by KYW's Dr. Marciene Mattleman
Many of us remember our first day at college—finding classrooms, wondering if you’d like the professors, and looking around to see if you knew anyone. It was not a happy scene!
Today, orientation plays a large role in those early experiences—a way to build relationships with classmates, get to know faculty informally and become involved in activities that are considered “character building.”
This year, at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in New York, eight members of the class of 2013 worked with Habitat for Humanity building a house, along with its future owners.
Habitat for Humanity has 480 campus chapters in the US and for years has been part of pre-orientation activities.
Mark Gueran, head of the Peace Corps in the Clinton Administration and president of the Colleges, talks about the “pragmatic idealism” in a Chronicle of Higher Education article, which distinguishes this generation of students from earlier ones.
Not only are kids learning to give back, but research shows there’s a positive relationship between participation in such orientation and staying in college.
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