Orientation Week

 Is your son or daughter’s first week of post secondary education right around the corner? Orientation Week (or Frosh Week) can be daunting, overwhelming and confusing for both parents and students but can also be exciting, fun and tremendously valuable.

What exactly is Orientation Week? It is designed to help orientate and prepare students for the upcoming year. Having limited or no experience with university or college, students and parents often have no idea what to expect. Various student groups, clubs, residences, faculty and staff around campus host events designed to help those students transition smoothly into their new environment. From tours, to spirit rallies, to formals, to dinners and shows, Orientation Week is a great opportunity for students to meet new people, explore their community, and to just have fun.

What do the students and parents expect?

Parents are very curious at this stage in their youth’s development. Campuses, well aware of this, set up events around the first couple days of orientation focusing on the parents. There is an opportunity for parents to tour the campus and ask questions directly to administrators and instructors.

There are many myths and misconceptions surrounding Orientation Week that are fuelled by the media and peers. Parents often fear it is filled with drinking, sex, parties and hazing, and often discourage their students from attending. Students can also enter with an image of widespread beer consumption, sex and loud rowdy partying. While at some point this may have been more prevalent, in today’s day and age orientation is designed to dispel these misconceptions. Hazing for instance, is a practice that has not existed in universities and colleges for some time now, and is heavily discouraged by the campus administrations. Sometimes peer leaders will make their first year students wake up at 4:00 in the morning for a mad dash across the campus, or will surprise a group with a water balloon attack, but nothing that causes physical or mental discomfort.

What does the law expect?

Because most students entering universities or colleges are underage (depending on the province), events are in no way organized around the consumption of alcohol. Students participating in orientation events are encouraged to have fun in a safe and healthy way.

What does the campus expect?

In an attempt to dispel the misconceptions, the campus administration, student groups, and faculty-organized events focus on community building, energetic campus spirit, and fun. Many services are set up to allow students to get to know their neighbourhood, available services, and to help them feel at ease. It is a learning experience for all first year students, and can be very reassuring to see so many others going through the same transition. Fun events include dancing, shows, theatre, cruises, scavenger hunts, formal dinners, parades and what ever fun innovative activities peer leaders can organize. It is a fantastic opportunity for students to get to know other students, learn from enthusiastic peers, and meet professors and staff.

Below is a list of hints to help parents and students make the most of this exciting transition period.

Get Active!

Clubs: Student and campus clubs make themselves available and accessibly immediately at the start of the year. Encourage your son or daughter to check out the wide selection of organizations and clubs. With many campuses having over 200 clubs to choose from, ranging everywhere from softball to Chinese, from darts to politics, or from debates to charities, there will almost definitely be something available for every student.

Student Politics: Canada’s universities and colleges have a rich history of active and enthusiastic student governance. Positions are available in every department of study, campus, or residence ranging from simple administrative logistics, to event planning, to budgeting and policy input. These student governance bodies also have open positions for first year representatives. This is a great opportunity for students who are passionate or interested in helping out to meet new people, learn valuable lessons about intergovernmental and organization relations, and to have fun.

Meet Faculty / Staff: Instructors and administrators make themselves available right from the beginning. This is a good way to get to know the different departments, classes and services, and is a good chance to start networking early. Knowing instructors can be useful in course selection, in finding part-time research positions, in later graduate applications, and in sparking an interest and passion in a subject. It’s also a good idea for students to learn about the many services available for students directly from administrators, like housing, writing centers, medical services etc.

Meet Peers: Students often arrive on campus knowing very few people. Being surrounded by thousands of other first year students can be overwhelming, but orientation events provide students with a lot of opportunity to meet their peers through fun activities and events. There is no guarantee that you will stay close with your orientation peer groups, but it is a great chance to experience the diversity. Encourage your youth to meet as many people as possible, they don’t have to stick with the first people they are introduced to.

Meet Peer Leaders: Orientation events are often organized by volunteer student leaders in their second, third or fourth year. These enthusiastic students are passionate about helping first year students enjoy their experience. This is a good time for students to learn about challenges and gain valuable insights from students who have gone through the same transition. Residences also have a graduate student, often called a don, who lives with the students to provide assistance and guidance throughout the year. Tell your youth to take full advantage of the opportunity to learn from their peers.

Campus Spirit: Orientation events are filled with colours, chants, songs, and school spirit. While this serves no academic utility, it is a great way for students to sing, play and to thoroughly enjoy themselves. Nothing brings students closer than a friendly competition against another residence or campus.

Be Prepared!

Classes: With classes starting in a few days, it is a good idea for students to take advantage of their orientation week to explore the campus and to locate all of their classrooms. Students should also double check their enrolment to make sure they are going to the right courses. It’s also a good idea to have school stationary all ready to go, from pens to paper to notebooks to binders.

Take Care of Personal Services: A lot of parents and students are set up with local bank accounts for budgeting and saving, but the students may find the tellers and ATM machines for those banks hard to find. Be prepared to help your son or daughter set up a new bank account if it means saving transit fares just for deposits and withdraws. This is also a good time for students to find doctors (if there is none on campus), dentists, hair cut services, shopping centers and get a new cell phone if necessary.

Avoid the Lines: Student ID’s, bus passes, and paperwork requires long lines. If your son or daughter can get it out of the way early, they may avoid a later headache. This is also a good chance for students to expose themselves to the student and administrative services.

Books / Tuition: The first sting parents and students feel from university and college is the books and tuition costs. It is a good idea for students to stay on top of their finances and student accounts, and to keep their parents updated. Keep a good eye on deadlines, and if you can pay early, it may prevent a scramble.

As far as books, earlier is surprisingly not necessarily better. Often course book lists change by the time students get to class, or the instructor requests a specific edition. Also, students from previous years may sell their used textbooks for discount prices, but you should make sure it is the same edition that the instructor is using.

They Are Adults Now

Let Them Go: While the role of parents in this important transition phase is absolutely critical to the students, it can be taken a little bit too far. It is important for parents to remember they can’t play as direct a role in the development and oversight of their children’s education in the post-secondary level. Parents who are used to calling their youth’s instructors and administrators for every little problem will be surprised to find out the faculty and staff are far less available for communication. It is typical procedure for campuses to treat their students as adults, accountable to their own choices and autonomous in their development. The best thing a parent can do for their youth is to be a positive resource for their children’s problems and concerns. Encourage your son or daughter to call home when facing tough decisions or when getting stressed and anxious, and help them develop essential problem solving skills. Empower your youth to make effective choices, don’t solve their problems for them.

Alcohol and Parties: Your son or daughter may have never touched a drop of alcohol before, but they will likely encounter a situation where they must make a choice about the use or non-use of alcohol. Fortunately, youth find the overwhelming majority of students on campuses making effective and healthy choices. Also, orientation events organized by the campus set up non-drinking events, and as a result, students don’t feel a pressure to drink. Orientation therefore effectively represents the social norm, most students who do drink, only do so once or twice a month, and only after balancing their studies. Students learn quickly, you can have a blast without needing to drink alcohol. If students are of age, and do choose to drink, they should be fully aware of the risks involved and should take preventative measures to reduce harm. Talk to your youth about making the same balanced and healthy choices towards alcohol consumption.

Sex: Like alcohol, college party movies have fuelled a misperception about the sexual attitudes of students on campus. Students and parents often expect widespread sex that just isn’t present. Students are effective and talented at balancing school with their own personal life choices, and are very good at avoiding risks. Student peer leaders, campus administration, and student housing officials do a fantastic job at providing information, resources and materials to ensure students take safe and healthy approaches to their sexuality. Most students care more about their studies than they do romantic or intimate relationships, and a large number of students for personal, cultural or religious reasons openly choose abstinence. Help your student make effective choices and to weigh their options on their own, but remember, they are adults. The best thing you can do is empower them with facts, evidence and many of the concerns associated with sexual activity so they can make the healthy balanced choice.

Have Fun!

Explore: The most important part about university and college for youths is the transition towards adulthood. Ensure they have as enjoyable of a transition as possible to allow them to pursue their interests without needless anxiety and stress. Encourage your youth to explore the campus and neighbourhood, to see the sights and sounds of their new environment (within their budget), and to make the most of their experience.

Experiment: Although this is the one thing that parents are worried about the most, the reality is post-secondary education the time when students do the most of their personal development and exploration. But parents also forget that it is at this time that they are able to do this experimenting in a healthy and positive way. As a teenager, parents fear their children will be exposed to drugs, sex and alcohol too early, and won’t be able to effectively balance the pros and cons. But after two decades of guidance and development, by the time they get to the post-secondary level they have begun building the effective tools to make healthy and risk-averse choices themselves. Students should be encouraged to find themselves, but must remember the importance of balance. Experiment with new music and foods, new cultures and dances, and new thoughts and opinions. Encourage them to have fun; this will help them find their passion, find their strengths and weaknesses, and find their place. It is now that they really define themselves as adults.

Don’t be Shy: Many students are overwhelmed by this transition period, and get worried about their self-expression amongst the crowds of students. But really this is the best opportunity for students to overcome their fears and to start defining and expressing themselves. Encourage your youth to speak their mind, to meet new people and to develop their communicative skills. Remind them that they, like the thousands of other first year students across campus, are in the process of defining themselves. Tell them to challenge their own misperceptions about themselves and about those around them, because three or four years of university or college can feel like a lifetime if a student uses it to develop their identities and to learn. That is exactly why they should enjoy every second of it.