Virtual Welcome Mat

By James Baratta ’22, August 21, 2020

College hosts first-ever online Orientation Week for incoming students.

Clues about lC clubs were part of the orientation week virtual scavenger hunt.

Scavenger hunts and group fitness challenges might seem like difficult experiences to pull off remotely, but the Ithaca College class of 2024 got to experience new twists on classic favorites during the college’s first-ever virtual orientation week, which took place from August 10 to 15.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the decision to move from an in-person orientation to a virtual one came in May, according to Kevin Perry, the college’s associate director of New Student and Transition Programs.

“Given the nature of all that would need to be addressed — including revising programming, staffing adjustments, the biggest challenges were really navigating something new, again,” he said. “This past year was a brand-new program — so we picked and chose things that worked well with a summer and fall orientation and blended them. Because the world is changing constantly right now, it was really about planning for multiple scenarios and ensuring that we would still be able to offer programs in a fun and engaging way.

“We worked with campus partners to create spaces where students could engage with one another, see one another, and have spaces to just unwind and socialize,” Perry added.

The week’s festivities kicked off on Monday with a virtual scavenger hunt, organized by IC After Dark, a student organization that hosts late-night activities and entertainment for members of the campus community.

“Incoming students will eventually be taking classes in-person, and they’re still going to have that uncertainty of what the everyday looks like, so we really wanted students to feel quite comfortable.”

Molly Whitehead ’21, Orientation Facilitator

Event facilitators provided two types of clues: one set was about typical household objects a college student might use during their day, such as an alarm clock; and the other was made up of trivia questions where the answers were campus landmarks such as IC Square and the Textor Ball.

Participants had two minutes to either find the household items in their location or provide the campus location.

“My favorite part was how competitive it got,” said Ryan Fitzpatrick ’24. “Oh my gosh, you have no idea how fast some of these people were. Within seconds of the clue being given people had answers.”

After the scavenger hunt, students chatted and introduce their pets to one another. This casual atmosphere was something the event facilitators actively worked to create.

Molly Whitehead ’21 said that facilitators wanted to replace the typical formal orientation leader/participant dynamic with a more relaxed one so that incoming students could find comfort being in virtual community.

“When I went to school, I was really worried about the everyday and I just didn’t know what it was like to be a college student,” she said. “Incoming students will eventually be taking classes in-person, and they’re still going to have that uncertainty of what the everyday looks like, so we really wanted students to feel quite comfortable.”

“The great thing about Zoom is that the chat feature allows everyone’s opinions and thoughts to be seen and heard. Everyone can see each other at the same moment as opposed to events where you start creating your friend groups. Zoom has broken down that barrier and encourages people to socialize with each other.”

Quinten Hernandez ’21, orientation coordinator

After getting comfortable, the next day, incoming students got moving thanks to a group fitness mashup, hosted by the fitness center. Devin Mott ’21 and Ally Bukstel ’23 hosted a high intensity interval training (HIIT) session, which was then followed by a yoga session led by Adam Marciszewski ’22 and Anchal Dhir ’23, who guided participants through various poses.

Instructors then led a group meditation that featured breathing techniques and concluded the session by asking students to practice gratitude, encouraging them to do so routinely.

Following all that activity, students got a chance to relax with a movie-themed trivia event. In addition to answering questions about musicals, movies based on books, and cult classics, students used the group chat feature offered by Zoom to chat with others about their favorite movies.

“Each question would kind of lead into like a conversation about certain movies and books,” said Michael Ross ’24. “It was cool seeing everyone’s opinions and preferences about entertainment.”

Quinten Hernandez ’21, who served as an orientation coordinator said that in this case, the virtual nature of the event provided advantages to traditional orientation settings.

“You can create beautiful things that establish connection, even in this virtual world that we're in and a lot of our programming for this year will mirror that. Sofa Singers was an attempt to frame that for the rest of the year.”

Hierald Osorto, director of religious and spiritual life

“The great thing about Zoom is that the chat feature allows everyone’s opinions and thoughts to be seen and heard,” he said. “Everyone can see each other at the same moment as opposed to events where you start creating your friend groups. Zoom has broken down that barrier and encourages people to socialize with each other.”

One of the final events of the week was a Sofa Singers event put on by the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life. The night began with attendees learning the Aretha Franklin song “I Say a Little Prayer.”

Aspiring singers learned the words and melodies and were encouraged to play their own guitars and ukuleles. Although each participant was muted to the group as a whole, the singers still enjoyed belting out a few bars in their own homes.

“It kind of simulated the feeling of singing as a group, without the terrible chaos that could have ensued, had we all been unmuted,” said Katherine White ’24.

After trying their hands at emulating the Queen of Soul, participants were unmuted so they could sing songs of their own choosing to the crowd. White, using her ukulele, performed “No More What Ifs” from the role-playing video game Persona 5 Royal.

“Our office’s commitment to creating spaces that cultivate beauty and connection comes out of this understanding that, for us, our role on this campus is to provide students ways for them to see opportunity," said Hierald Osorto, director of religious and spiritual life. “You can create beautiful things that establish connection, even in this virtual world that we're in and a lot of our programming for this year will mirror that. Sofa Singers was an attempt to frame that for the rest of the year.”