Orientation provides freshmen view of IU

The mostly empty sidewalks of campus will fill Tuesday as students from across the country attend the start of New Student Orientation.

The two-day program is the first step in welcoming incoming freshmen to IU.

Melanie Payne, director of summer orientation and Welcome Week for the Office of First Year Experience Programs, said the office has numerous activities planned for the new freshmen.

“We teach them about some of the resources, the opportunities, the expectations, the services at IU, the true orientation to this new place that they are coming to,” she said.

FYE provides both freshmen and transfer students with all the information and resources they will need to be successful at IU, Payne said.

During orientation, students will attend an advising appointment, register for classes, receive their CampusAccess cards and take required placement exams. They will also attend informational seminars concerning technology at IU, finances, safety, student life and University traditions.

But the students are not the only orientation attendees with a full agenda.

According to the FYE website, parents attend separate activities throughout the first day and have the option of visiting an open house at one of IU’s “treasured locations.” Payne said some of these locations include the Lilly Library, the Mathers Museum of World Cultures and the DeVault Alumni Center.

“It gives us an opportunity to show off something on campus for them, where they can just go and relax with some of the other parents,” Payne said.

Campus food courts, bookstores and other service providers are also prepared to accommodate the needs of parents and students alike. For example, the Wright Food Court has opened its doors to provide a complimentary meal to participants of the FYE program. For orientation, Wright offers an express line, which is an abbreviated form of the normal menu at the food court.

“We take five of our concepts and make a limited menu, where the customers that come through the express line choose one concept,” Wright Food Court General Manager Mark Winstead said. “For example, if they choose Sbarro they get the choice of spaghetti or baked ziti with sauce, Caesar salad, breadstick, their choice of beverage and fresh fruit or cookie for dessert.”

The express line cuts down on wait times, Winstead said. Each person is able to get what he or she wants with five to seven minutes’ wait time.

New this year is a late-night tour through campus for students called the Legends Tour.

“The tour talks about certain myths about IU — for example, the Wells Library,” said sophomore and RPS employee Annie Rowland. “We talk about how it really isn’t sinking an inch every year.”