From Nerves to New Beginnings: My RIT Orientation Week Adventure
An exciting and new adventure unfolded this week, RIT finally started its long awaited orientation week. I must admit I didn’t know what to expect. Life’s funny that way. I spent years watching YouTube’s “Move In” videos awaiting this very moment. Yet, nothing compares to the moment when they give you the keys to your own dorm; a new home away from home.
I was nervous. I had no idea how I would feel taking this next step into this next chapter of my life until I made my way to my dorm on the 7th floor of Fredericka Douglass Sprague Perry Hall (DSP). I fumbled with my things, pushing the big bin with all my belongings. My clothes, bedding, stuffed animals and most importantly all of my most treasured books. They say college changes you as you discover who you are, I wonder who I will become. I unlocked my door and allowed it to push open welcoming me in. As I took one step forward into the uncertainty of an amazing anticipated future.
Group 4 showing their excitement during the Orientation Welcome Ceremony.
Orientation week is the week of connections and exploration. For me, I used the week to socialize and to step outside my comfort zone. I’ve never been a social butterfly. I prefer to stay in my little personal bubble but this week I found myself being more active as I met more people and especially as I got to know the people within my orientation group.. The orientation groups are groups designed to help you get to know the campus. They show you the ropes and important information while also having a lot of fun. Each group even had their own theme such as Shrek, Minions, Monsters Inc., Brat summer, and my personal favorite, Mario Kart.
Alec Eisert, Orientation Leader for Group 4, showing off his clips from the Clip Challenge.
Throughout the week I started building connections within my own group, mostly through the first day as we were introduced to the Group 4’s clip challenge. The goal is to clip someone without being noticed with a clip. The more clips you have the more you’ve been clipped and you can always get someone back, so it was crucial to watch your back at all times. We’d have lunch together, mingle with other groups, play volleyball, explore interesting parts of campus as well as general orientation information. The more time I spent with my group the more at ease I felt socializing. I didn't feel like a stranger standing amongst other strangers. I felt like I was making friends.
Beyond the orientation groups was even more fun, I found myself enjoying the little things like going on walks and skateboarding which I haven’t done in a few years. Meeting new people from all walks of life like my friend Patrick who I met on the first day during orientation check-in.
We spent most of that day exploring the tunnels, getting lost in the tunnels, having our first meal on campus at Gracies Dining Hall, sitting in front of the floor to ceiling window facing the open field surrounded by trees. The sun was setting giving the view a beautiful orangish hue despite the cloudy day. That's when it hit us, we are actually here.
“This is so weird,” Patrick chuckled a bit. Up until that point I hadn’t thought much about how strange it is to be here and not go home. Summer flew by so quickly that I hadn’t taken a moment to breathe. I took a deep breath and let it all set in, the moments that led up to this the four grueling years of high school, graduating, working through the summer and eventually leaving home. I can’t describe the feeling I had at that moment. It wasn’t home sickness, sorrow, or excitement. It was surreal.
The rest of orientation week flew by in a blink of an eye. Our orientation groups started to separate into our colleges for Academic day. My college, the Liberal Arts College, had a blast doing the scavenger hunt on day two. Although my team lost, I enjoyed myself nonetheless.
Arguably the best part of the entire week was not all the events we attended within our college and orientation groups but the Fall Convocation Ceremony. A ceremony where RIT welcomes the incoming students. The ceremony consisted of the Deans of each College and Student Government President speaking. We participated in the RIT tradition of making airplanes and writing the dream we carried with us here and then let them soar. Later on, the best part of the entire ceremony was this year's annual convocation video. Every year, our President works incredibly hard and diligently to make a video for students during the Fall Convocation, each portraying a different theme or reference. For example, last year's video was Indiana Jones themed. This year was the Wizard of Oz or as we called it “The Wonderful Wizard of RIT.”
The amount of effort and care that was put into this production that was fun and creative using the themes from the film and slogans as well as character portrayal was stunning. It caught us all by surprise. What was even more surprising was our President dressed in the same suit and same shoes in the video as he gave his welcome speech.
“There is no place like RIT” he chanted and then we chanted and I truly felt the magic.
There is no place like RIT.
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UndergraduateAbout the author
Hello I’m Kayla Gullage, a first year Journalism with applied modern language in French dual major in the College of Liberal Arts. I love being active on campus experiencing different events, organizations, reading, writing, the violin, and most recently banana nut muffins from Java. I hope everyone enjoys the content we create. LET’S GO TIGERS!!!