Orientation: Creating the JMU Community

Now that the new-school-year smell has started to wear off, let's review one of the most important annual events in the life of JMU. 1787 Orientation week is where JMU freshmen (or "first-years" in Orientation lingo) get their first injection of purple. All this happens through no easy task. The Orientation office employs seven full-time staff and three GA's that work year round to make those first steps onto campus by brand new JMU students the best they can be. In addition to the staff members, there were tons of student staff and volunteers.

The first of the student staff were the 1787 Student Coordinators, Chaney Austin and Tyler Conta. These two started way back in the fall getting organized for this year's 1787 week. These two deserve a huge round of applause as they put in countless hours and many late nights putting things together. Next up were three SOC's (Student Orientation Coordinators) and an Operations Assistant Coordinator that helped keep the hundreds of other volunteers doing the right thing, in the right place, at the right time. Manning the home base of the Orientation office in Wilson Hall and keeping everything going behind the scenes were the three OOA's (Orientation Operations Assistants). The next group, 26 OPA's (Orientation Peer Advisers), were in charge of the Summer Springboard and overseeing all the FROGs. Their counterparts, ANT's (Assisting New Transfers), focus on helping incoming transfer students transition to life at JMU. Each one of the ten ANT's also previously transferred to JMU from another school. Last, but definitely not least, are those shining soldiers in yellow. A grand total of 252 FROGs created new connections and are the main face of JMU Orientation program. So if anyone asks how many people it takes to put together one of the top first-year experiences in the country...the answer is 304.

1787 started off Tuesday afternoon as the first half of the freshmen started moving into their residence halls with the assistance of their FROGs. That night they were entertained by a free showing of The Sandlot at Grafton-Stovall Theater. Interesting bit of trivia, most of the new students were only two or three years old when that movie first came out and Billboards #1 song of 1991, (Everything I Do) I Do It For You by Bryan Adams (raise your hand if you feel old). The remaining freshmen moved in Wednesday morning and had the University Welcome that afternoon, followed by Playfair (a community building exercise) in UREC that night. Turn-out across the board was better than in years past and according to 1787 Co-Coordinator Chaney Austin, "Turn-out was off the hook! We had so many people come out to all the events, it was awesome!" Thursday's main event was Quadfest and is an annual favorite. Thousands of first-years flooded the newly-finished Quad to munch on sno-cones and cotton candy, listen to music, learn the frog dance, throw frisbee, and play lots of other games while rotating for dinner and into Wilson Auditorium for J MADisON.

Friday night, the first-years walked back over to the Convo for the Pep Rally where they got their first taste of "Virginia's Finest", the MRD's. They also got to hear from many of the sports teams including Football, Men's and Women's Soccer, Men's and Women's Basketball, and Field Hockey. The Student Duke Club also introduced themselves and had sign-ups before and after. That night there were also lots of smaller activities around campus for students to participate in.

Saturday, as many students as could possibly fit crammed inside of the Festival Ballroom for Jimmy's Mad Jam, where some of JMU's A Capella and dance groups performed. Turnout for this event could not have been any better without a larger venue.

Saturday night's marquee event was the crowd favorite. Michael C. Anthony, a hypnotist that visits every year for Orientation (and sometimes during the regular school year) captivated thousands of students who decided to (at least for the time being) postpone heading out to party to watch this incredible act. This year, something different was in the air. I'm not sure if students were worn out, or were just ready to listen intently to their professors, but the students on stage weren't the only ones being hypnotized. Only minutes into the performance, students in the crowd started falling under Anthony's trance (something I had never seen after four times watching him). The first two were relatively close to the stage, so after lots of screaming from around the entranced few, they were led on stage and continued along with the rest of the students on stage. That wasn't the end of it though. One student in the very back of the Convo became so entranced a little later that even after Anthony had some assistance to do a long distance "snap out of it", she had to be walked around to the stage to have Anthony's spell taken off of her. From what I saw, there were also three others that couldn't help but participate. In fact, a girl two rows in front of me became particularly scared of the belt/snake routine and then proceeded to shake her moneymaker for the surrounding area during the dance contest. Facilities personnel was thankfully able to assist those unfortunate ones and get them under control. The rest of the performance was outstanding as usual. Everyone seemed to be very entertained and a new guy will spend his freshman year with the nickname "CHA-CHA".

Sunday afternoon, students, FROGs, and OPAs once again filed back into the Convo for the 1787 Convocation. At this presentation, one of the stories from the students' summer reading program, the DNA Age, was brought to life. JMU Biology professor Carol Hurney (who is a fantastic professor btw) MC'd between monologues by JMU theater majors playing the parts of characters in the story. It dealt with ethics and privacy concerns of newly created DNA tests for diseases and seemed to be a touchy topic for some that left the crowd fairly evenly split. Along the way, FROGs discussed with their groups how they felt about the situation. This really seemed like a great way to get the students involved and talking about contemporary issues that will affect our lives.

Overall, it was a great week put on by the entire Orientation staff and congratulations to all the first-years that have made it through almost three whole weeks of classes. I can't underscore enough how important Orientation is to this university. It's not just about getting recognition from U.S. News and World Report (though that's not bad), it's about building the community that is JMU. Ever since JMU was a school of only a few thousand, people have been questioning how big JMU could grow before it would lose the "JMU atmosphere." That sense of community is created during those first few days where the focus is on getting to know the campus and each other, and students get to know themselves a little better, too. As Dan Boxer ('08) put it, "You instantly become a member of the JMU family..." Because of programs like Orientation, I don't see JMU losing that community spirit anytime soon.