone else. I found out on Thursday that for the second year in a row, I get to be one of them! I’ll be moving back to campus next Monday (one week from today!) so I can reunite with about half of the Free Press editorial staff so we too can welcome the new first year students, taking lots of pictures and providing coverage of Orientation throughout the week.
Having covered Orientation for the Free Press last year, I know this year is going to be a blast. I had such a wonderful time meeting new faces and sharing with them what I love about the Hill.
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