Every third week of October, students can participate in the National Transfer Student Week (NTSW) events to build empathy, pride and community. This year, the Kick-Off event starts Oct. 16 at 11 a.m. with donuts on Dexter Lawn.
The events focus on building and supporting the transfer community and connecting transfer students to resources to support their academic success.
“Our Kick-Off event has become a highlight for students and staff as it includes balloons, marquee letters, SLODoCo donuts and more,” the Transfer Center’s Assistant Director Heather Domonoske said. “It’s a really fun way to kick off the week.”
There were 21,190 students enrolled at Cal Poly in spring 2023 and 1,972 of them were new transfer students, at about 9 percent of the student body for the quarter.
The Transfer Conversation Committee first proposed the idea of a Kick-Off event in 2018 before the Transfer Center existed. Two years later, the Transfer Center opened and the event was held virtually on Instagram Live due to the pandemic.
At the Kick-Off event, students can get an NTSW grid card to win prizes when they attend more events, which range from panels run by past transfers to bowling at Mustang Lanes. Non-transfer students are encouraged to join as well to break the stigma around the topic.
“Transfers have shared that at Cal Poly, people assume they could not have gotten into Cal Poly out of high school, or that community college is subpar,” Domonoske said. “We hope to better educate the campus about transfers.”
Students can find more information on the Transfer Center’s website for the full event schedule.