NSU has tradition of welcoming activities

(Tahlequah, Okla.)--For a student new to campus, making social connections can be a challenge and many institutions of higher learning work to facilitate activities and gatherings intended to create friendships.

At Northeastern State University, the student-run Northeastern Activities Board has an established tradition of organizing fun events for "Welcome Week."

"The NAB starts planning in the spring and they have multiple meeting over the summer to work out details," said Sara Johnson, coordinator of campus activities. "I love being part of the excitement of coming back to school. Everyone involved is a big fan of getting students involved, connected and helping them find their place at NSU."

Anita Thompson, development and grants officer for the College of Education, said the Welcome Week activities are outstanding examples of students helping students.

"I think the NAB is such a great program because the students create, plan, implement, evaluate and promote everything associated with an event," she said. "They come up with a theme, work all summer long and even get local merchants involved."

Numerous other campus organizations boast a tradition of hosting activities to welcome students to the NSU campus, including the Residence Hall Association (RHA) and the Center for Tribal Studies (CTS).

"They all generate a lot of excitement," Thompson said. "When I started as a student at NSU in the 1990s, I didn't know anyone when I set foot on campus. These activities were a great way to meet people, some of whom were in my wedding."

A long-established and highly successful welcoming activity is Rookie Bridge Camp (RBC), organized by students.

RBC is an extended orientation program established on the Tahlequah campus in 1989. The two-day camp, held twice before the fall term, includes an overnight stay in cabins, a float down the Illinois River, and social networking opportunities to help transition students to college life.

The activities to welcome students to campus have evolved through the years. In the 1980s, a big event of the fall term's opening week was the Howdy Dance.

"I went to the Howdy Dance as a freshman in 1986," said Peggy Glenn, director of development and executive director of the NSU Foundation. "I remember some of it included team-building activities."

Glenn helped put on the Howdy Dance one year, tie-dying T-shirts and ending up with hands that "were multi-colored for days."

"Some of the people I met at the Howdy Dance ended up being my friends throughout my college days," she said. "I met a guy there who I was friends with until I moved to Washington, D.C., and lost track of him. Three years ago I ran into him waiting in line at a cafe in Dallas. We keep in touch through Facebook."

Welcoming activities for the fall 2012 semester will last nearly two weeks, due partly to classes beginning on August 15, a Wednesday.

Before classes begin, the NAB will hold a tailgate at 5 p.m. on August 12 at Second Century Square, screen a film at 9:45 p.m. on August 13 and hold a bingo game at 7 p.m. on August 14 in the University Center Sen. Herb Rozell Ballroom.

The first day of classes brings the always popular Merchant Mall from 5-8 p.m.

"Merchant Mall began in the 1990s and I remember the line to get in wrapping around Seminary Hall," said Tina Frazier, coordinator of stewardship and annual giving for development and a 2003 and 2004 graduate of NSU. "Everyone always had a good time, and I've heard stories of alumni meeting their future husbands and wives while standing in line."

The Residence Hall Association holds its annual luau on August 16 at 6 p.m. and the NAB River Romp is August 17 at 5 p.m.

Activities the following week include a hypnotist show at 7 p.m. on August 20, the Center for Tribal Studies Hog Fry at 4:30 p.m. at the Jazz Lab and the NAB Graffiti Art and Folk Concert at 7 p.m. at Second Century Squarre on August 22, and a concert hosted by NAB on August 23 at 7 p.m.

"The students are doing a great job organizing these activities," Johnson said. "Some of these are all new events."

Frazier said the activities of Welcome Week can have much longer term benefits other than just serving as a social icebreaker.

"Of course, it seems during the first week a lot of people are trying to figure out where they fit in," she said. "The activities result in making new friends, and some of those friends last forever."