While Miller Auditorium and East Gym are getting revamped and renovated, other aspects of SRU have gotten facelifts, too—like WOW.
WOW began as the Weekend of Welcome, which featured two days dedicated to moving in first-year students, as well as activities and events to enjoy before classes started the following Monday. After a few years of WOW being a weekend-long venture, the team, led by Associate Provost for Student Success David Wilmes, decided to up the ante.
“WOW is really about a kickoff to the year, letting new students know about all the great things that go on at Slippery Rock, getting them excited about the year,” Wilmes said. “We wanted to make it bigger than ever.”
This semester, all first-year students living on campus were moved in Thursday, Aug. 23 with the help of upperclassmen, staff and faculty volunteers. According to Wilmes, the one-day move-in couldn’t have gone better, and it paved the way for a fun and successful Week of Welcome.
“When everyone’s here that first night, it raises the excitement level, knowing that everyone is here and in the same boat,” Wilmes said.
After the big moving day on Thursday, the WOW team hosted the Think Fast game show in Morrow Field House. Think Fast was an interactive game show where the participants divided into large groups of 10-12 and answered trivia questions. Wilmes said the Field House was packed with around 1,500 students enjoying the game.
On Friday, the first-year students participated in the second annual Welcome Convocation in the Field House, an event which Wilmes described as a bookend with graduation. Each building received different-colored WOW shirts, which the students wore during the ceremony.
“It was really cool to see all the different colors there in the Field House; you could see people recognizing shirts with the same color and connecting with them, with people living in their building,” Wilmes said.
Festivities continued into the first week of classes, including events like a carnival outside Watson Hall hosted by Fraternity and Sorority Life on Sunday, a promo party for CORE on Wednesday and Epic Bingo with more than $3,000 in prizes on Friday night.
“During the first couple days of classes, there’s not really much going on, so we figured we should just keep it up, keep doing things, keep the excitement going,” Wilmes said.
WOW officially ends Tuesday, Sept. 4 with the Involvement Fair in the Quad, featuring many of The Rock’s campus clubs and organizations.
