New students prepare to meet and mingle

Fall classes don’t begin until the 24th, but for the 1,900 students enrolled in Portland State’s First Year Experience, the term kicks off with the Residence Life Program’s New Student Week, on Sept. 17.

Orientation events for new students have been a part of the FYE agenda since it was founded in 1997, but this year, students can expect more bang for their buck, said Residence Life Director Corey Ray. The formally outsourced housing program was taken over by the university last spring, and “now that we’ve taken ownership, we are either going to deliver, or change the program,” Ray said.

“We are here to educate and to continue to provide a great frame for social networking,” he said, as the program plans to focus more on garnering facility and community involvement.

New Student Week features both events held exclusively within the Ondine and Broadway buildings’ freshman floors and also activities open to the entire student body. Social events open exclusively to dorm-dwelling freshmen mainly center around food, and orientation to college life.

Tentative plans for barbeques, ice cream socials and a Breakfast Club movie night are laid out over the course of the first week, as are a Tri-Met scavenger hunt, to help Portland newbies learn the workings of local public transit, a panel discussion with FYE alumni, classroom tips and campus tours, and even a night of sex education, where new students will be able to speak with members of the Women’s Resource Center and SHAC to ask (anonymity guaranteed) any questions they have been holding on to all these years.

New Student Week is sure to give Portland Staters a chance to mingle and score some free food, so start clearing your calendars, grab your extra large messenger bags perfect for stashing leftovers, and prepare your personal business cards. Because it’s the only time of the year where the pick-up line “I’ve never seen you around these parts before!” will actually work.

For more information on New Student Week, and for information on how to RSVP for ticketed events, check out www.portlandstate.blogspot.com.

Selected events:

Sept. 15: “Student Alumni Relations Group Tailgate and Football Game” barbeque and outdoor concert, starting at 3:30 p.m. in the Park Blocks with kickoff at PGE Park at 6 p.m.

Sept. 17: The Northwest Film Center and Res Life team up to offer dinner and a movie during “Night on the Town” starting at 4:30 p.m., meeting at the entrance of Smith Memorial Student Union.

Sept. 18: A historical tour of the Rose City, “Explore the Portland Underground,” tours start at 3:15 p.m., meeting in the Ondine lobby.

Sept. 20: PSU’s first carnival, “Shindig Under the Stars,” starting at 5 p.m. in the Park Blocks, complete with dunk tanks.

Sept. 21: Make sure to keep Friday open, as it marks the “New Student Convocation and Viking Scavenger Hunt,” meeting at 10 a.m. in the SMSU Ballroom. Also, the “Calling All Non-Traditional Undergrads!” workshop and discussion panel starts at 4 p.m. in SMSU, Room 238, and the “Trés Chic Fashion Show and Dance” at 7 p.m. in SMSU, Room 101.