Hey guys! So I attended the mad-house that was the Freshman Reception/Freshman Open House (Robert can attest to this). Heres the info on it (as per the email):
Title: Freshman Reception/Freshman Open House
Category: Student Life
Date/Time: Thurs, 9/17/2009 @ 12:30-2:30
The goals of this workshop were to get the freshman together to socialize and for them to get a chance to speak with advisors. I chose this workshop so that I could fit one in between classes. It took me outside of my comfort zone in that everyone (all like 400) was basically grinding on each other to get their freshman passports signed, but there were so many people, they just let everyone in and said to get the signature later. I did meet new people as we were pretty much squished together. This girl behind me was Nancy and the guy next to her was Daniel. I think that the intentions for this workshop were good, but frankly, I think they didn’t expect the turnout that they got. I met a few new people along the way as I tried to find my way through everyone. The seating that they had out was already full. I had the “refreshments” and stuck around for 10 min talking to random people. Then we all saw this guy signing the passports (he literally was shoved in a corner with 50 books shoved by his face). We all went to get our books signed and then I left because I was pretty hungry and went to get some lunch. I liked the idea of this workshop because it was so casual, but it didn’t take me very far out of my comfort zone. I was focused on getting through the crowd. I wouldn’t recommend it to another student if the turnout was the same. I learned from the workshop that you can meet people in the most random of places. I was surprised that so many people came. I’m not sure there was anything new I could take away from it. Overall, I did what I had to do because it was overcrowded. I probably would have stayed longer if it was emptier because the idea was good, but it was simply overwhelming.