O-staff welcomes freshmen

The 2002 Orientation has welcomed the Class of 2006 into the Johns Hopkins family with a series of social and academic events, running from Friday, Aug. 30 to Friday, Sept. 6.

Organized by executive co-chairs Nikhil Joshi and Casey Weinberg, the 2002 Orientation centers around the theme of the mobster innuendo, "Welcome to the Family." Events were tailored around the theme, said Weinberg, and Orientation staff members wore shirts sporting mobster blue jays on the back.

Huge turnouts flooded most of the social events, according to Weinberg. More than 1500 students, including upperclassmen, partied Monday at Have a Nice Day Cafe, which was reserved solely for Hopkins students.

About 325 volunteers helped the orientation staff with the events, 120 serving as student advisors and the rest involved in move-in said move-in chair J. R. Williams.

They also had help from "a number of people from offices around campus," said Williams.

Freshman move-in took place Friday and Saturday before the influx of rainfall. Volunteers moved luggage to the rooms and lead arriving freshmen to Terrace Court Cafe to receive information and greetings.

The parents "were really appreciative," said senior Shelly Gopaul, parents programming chair. "This one woman said she felt safe leaving her firstborn here."

Gopaul oversaw the programs provided for parents, which in cluded a summary of Hopkins history and a drug and alcohol session, among other events.

Sunday night, freshmen gambled at Casino night for raffle tickets to win donated prizes, including a palm pilot, a mountain bike and two tickets to a Ravens game. Resident advisors helped to man the tables.

Freshman Simon Zhang from New Jersey said he enjoyed Casino Night.

About the Orientation activities, he said, "They're corny, but they're still fun."

Tony Chang of Alabamba agreed and said Play Fair on Sunday was "a good place to meet people without feeling stupid because everyone is feeling stupid."

Another event added to Orientation this year was Bootleg Bash in the Rec Center, where carnival-like activities were available, such as a moon bounce, said Weinberg.

Freshmen were also divided into 40 student-advising groups with three student advisors to each group of students.

All student advisors (SAs) had to move in a week early for training, said Weinberg.

"We had a whole week of training," she said. "We tried to make it more interactive than in the past. We did a lot of role playing."

But SAs seemed to find the thorough training process unnecessary.

"The training was more extensive than what was needed," said sophomore and SA Christine Tung. "We learned a lot of things that weren't necessary."

She added that most questions posed by the freshmen concerned academics although the SAs had been encouraged to focus the discussion on social life.

Other events Orientation will include are the student job fair and the Student Activities Commission fair on the freshman quad Friday.