I received a postcard about the Freshmen reception in the mail a week prior to the workshop event. I felt that this workshop was important due to the fact that the Center for Academic Advisement would take the time and resource to mail postcards relating to this event. In addition, the thought of a raffle, a free chance to win a prize, convinced me further to attend this workshop.
On the day of the workshop, I walked toward the location of the event hoping to gain useful knowledge about the majors and minors I can choose from. However, upon approaching the designated place, I was shocked to find a massive amount of students hovering around the entrance of the room, all impatiently trying to sign in and enter the room. It was truly congested outside the room and a few times would there be someone’s foot stepping on my toes.
Luckily, I was able to sign in and enter the room fairly quickly. However, upon entering the room, I realized that it was not all that better. The room was not made to accommodate the number of people who had come to attend this workshop. I was not sure as to where to go or what to do so I followed a group of students who went toward a smaller room. I found out that this room was where the facilitators were signing your handbooks to prove your attendance. A great amount of students were inside the room, and it was difficult to maneuver through the people. As I was close to getting my handbook signed, one of the personnel in charge of the workshop arrived to announce that the Center for Academic Advisement did not anticipate such a huge number of people (around 2000) to attend. This was because in the past years, only around 200 people attended. She continued on to say that once students get their handbooks signed, they had to leave because the room could not accommodate this amount of people.
I quickly had my handbook signed and rapidly left. I felt relief as I left the room because I did not have to be contained in such a small place with so many people so close together. I felt that the Freshmen Reception could have been organized better if the Center for Academic Advisement had made a better estimate about the amount of students who would have attended the workshop. They should have also gotten a more open setting instead of an office area. In the end, I did not gain any information about any majors or minors. I was disappointed.