Experiences on the first day of arriving to a new campus can cause confusion, a loss of direction and frustration. Most campuses can be laid out in a completely different manner and have various systems to organize buildings. There are different terminologies for various sites to talk to about tuition, parking and transferring credits. However, some schools provide booths for information about the campus and the resources it provides. In addition, they have orientations for new students. They make sure students feel they know where they are going. Most students have trouble on the first day of class, whether new or old. At Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU), the school provides a transfer student orientation, but many students do not know that it exists.
NEIU’s transfer student orientation has been offered for the past three to four years. It is programmed by a joint effort between the Dean of Students and the financial aid committee. There are 26 people in the committee and 15 peer leaders. The committee lays out what needs to be done to provide a beneficial orientation for students.
The peer leaders regulate group activities, tours and issuing IDs and provide resources for the three departments of the academic schools on campus. They also aid in registration, partake in FYI presentations, and give information about student support services and student activities. They are trained for 60 hours, attend mandatory monthly meetings and participate in a mandatory shared reading experience. They are paid, but need to complete a screening before becoming a peer leader.
Assistant Dean of Students Robert Bedford, said that the school wishes to make the orientation mandatory, since it helps students feel welcome, make friends, and have necessary information they need to find their way around NEIU. He explained that they do try to notify students about the orientation by mailing first class letters after being matriculated into NEIU, e-mailing the same content from the letters to students and even calling all new transfer students.
“We made about 500 calls and over 400 students responded,” Bedford said. Of course, there will be problems in dealing with wrong numbers, voicemails or disconnections; however, they work hard in trying to notify students.
For the orientations, students get to participate in group activities, are provided with light refreshments and a NEIU book bag. There is time to ask many questions about the functionalities about NEIU. In addition, a student resource guide is provided, including information about everything you need to know, a listing of locations, phone numbers, services available, a terminology guide for collegiate experiences and policies and procedures regarding NEIU.
It appears to be a wonderful program and the team would like to promote and list their orientations on NEIUport in the future. They are also considering charging a low nominal fee for $30 to $35 to fund future orientations. Bedford adds, “We want to lessen the anxiety in students, make sure they are informed, and have all unanswered questions answered.”
“We want them to be confident, feel welcome at NEIU, and prepared to start the collegiate life,” said Bedford.
Future orientations are provided on June 18 , July 15 (Wednesday) and Aug. 13 (Thursday) at the Golden Eagles Room in the Student Union from 1:00p.m.-4:00p.m. The committee is also trying to add one or two more dates, since there was a 30 percent increase of transfer students than last year. For more information, go to the Dean of Students in the B Building across from the computer lab in B-158.
Ask for Robert Bedford regarding transfer student orientations. There is also information on the bulletin board past Descartes Café.