My Longwood orientation was definitely a date I will always remember—from the beginning of the day (which for me was at 4 a.m.) to arriving on campus and experiencing all of the different activities, meetings and seminars.
Shortly after my family and I arrived on campus, the opening seminar was about to start. There were a couple of different speakers talking about a variety of topics, like a soon-to-be graduate’s point of view of his freshman year, to housing information, move-in day and much more. Listening to all of the different speakers I gained a lot of very important information, so I would say going to the opening seminar is vital to your orientation experience.
A lot of advice was also given to the Class of 2022. One bit of advice that stood out to me was the fact that college is what you make it and that you have to take the initiative to take advantage of all of the opportunities open to you. That really resonated with me, and I hope I always remember that.
After the opening session, we were asked to go outside and find a current Longwood student holding a sign with our major written on it. I went to the person holding the communications sign (I later learned his name was Andrew—he was really cool) and our group went to meet with a communications professor and then to a computer lab to fill out housing and meal plan forms online.
After that, much of the rest of the day was the students’ choice: We could visit specific colleges within Longwood, speak with admissions or financial aid, and everything in between.
My Longwood orientation experience was positive from all aspects. I think it is important for new students to attend to get information, but I also think it is important because there’s just a certain energy at Longwood that can’t be found in most places. The whole time while I was on campus, everyone I interacted with was so nice and helpful, and I could tell they really cared. That feeling of home and compassion is one of the aspects I like most about Longwood. Everyone here wants students to succeed, and the faculty will help them anyway they can.
