MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — WVU’s final summer orientation seminars begin Thursday and end Friday ahead of Saturday’s official move-in day, which will include thousands of returning students and around 5,200 newcomers.
“It’s pretty exciting, actually,” Kim Mosby, WVU’s Senior Associate Dean of Students, said. “Summertime is great. It’s a nice, quiet time, but you can’t help but get excited when it’s this time of year. When everyone starts coming back, the students are excited, the campus gets geared up, the community gets geared up. It’s a fun time.”
The start of orientation coincides with the beginning of WVU’s Welcome Week, which ends Tuesday, August 15, one day before classes begin for the Fall 2017 semester.
“We’ve got a lot of events planned for them,” Mosby said. “So, we’re going to keep them busy — doing everything from cook-outs and picnics to all kinds of activities in the residence halls, activities for commuters, and then of course it ends with Food Fest and Fall Fest.”
Welcome Week provides students with an opportunity to socialize and acclimate to life at West Virginia University. It includes a Trivia Night at the Erickson Alumni Center for upperclassmen and graduate students, Monday Night Lights at Milan Puskar Stadium and a performance by the Pride of West Virginia Marching Band, the Mountaineer Midway carnival, FoodFest, and FallFest.
“That’s why we do the things that we do, especially during Welcome Week,” Mosby said. “We want to get them here, get them acclimated to the campus and to the area, and give them an opportunity to meet a lot of different students.”
But Welcome Week can’t last forever, Mosby said.
“We’re going to entertain them and let them have a good time, but they know why they are here,” she said.
Welcome Week includes an academic session on Monday for new students to meet with their advisers ahead of the start of the semester on Wednesday. Mosby said the academic session should be a sobering reminder for students about the importance of balance and taking their first semester one day at a time.
“It is a balance, but when they are here they are going to meet with their advisers,” Mosby said. “They’re going to work with RA’s and other professionals. It is a balance, but they can do it. And we’re going to help them do it.”
Last Fall, 49 percent of students at WVU were not from West Virginia. Mosby said the University is well aware of that fact.
“For those who aren’t from the area, they’ll get here, they’ll get to find the lay-of-the-land so to speak,” Mosby said. “For those who are commuters or live here, they’ll get the opportunity to meet students from out-of-town.”
Move-in begins Friday with WVU’s newest and largest ever Honors College class, a record-breaking 925 students. Full move-in day is Saturday, August 12.