Campus Life Welcoming Students W.O.W.-style

Guethshina Altena/Assistant News Director

Fall 2017 Week of Welcome (WOW) brings numerous activities and events for new and returning students to get involved right off the bat.

According to the University Student Affairs website, WOW starts on the Sunday before classes begin with the Freshman Convocation. It is a welcome ceremony for all freshmen hosted by University President Mark B. Rosenberg. This year it will be held at Ocean Bank Convocation Center at MMC more commonly known as the FIU arena at 2 p.m.

Monday consists of a Kick-Off celebration from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. with food and live entertainment in front of Academic Center 1 building at BBC. Tuesday is the Restaurant and Business Fair from 12p.m. to 2p.m. at the Wolfe University Center WUC ballrooms where student can engage to win prizes and giveaways.

On Wednesday, BBC departments treat ‘grab and go’ breakfast with students from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m in the WUC Panther square.

On Thursday, the WOW event will be a Panther Luau from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. WUC ballrooms. To conclude the week of welcomes activities, Campus Life! will host a swim, bike and run triathlon at 8 a.m. in the Aquatic Center. All athletes and marathon participant levels are welcome.

Gwen Oliver is a senior public administration major with a certification in import and export supply chain management. She feels that she hasn’t participated enough in the University WOW events.

“GC [Graham Center] is always so crowded during the first week of school and this year I look forward to meeting new people and hopefully help some of them find their way around campus,” she said.

Oliver believes that the University provides a lot of resources to their students such as the writing center in the Green Library GL, Career Services in the Student Academic Success Center SASC, the computer lab in the Graham Center and weekly roundtable discussions in the School of International and Public Affairs SIPA.

She encourages freshman students to make use of the free time they may have on their hands to explore the services FIU offers through tuition and fees.

“Career services can help you a lot when it comes to your professional life and career,” Oliver said. “They help students win internships and such; that’s why I would recommend new FIU students to visit their office.”

Oliver thinks that the University has out done themselves in welcoming new students to the campus through the WOW events. Although she feels that she had become less and less involved in campus events due to her focus on studies, she believes that freshman and transfer students can get a lot of information through their interactions in GC during the first week of school.

Oliver said that she attended the 2016 Greek BBQ last year. She had a great time there and would encourage new students to take advantage of these opportunities to meet other students and socialize.

Kamylle Morency is a junior criminal justice major who feels that the diversity of WOW’s events is a great way to keep students engaged in other things happening on campus aside from classes.

“I am looking forward to events like the yard show that they [Student Programming Council] had last year and attending more tabling events in order to take advantage of the giveaways such as the free planner they give out to students each year,” she said.

Morency shares Oliver’s thought that sometimes students do not take advantages of the resources they get because of their tuition payments. She is involved in students clubs such as the Haitian Student Organization and encourages other students to follow their passion whatever it may be.

“Week of welcome is the introduction to many other similar events such as the club fairs and going to them can give students a lot of options of what organizations to join if they would like to be more involved in extracurricular activities,” Morency said.