News
Orientation trips become universal for new students
By Lucas Phillips ’16
September 3, 2015
Announcing to the arrival date of students for this year’s freshman orientation, Andrew Jillings, Director of the Outdoor Leadership Center, wrote, “‘What could possibly go wrong?’ we hear you ask. Well, that’s why we’re writing.” Nearly all of Hamilton’s first-year class was coming to campus on the same day for the first time in over 30 years, when Adirondack Adventure (AA) trips were first started in 1984.
This year marked a major expansion of Hamilton’s orientation program. The updated orientation included a new trip option alongside AA and Outreach Adventure (OA), Exploration Adventure (XA), under the direction of Tessa Chefalo, Coordinator of Orientation and First-Year Programs. The new program included a wide range of trips including “Beekeeping,” “Finding Your Inner Lorax” and “Say Cheese! Photography and Fromage in the Finger Lakes.” There were 29 total options offered for XA and 68 orientation trips overall.
Trip ideas came from a range of sources. Chefalo consulted past trip leaders, student interns, last year’s first-year class, faculty and staff. “We wanted to make sure that when every first-year student went into the list to look, they would find a least something…that they were really drawn to,” she said.
The entire incoming class of 518 students participated in 60 trips total. Making these orientation trips mandatory expanded the program’s involvement about 40 percent, up from the roughly 60 percent average in previous years. Jillings explained this change: “The trips were made a requirement of orientation for the simple reason that they work and it’s unfair to deprive incoming students of a beneficial experience.”
The program is designed to help students get to know one another and their upper classman trip leaders. Chefalo noted, “creating connections…is our primary goal. It has been from the start.” Feedback from students has been positive so far, she says. Tyler Spector ’19, who went on “Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship,” an XA program, commented, “I liked doing the Orientation program. It was a good way to make a group of friends.”
The expansion of the program posed serious logistical challenges. Director of Community Outreach and organizer of OA Amy James said, “The increased numbers were challenging but also very welcome; in general some things were greatly improved, and some things took more work than expected.” 120 student trip leaders were involved, and the operation required the coordination of Bon Appetit, Physical Plant, Residential Life, Campus Safety, Auxiliary Services, Dean of Students and Faculty. “It truly took our whole ‘village,’” James commented.
Despite these successes, there has still been discussion about how to improve the programs for next year. The evaluation process includes immediate debriefing with trip leaders, larger meetings with faculty and staff and an orientation survey being sent to first-years later this week. Chefalo hopes to make XA trips even more hands-on. She also hopes to improve the program’s ability to help students better choose their trips.
The marks of success aren’t simply in the trips themselves, however. The true goal is improving the long-term experience of students. Chefalo explained, “everyone had a pretty positive experience from what I can tell, and I’m excited to see how that will impact the year ahead and the four years ahead for all these students, too.”