The two-day sequence of events formerly known as Destination Western has gone through some changes which will be put into operation in the summer of 2008.
This program originally consisted of a series of registration activities extended over a period of two days.
Now known as “New Student Registration,” this program will give students the same opportunity to learn about Western over a shortened one-day session lasting from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Acting new student registration director Kristen Neeley explained their new slogan.
“We’re trying to promote the ‘three R’s’ (get ready, get registered and get rockin’), which we just made up,” Neeley said.
Neeley believes students will appreciate the changes made to the program.
“I think that it’ll be a lot better in the fact that parents [won’t] have to take off as much time from work, and they can kind of get a good feel for the campus,” Neeley said. “They won’t be as tired and they’ll feel like their time is worthwhile.”
Neeley said activities during the day will be geared more towards registration, and sessions in which students listen to various speakers will be shorter.
“It’s gonna be much different, just for the simple fact that I know a person’s attention span is usually about 20-30 minutes when it comes to speakers, so we’re gonna try to have shorter sessions,” Neeley said.
Registration and Griffon Edge Intern Luke Akers expressed the same concern.
“I think it got too lengthy for people,” Akers said.
One student who felt this way was Freshman Shaina Kotwani.
“I thought a lot of the stuff was pointless and boring, honestly,” Kotwani said. “One day is a better idea.”
Equivalent to previous years, students will be split up into groups based on their major. Approximately 20 student leaders will be divided among 12 or 13 groups.
Group leaders will follow their students around most of the day, attending speaker presentations and joining them for lunch.
Group members will have 30-minute sessions with their leaders and parents will have the opportunity to go to special parent sessions.
The day’s events will consist of the usual speaker presentations that teach newcomers about opportunities on campus, as well as informational sessions about billing, financial aid and meeting with their advisors.
The option for students to stay overnight is still available – they must RSVP online for this.
“We want a lot of student interaction,” Neeley said. “We want students to feel comfortable with their group and their group [to] be able to ask [leaders] questions anytime they want.”
Akers said that the leaders recently attended the NODA (National Orientation Director’s Association) Conference in Fayetteville at the University of Arkansas, which presented them with several new ideas from registration programs of other colleges.
“I know we’re going to have an awesome group,” Akers said.
However, it takes a lot of preparation for leaders to get to that point.
According to Neeley, leaders must go through an intense six-week training course every Wednesday for 2.5 hours from March to April.
A lot of work goes into this for the student’s benefit.
“Basically we’re just trying to make it [Registration] really fun for the students; fun and exciting so they can feel really comfortable and good about the day,” Neeley said.”