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news
Freshmen
only “SOAR”-ing
By Luis Peña
Summer On-line Forty-Niner
This summer’s Student
Orientation Advising and Registration program will be different
for incoming Cal State Long Beach freshmen than in the past.
“We are trying out a new model for freshmen only, where we
are incorporating the orientation component of SOAR instead
of having it as a second part to the program,” said Yuri Betancourt,
assistant SOAR director.
“In the past, we had a separate half-day where students came
in, came back and went through orientation and campus life,
student resources, student life [and] co-curricular involvement.
This year we are trying, within a space of an hour and a half,
to include all of that.”
The reason for the change is low turnout for the second half
of SOAR. Of the 4,000 students that attended SOAR last summer,
only 1,500 came back. This way, all students attending are
exposed to everything the school has to offer, Betancourt
said.
The SOAR program for transfer students has not changed because
it is geared toward major advisement. Additionally, transfer
students are already accustomed to college life, as opposed
to incoming freshmen trying to assimilate into CSULB.
During SOAR, freshmen are broken into small groups by major
and lead by a minimum of two volunteer student orientation
leaders.
“The orientation leaders are responsible for the fun side
of orientation,” Betancourt said. “We are trying to present
a more comfortable, more open, more welcoming environment
for [freshmen].”
Orientation leaders conduct icebreakers within the groups.
One such icebreaker is a game called alphabet adjectives,
enabling students to remember each other’s names during and
after SOAR.
“You take your name and you say an adjective in front of it,”
said Brian Roberts, SOAR orientation leader. “I could be bombastic
Brian. It has to start with the same letter. The first person
goes just on their own, the next person has to say the first
persons [name] and then the next person. The last person is
the unlucky one who has to say everybody’s name.”
Incoming freshman Christina Huliganga and Nathan Scottmoogy
attended the new program and enjoyed the small groups.
“I thought it was good just to get to know people around your
group better and to get to meet new people,” Huliganga said.
“It was a great bonding exercise to get to know the people
in your group,” Scottmoogy agreed.
However, not all of the students in attendance liked the new
format.
“It should be split into two sessions,” said Mariel Diramos.
“It should be an option about the clubs and stuff because
I just want to go to school and go home. There’s nothing wrong
with that.”
During the second half of the orientation program, freshmen
receive academic counseling from SOAR advisors regarding which
courses to take. One such example is beach beginnings, in
which students take a pair of classes with the same students
for an entire semester
“I wouldn’t change anything about the SOAR program,” said
Robert Martires regarding the new format. “It’s all good.”
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