By Regan Winter
New Student Orientation, formerly known as NSO, returned this year with many changes. Kellyn Simpkins/The Fordham Ram.
“We are Fordham!” The cries of over 210 student volunteers rang out across campus on Aug. 30 as they moved in all of the incoming students. As recognizable as this group of students is and as memorable the experience of NSO is for every student, this year the group and the experience itself looked a little different – most notably through a name change.
As most people on campus probably know, New Student Orientation, previously NSO, is the three days before classes officially start in the fall semester. In these days, freshmen and other incoming students have schedules jam-packed with programming ranging from carnivals to motivational speeches, from deans to tours of campus. Each day during orientation the students met with upperclassmen orientation leaders that led them in icebreakers, discussions about fears and concerns for the school year and bonding activities to help them make a home here at Fordham. While many of the activities and schedules have remained the same year in and year out, this year steps were made to make this incoming class’s experience a little bit different.
The first change made was the organization’s name. Rather than using the traditional name, it was decided that all students should instead begin to use NSO’s full name: New Student Orientation. According to Orientation Coordinator Regina Kendrick, FCRH ’17, calling the experience by its full name made it “more welcoming and approachable to new students.”
“One of my favorite things about calling it New Student Orientation is that it explicitly says ‘new students.’ People often forget that orientation isn’t just freshmen,” Kendrick said. We had over 100 transfer students, as well as visiting and exchange students, that all went through our orientation program.”
While the orientation team understood where the change was coming from and got used to the change throughout their week of training, the new name took some getting used to. Orientation Leader Elena Conte, FCRH ’18, said she missed calling New Student Orientation by its abbreviation NSO because “NSO was short, sweet, and simple.” Orientation Captain Sarah Homer, FCRH ’16, commented that the orientation cheers had to be changed from previous years. Orientation Coordinator Laura Villaraut, GSB ’16, said the coordinators themselves actually started a game where they had to pay a quarter each time one of them used the wrong name over the summer as a way to get used to the switch.
As for how the change resonated with the incoming students and their parents, Villaraut said “They may not be aware of the changes themselves as they never knew of a time when ‘NSO’ was a thing – but I imagine they had a much better understanding of what we do.” Briggs Boss, GSB ’19, reiterated this, saying that he was not aware that anything had been changed for orientation this year.
Apart from the obvious, the orientation coordinators implemented other more subtle changes in their training, in some of the programming, and even in their media presence.
The coordinators decided to focus on one pillar of leadership for orientation training: love. They had orientation leaders move throughout the week focusing on how to “love yourself,” how to “love your partner,” how to “love your small group,” and finally how to “love others.” These ideals culminated in New Student Orientation’s first service project, during which they partnered with the Dorothy Day Center for Social Justice and TreesCount. This theme was used often over the programming. Kendrick discussed why the team was willing to give up a week of their summer for training activities. “That reason is because all love Fordham,” she said.
Other changes included adding to New Student Orientation’s media presence. Kendrick created a Tumblr for the group as well as a BuzzFeed account she posted weekly quizzes on. She also boosted posting on the group’s Instagram, Facebook page and Twitter. These accounts were used and enjoyed by freshmen like Boss, who said, “It was nice to see the campus and see what was going on before we arrived.”
Specific activities were also added and changed. One such activity was called Fear in a Hat. During the incoming students’ small group sessions, orientation leaders used this activity to facilitate discussions on topics like health, homesickness, and making friends. Homer said she was glad to see that this activity really helped her freshmen to open up during small group. Orientation coordinators also worked with the Office of Multicultural Affairs to update their scripts for “Every Student Has a Voice,” an activity where monologues are read to the incoming students that touch on many different, serious topics. Changes were made to update the language in the monologues to make them more current and especially more inclusive and comprehensive to the students. Conte particularly liked this change, saying, “I felt better about the scripts as they removed bias and harmful wording.”
Each new school year brings about a whole host of change. This year part of it was with each of our first experiences as a student at Fordham. But even with a new name and some updated details, New Student Orientation has remained the same at its core. It is full of students that love and are passionate about this school and want to pass that love on to others.
