New Student Orientation (NSO) is an opportunity for first-year students at Indiana Wesleyan University to engage in various activities and informational sessions that prepare them for the academic year ahead.
Events included social activities such as wRECk the Night, informational sessions with their First Year Experience (FYE) classes and purely fun events such as Fourth Meal, which took place late at night.
Ruth Tripp, a freshman at IWU, said that she attended most of the events.
“I didn’t really go to the open gyms or wRECk the Night because they were so late, and I’m typically one who likes to go to bed earlier.”
Rather than the late social activities, Tripp preferred events such as the Family Chapel that took place on Sunday, and appreciated the information given in other events.
“To be honest, I was looking forward to the FYE classes,” Tripp said, “I was excited to get to know more people who had similar interests as me. And I was not disappointed.”
Liberty Cox, another first-year student, attended every NSO event except for Candy and Canvas, which was relocated because of weather-related issues. She especially liked attending the social events that involved games to get to know other students.
“My favorite was probably when we got into the Quad and we got into groups and then dispersed and got in different groups, because you kind of got to meet a lot of people,” Cox said.
Alice Lehr attended most of the events as well. Her favorite NSO activity was Fourth Meal, which served a full breakfast just before midnight. She said she had been looking forward to it ever since seeing it on the week’s schedule.
“The Fourth Meal seemed interesting, especially because breakfast is my favorite type of food.” Lehr said, “Breakfast for dinner is my favorite, so breakfast as a late night snack is even better.”
Each of them praised the events for having so much variety between them. Lehr did not attend all of them, but acknowledged their individual value.
“There definitely were some that I didn’t attend,” said Lehr, “And that’s also just a personal thing. I get anxious in big crowds, but I think it’s really good for the people where that is their type of crowd, and how people do want to put themselves out there.”
Cox, who attended nearly every event, said that there was not a single one she would not go to again.
“I think they were all helpful in their own ways,” Cox said.
NSO had events that were tailored to the needs of every student, while also giving each one all of the information they needed in order to begin the semester well. Because not every event is required, students can pick and choose between the ones they want to attend, and feel comfortable doing so.
Emily Bontrager 
Clint Shockney