SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Tradition will continue Wednesday, Aug. 28, at Wofford College when students, faculty and staff work together to help incoming first-year students unload their vehicles and carry their contents away in a flash to the students’ rooms.
This flurry of activity is tradition on Wofford’s campus each year as members of the student Orientation Staff along with student-athletes, faculty and staff members and even President Nayef Samhat and his wife, Prema, and Provost Mike Sosulski participate in the tradition of welcoming the new class.
The Class of 2023 will witness this ritual themselves when they check in, then move in, from 8:30 to 11 a.m. During the excitement of moving in, the new students will meet new friends then get a lay of the land of Wofford’s campus during a variety of orientation activities.
New commuting students begin checking in at 3 p.m. Wednesday.
Classes for the 2019-20 academic year begin on Monday, Sept. 2.
The opening orientation session for new students and their parents will begin at 3:30 p.m. on the lawn of Main Building, where they will be greeted by college administrators and student orientation leaders. Throughout the afternoon, the students will meet with their academic advisers. The day closes out with a picnic dinner for the newcomers and their families, followed by a cookie reception with the Samhats before parents leave campus.
Orientation activities continue into the night for the new students, meeting with residence hall assistants and having social time with their new classmates.
On Thursday, Aug. 29, first-year students will travel to Camp Greystone in Tuxedo, N.C., for The Summit adventures, including swimming, canoeing and other outdoor activities. A field day competition will be held at 3 p.m. Friday, Aug. 30, on the lawn of Main Building. Other orientation activities will continue throughout this first week.
After the Class of 2023 formal photograph is taken at 10:30 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 1 on the steps of Main Building, the students will participate in a first-year service project packing 500 backpacks with school supplies to be delivered the following week to local elementary schools. This high-energy event will take place beginning at 1:30 p.m. in the arena of the Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium.
Here are some important dates for the opening of the fall 2019 semester at Wofford:
Wednesday, Aug. 28
8:30-11 a.m. – First-year students move in. (Check-in is at The Commons in the Campus Life Building; move-in is along Campus Drive at the Greene and Marsh Residence Halls.)
3 p.m. – New commuting students check in.
3:30 p.m. – Opening session, front lawn of Main Building
Thursday, Aug. 29
First-year student orientation continues.
10:30 a.m. – First-year students board buses for The Summit at Camp Greystone in Tuxedo, N.C. (Campus drive in front of Marsh and Greene halls.)
Friday, Aug. 30
First-year student orientation continues.
3 p.m. – Field Day Competition for first-year students, lawn of Main Building
Saturday, Aug. 31
First-year orientation events continue.
Sunday, Sept. 1
10:30 a.m. – Class of 2023 photograph, steps of Main Building
10:30 a.m. – First Service of Worship and Blessing of the Class of 2022, Leonard Auditorium, Main Building
1:30 p.m. – First-year community service project; students will fill 500 backpacks with school supplies, to be delivered the next week to local elementary schools. Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium
Monday, Sept. 2
Classes begin.
Thursday, Sept. 5
11 a.m. – Opening Convocation, Leonard Auditorium. Featured speaker: Edward B. (Ed) Wile, a 1973 Wofford College graduate and former investment manager; Wile will receive an honorary degree in the humanities.