Semester starts off with inaugural five-day celebration
Tyler McNeil
Managing Editor
New and returning students from across campus filled up their stomachs, club sign-up sheets, and the campus lawn for the first-ever five-day celebration of Welcome Week.
“They should keep doing this every day for the rest of eternity,” said Jackie Spang, individual studies student standing in line for free hot dogs and hamburgers.
“It’s an excuse to get to know one another,” said marketing student James Fitzgerald. Each day of the Welcome Week celebration carried a theme such as “Arts, Science & Technology Tuesday” or “Sports College Thursday.”
This year’s week-long event incorporated clubs along with its festivities. “It gives publicity for us and also gives more school spirit,” said Taylor Delisle, captain of the Cheerleading Club, which was one of many clubs to set up tables across campus looking to recruit new members.
On Thursday, the Table Tennis Club set up an outdoor table next to Guenther for the event. “It’s really hard to play outside sometimes. The wind just takes the ball and you can’t even play sometimes,” said Vice President of Table Tennis Club Josh Beddell. Despite the wind, the club collected ten signatures within the first 30 minutes of the event.
According to the Student Senate, events were scattered around campus, instead of being clustered near the McDonough Sports Complex like last year’s Welcome Back Barbecue, in an effort to introduce students to different areas of the campus.
“I like the fact that they’ve done this around different areas of the campus, because it exposes people to know the campus,” said Vice President of Finance Michael Green.
Student Activities estimated that Welcome Week cost $35,000 to $40,000. Food was the greatest expense for the five-day experience. “I kind of have to go to my classes and I’m like ‘Damn, there’s still food,’” said business administration student Mackenzie Otten.
In the past, Chartwells often catered only cookies and coffee all week, only serving a full meal at the Welcome Back Barbecue. “This year has been a little bit of a challenge with the additional events, but we’ve been able to work through it and feed a whole bunch of people every single day,” said John Poole, director of Dining Services.
The conception of Welcome Week started as early as the LEAD party campaign of last year and planning started after the election. “We didn’t think the one day at the beginning was living up to what we should’ve been doing,” said Student Senate President Bryce Kirk.
Student Senate Treasurer Josiah Dillon said that during the summer planning process for Welcome Week, the executive board was nervous that, with an understaffed Student Senate, volunteers for the events would be limited. Instead, they had an unexpected crew. “People that I didn’t even know, I saw in those green shirts the next day volunteering their time,” he said. In exchange for volunteering at Welcome Week, students were offered free movie tickets.
“It’s been hard,” said Helen Schneider, student volunteer, about refraining from eating the cotton candy she was serving. Along with resisting free food, volunteers worked in temperatures reaching highs of 89 degrees.
“Everybody’s got a good attitude about it. They’re sweating for us to make us feel welcome,” said automotive technology student Jason Belanger.
Other areas of the college also pitched in for the events. The Cultural Affairs department provided music ranging from salsa to rockabilly during the five-day celebration. The athletic department staffed some of the games and competitions.
Despite campuswide collaboration, Dillon said, executive officers failed to market certain events, like the Thursday night movie showing of “Guardians of the Galaxy.”
“There was only 16 people there. There could’ve been a zero added to that, easily,” Dillon said. The screening was originally planned to be outdoors, but that idea was rejected due to its high cost.
According to Dillon, the next-biggest event will likely be Pumpkin Palooza. “It’s not only a huge hit on campus but with the community as well,” he said.