Schedule a campus visit? Check. Apply to West Virginia University? Check. Choose to become a Mountaineer? Check.

Monday (June 1), West Virginia University’s class of 2019 will start to arrive on campus to check the final step to entering WVU’s freshman class off their list: participating in a New Student Orientation session, where students and their families will spend a full day on campus preparing for the next four years as Mountaineers.

The nearly 5,000 admitted WVU students making the trip to Morgantown throughout the month of June will find valuable support and resources waiting for them when they set foot on campus as part of this year’s revamped program.

“We’ve put a lot of hard work into improving the overall energy and environment for this year’s program to ensure the transition to their new home is seamless for our new Mountaineers,” said Katlin Swisher, interim coordinator for New Student Orientation. “We want to ensure students and their families leave campus feeling prepared, excited and confident about their decision to attend WVU.”

As part of that preparation, both traditional and non-traditional students will receive one-on-one advisor support as they schedule classes for the fall semester, learn about their Living-Learning Community at a residence life session and have the opportunity to discover ways to get involved and integrate into Student Life through the 450 available student organizations at an information fair.

They will also have the opportunity to talk with financial aid advisers, visit their residence hall, tour the state-of-the-art Student Recreation Center, register for Student Health Services and have their photo taken for their Mountaineer Card.

The day also offers specific sessions tailored to families to ensure they have the tools and support necessary to encourage their students as they embark upon a new chapter of life. Families can attend the new Project 168 session, an initiative designed by President Gordon Gee to help students best utilize all 168 hours of the week through academic and personal planning.

In addition to the full day of resources offered during the program, Swisher said they devised a new strategy this year to incorporate the new ‘Go First’ branding campaign for New Student Orientation and equip both students and families with more information leading up to their New Student Orientation session.

“We really focused on connecting with students and families before their orientation session,” said Swisher. “They are all receiving videos describing the various key components of New Student Orientation each day leading up to their session. We realize we provide a lot of information to digest in one day and we don’t want them to feel overloaded.”

WVU interim associate vice president of Admissions Stephen Lee said that he is appreciative for the months of detailed planning and execution by hundreds of WVU employees who had one mission: to make WVU feel like home for students and their families.

“It is our goal that students leave their orientation session feeling welcomed to WVU and confident that they have the tools to succeed when they arrive on campus in August,” said Lee. “We want their families to leave with the feeling that this is the start of a successful college experience for their students and have the assurance that WVU will take care of them, both academically and personally.”

WVU students and families are encouraged to share their New Student Orientation experience using the hashtag #WVU19 on Twitter.

-WVU-

hr/05/29/15

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