For current UT students, the summer holidays are a time for one of three pastimes: relaxation, work or summer school, with no two holiday experiences being alike. This, however, is not the summer itinerary for the 5,000 plus incoming freshman. For those recent high school graduates, the months of June and July will hold at least one weekend when all will share a similar experience. For all of these new UT students, Freshman Orientation is either in their present or future plans.
The first session of orientation opened June 5, and has slowly been churning out new crops of Volunteers daily. For most of these students, their time at orientation represents a pivotal learning experience, where they come to better know their school, their peers and themselves.
“It’s really exciting,” said Sarah Schulze, an aspiring marketing and advertising major from Trenton, Tenn. “I feel like I’m starting something new. It is a little stressful with all of the stuff they’re throwing at us, but it’s kind of exciting to think that in a couple months I will be here full time.”
Andrew Walters, an incoming freshman from Memphis, shared Schulze’s enthusiasm for orientation.
“Orientation is tiring, but it’s very beneficial I think,” he said.
For many of these soon-to-be students, one of the biggest transitions they faced was their new concept of campus as more than just a place to visit, but instead as their new home.
“I’ve been on campus two or three times before,” Riley Duncan, who is undecided on his major and from Nashville, said.
“This just feels more real for me, it’s a different than football games. I feel like I’m apart of the campus now.”
Even for Knoxvillians, the orientation environment changed their perception of campus.
“It just feels completely different for me now,” Aaron Baer, a Central High School graduate and chemistry major hopeful.
Walters shared Baer’s and Duncan’s new perception of the campus.
“I’ve been to football games before but this is the first time I’ve actually walked around here,” Walters said. “… It’s kind of weird too. My high school had 800 people and this is such a bigger scale now.”
Not only does this experience represent a new changing perception of campus for many of these students, but it also is one of the first tastes they will get of who they will be sharing this campus with. And it was in these new connections that many students found their favorite aspect of their orientation experience.
“We had our Orientation Leaders talking to us in the Vol-to-Vol segment and I really liked my last session there,” Schulze said. “They really connected with us and brought our own fears to help us.”
Duncan and Callie Jaggers both shared Schulze’s enthusiasm about the connections that these discussions made.
“I really liked the small groups,” Duncan said. “We had a lot of really good discussions.”
“I loved meeting new friends, the lectures weren’t too much fun,” Jaggers, an aspiring biology major from Jackson, Tenn., admitted.
For some, these connections were not only beneficial for their time at orientation, but also for the months and years to come as they move from high school to college.
“My favorite part was meeting all of these new people,” Walters said. “Especially the Orientation Leaders, it’s good to know that I am going to know some people, in particular them. It will help me look for guidance in this transition.”
