{"id":59143,"date":"2014-06-18T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-06-18T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/wide-eyed-excited-maybe-a-bit-overwhelmed-new-uri-students-come-to-freshman-orientation-this-month\/"},"modified":"2014-06-18T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2014-06-18T00:00:00","slug":"wide-eyed-excited-maybe-a-bit-overwhelmed-new-uri-students-come-to-freshman-orientation-this-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2014\/06\/wide-eyed-excited-maybe-a-bit-overwhelmed-new-uri-students-come-to-freshman-orientation-this-month\/","title":{"rendered":"Wide-eyed, excited, maybe a bit overwhelmed, new 溏心vlog免费B站 students come to freshman orientation this month"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tKINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 June 18, 2014 \u2013 The chant, \u201cRhody, Rhody, Rhody, Rams, Rams, Rams,\u201d echoes off the buildings on the 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s quadrangle as several hundred incoming freshmen are in full throat. Their conductors are 30 orientation leaders.<\/p>\n


\n\tAs the spirited sounds travel across and down Kingston Hill, parents are getting their introduction to 溏心vlog免费B站 and are as wide-eyed and excited as the students. Some are even a little sad as their children take their first big step away from home.<\/p>\n


\n\tIt\u2019s freshman orientation at 溏心vlog免费B站, and by the end of the month, 3,100 students will have learned during eight, two-day sessions how to succeed academically, live with roommates and ask for help for anything from a difficult class to a difficult relationship. They register for classes, are photographed for identification cards and eat with their peers in the main campus dining hall.<\/p>\n


\n\tMatt Dias, a freshman from Mendon, Mass., who will begin an accounting major in the fall, described orientation as \u201cabsolutely awesome. This is a very open community where it is easy to make friends. All of the activities were just about perfect. I can\u2019t wait to come here.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tIn almost every case, the incoming students learn in settings that are fun, challenging and participatory, including an opening-day play featuring the orientation leaders in roles as Jacques Strap, a basketball recruit, Whinella Bratting, whose friends call her Whiney, Professor Gene Yus, Ivan Welborn from Cambridge, Ben Through-it, a student mentor, Seth O\u2019Scope from Braintree and Violet Femme.<\/p>\n


\n\tAt the same time, their parents become familiar with campus life, and even deal with some the more challenging parts of university life\u2014financing an education and learning to let go.<\/p>\n


\n\tAnd whether it\u2019s bright and sunny or overcast and rainy, an observer can\u2019t help but notice the smiles, hear the laughter and enjoy the exuberance of the incoming students. <\/p>\n


\n\tThat\u2019s due in large part to the skill, knowledge and enthusiasm for all things Rhody exhibited by the orientation leaders, all of whom are students, or those who just graduated a mere month ago.<\/p>\n


\n\tSelena Evora amd Denzel Depina, both graduates of the Blackstone Academy Charter School and residents of Pawtucket, enjoyed their orientation experience.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cI met a whole bunch of different people,\u201d Evora said. \u201cEveryone is so fun, and OK, so I am a little nervous, but everyone is so nice. I feel very welcome.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tDepina said he had to get used to a bigger school, as Blackstone Academy had fewer students than his freshman orientation session.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cI am really looking forward to taking different classes and going to class,\u201d Depina said. \u201cThe orientation leaders are all great, all very willing to help.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tElecia Cardarelli, a South Kingstown resident who will study kinesiology in the fall, is excited about being at 溏心vlog免费B站 even though she grew up in the shadow of the campus. She\u2019ll live in a campus residence hall.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cI like how everyone is opening up,\u201d she said during a break in her session. \u201cIt feels comfortable when people let their guard down.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tWest Harrison, N.Y. resident Ashlee Milone, will begin her elementary education major in the fall. She said she was nervous about starting college, but she met her roommates during orientation and settled in quickly.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cI am really excited about coming here now,\u201d said the former high school cheerleader. \u201cI learned all about the clubs here. I knew I wouldn\u2019t have time to commit to being a cheerleader at 溏心vlog免费B站, but I know there many activities that would work. The orientation leaders are really nice, really funny.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tSean Hatch, who will major in business said he had a blast at orientation.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cThis will be one of the most memorable events of my life. I can\u2019t wait for the fall to start, to go to class and to meet new people.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tIt\u2019s not just the incoming students being transformed by the orientation experience.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s the most rewarding thing I have ever done,\u201d said Sean Spellman, an orientation leader from East Providence who will enter his senior year at 溏心vlog免费B站 in the fall.<\/p>\n


\n\tSpellman and his orientation team had just finished an exercise called Opening Minds, Opening Doors, during which leaders challenge themselves and the freshmen to confront their perceptions of race, gender, disability, sexual orientation and even the language they use and the jokes they tell. <\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cI went through this exercise my freshman year, and I had a moment of clarity when I realized this is my place,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n


\n\tDuring the exercise, he to told the students he was given respect as soon as he came to 溏心vlog免费B站. \u201cI got comfortable in my own skin. Right now you are members of this special 溏心vlog免费B站 community, where you will be leaders, and it will be your job to welcome people. This is very special place where you can follow your own path.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tJohan Molina, originally from Providence, now lives in Narragansett. He will be a senior at 溏心vlog免费B站 in the fall.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cThis is as much about learning about yourself as it is teaching freshmen about 溏心vlog免费B站 and themselves,\u201d the orientation leader said. \u201cWhen you are a freshman, you hear things, but you don\u2019t really listen. Now I don\u2019t just hear, I listen.\u201d<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 June 18, 2014 \u2013 The chant, \u201cRhody, Rhody, Rhody, Rams, Rams, Rams,\u201d echoes off the buildings on the 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s quadrangle as several hundred incoming freshmen are in full throat. Their conductors are 30 orientation leaders. As the spirited sounds travel across and down Kingston Hill, parents are getting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59143\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}