Community Council update: Council discusses role of orientation in Feb integration

After a one-meeting hiatus for Passover, Community Council reconvened on April 25. Associate Director of Campus Activities and Director of Orientation JJ Boggs and International Student and Scholar Adviser Kaye-Lani Laughna joined the council to seek input on orientation.

After this year’s fall orientation, Boggs and Laughna talked with small groups of first-years about how to make orientation better. They also sent all first-years a survey and gathered feedback from other members of the Middlebury community who were involved in orientation, such as First-Year Counselors (FYCs) and Commons Residential Advisers (CRAs).

They hoped to gain additional insight from Community Council on orientation, particularly relating to diversity and community.

A wide variety of topics were discussed, from the pre-arrival reading and discussion groups to Midd Uncensored, a community building exercise that began during Feb orientation and has recently been added to fall orientation.

“I think that we need to take advantage of the Orientation week to ensure that these values of respect and unity are well-established, because this time will set the tone for the students' next four years,” said Secretary of Community Council Rachel Sider ’14. “I hope that this years Orientation program can better set this tone, while still maintaining the fun and carefree atmosphere I experienced.”

They also discussed Feb orientation and particularly Feb integration into the community.

“We're kinda thrown into the mix as one pack, which can sometimes make integration hard,” said Community Council member Zach Hitchcock ’13.5. “I think by far the best way Febs could become better integrated with Regs is by surrounding them with other students their age.”

The council discussed Feb housing, as Febs are generally placed wherever there is available housing. Unlike the first-years who arrive in September, Febs do not necessarily live near other first-years or near people in their first-year seminar.

“The Feb orientation as a whole does a really good job of making you feel welcome and at home given the constraints of the situation,” said Hitchcock. “There is a lot of Feb spirit that gets driven into you during that time that's really crucial to shaping your college identity and helping you feel like you ‘belong.’ But I think that there needs to be more focus on community within the events in Feb orientation.”

“I think that the feedback Community Council provided will specifically better create the understanding of community respect that the we as a council seek to improve,” said Sider.

“I feel like members of Community Council reinforced our idea that small group experiences are critical during orientation and that we should be offering orientation extension activities in the commons throughout the fall and especially during spring after the new Febs arrive,” said Boggs.

The final Community Council meeting of the year will take place on Monday, May 2.