As freshmen and returners started to slowly move in last Thursday and unload car fulls of dorm necessities and prepare for classes, multiple clubs, organizations, faculty, students and volunteers were planning events and activities for them before the week began.
Students were able to look forward to the annual weekend before classes of games, activities and free food. Every weekend before classes SRU works together to put on Weekend of Welcome (WOW).
WOW provides socials, shows and other events for students to feel comfortable on campus to make the inevitable stress of the semester and first-week jitters a little easier.
One of the most popular events was put on by the University Program Board (UPB) on Thursday night. UPB brought comedy hypnotist Dan Lorinitus, who has performed all over the U.S., to the Student Center Ballroom. Students volunteered themselves to be hypnotized in a room overflowing with people. Lorinitus had students dancing to Beyonce and pretending to fly an airplane.
WOW aims to help incoming students feel more comfortable and get to know each other and campus. SRU President Way passed out muffins in the quad Monday morning, Greek Life had a carnival outside Watson on Friday, The Suite had a pizza party, and “Ask Me” tents were scattered around campus for directions or any other questions.
This year, WOW revolved around the new website for students to get involved, called CORE. CORE is a website that all SRU students have access to and organizations can use it to post reminders, events or about anything the organization wants students to know. The corresponding app, OrgSync, had a launch party in the quad to get students started and ready to get involved.
Another big WOW event was the Greek Life Carnival, where anyone could go to hang out or learn about Greek life and the many different sororities and fraternities.
Junior Olivia Zamiroski, helped to put on the Greek Life Carnival.
“We just wanted to get a chance to to mingle with incoming freshmen and work with other Greek Life,” Zamiroski said.
Sophomore Tia Maxwell also helped with the carnival. Her and Zamiroski joined Greek Life in Fall 2016.
“We wanted to make Greek Life more inviting. Some people are hesitant to join Greek Life when they don’t have to be,” Maxwell said.
As the first semester is now in full swing and WOW is over, make sure to watch out for the events still going on throughout the semester.
