Students enter a new living environment away from their families, get to know their roommate overnight and learn how to be on their own. At
that point, it’s hard to know where you want to find a home, because students aren’t even oriented in the home they’re sleeping in.
As a senior, I remember Welcome Fest vividly. I remember wanting to be involved in every group that I possibly could. I put my name on every list that I even had the slightest interest in, and promised to be a committed member. Even though I had never climbed a rock wall, I wanted to join the climbing club. Little did I know, classes were going to absorb about 80 percent of my time, and the rest of my time was spent trying to find balance and keep my sanity during my freshman year. Welcome Fest was overwhelming for me because of my drive.
This may just be my personality, but I can’t help thinking that incoming students feel at least a little overwhelmed walking through the booths of Kinghorn as people hand out novelty items and force a pen into your hand to sign-up for multiple organizations.
There are many benefits to increasing awareness of the many organizations on campus through Welcome Fest, but there are also many negatives that may overwhelm incoming students and pressure them to be more involved than they can be. Incoming students need time to adjust and just being a freshman. They need to learn how to be away from home because it is not an easy transition, nor a quick one.
Welcome Fest is a great tradition that Ohio Northern has carried on for many years with incoming students. However, my question remains, is it really helpful? Do students really leave the event feeling as if they have found their home on campus, or do they make an empty promise on a sign-up sheet that they had no idea they would ever break?
There are ways to change this. If it is possible to create a Welcome event that doesn’t make incoming students feel pressured and stressed into joining multiple organizations, then Ohio Northern has the leaders to make it happen.