One month after Cal Poly hosted its Week of Welcome (WOW) orientation program for its incoming class, students reflect on the program’s Cross-Cultural Experience (CCE) option — one that students say is underadvertised yet impactful. The CCE program, a branch…
Week of Welcome – another experience sophomores, or the forgotten class, were robbed of
Everyone in San Luis Obispo knows it. It’s the shiniest jewel on the Cal Poly crown – the unforgettable highlight of many of our students’ college careers – and one of the most well thought out and over-the-top orientation programs…
A look at Cal Poly’s Campus Comeback
Cal Poly’s award-winning orientation, or the Week of Welcome (WOW), introduces first-year students to campus through a week full of in-person activities and events. For incoming students last year, WOW was unable to take place in person, leaving many students…
Students reflect on an in-person WOW
As Cal Poly welcomes the majority of students back on campus this fall, new students were able to experience an in-person Week of Welcome (WOW) after a year of virtual learning and activities. WOW is a five-day orientation that marks…
What to expect at WOW this year
The award-winning Week Of Welcome (WOW) has undergone some changes this year, developing condensed group activities, more outdoor engagement and mask requirements to adapt to the recent COVID-19 guidelines. WOW will take place Sept. 15-19. It is set to be…
WOW should include Kristin Smart to educate students and honor her legacy
As a freshman, I walked everywhere with an unjust amount of confidence and sense of safety. I lived in North Mountain and my friend’s dorm, where I spent a majority of my time at night, was in Yakʔitʸutʸu, exactly half…
Award-winning orientation program gone virtual: How did it really go?
“I think we were all nervous,” psychology senior Gonzalez said. “But we have a really good team that we worked with this whole year that made us feel better about putting it on.”
Orientation leaders prepare for WOW and SLO Days online
Despite New Student and Transition Programs’ (NSTP) shift to a virtual spring training for orientation leaders, group facilitators kept the spirit of Tuesday night meetings alive. Facilitators’ role was to prepare leaders-in-training (LITs) to lead incoming students during SLO Days…
WOW training is entirely virtual this year, but WOW could be held in person
For more than 60 years, spring quarter summer orientation training has attracted hundreds of continuing Cal Poly students, eager to give incoming freshmen the same fun-filled week they experienced as a new Mustang. The quarter-long weekly training prepares students who…
‘A light in his friends lives’: Cal Poly community remembers Brenden Nichols
On a Tuesday during Winter 2019, Brenden Nichols invited his friend, Megan Milburn, to hike the ‘P,’ a popular landmark on campus just beyond the South Mountain residence halls. “He was just saying, ‘Megs, we have to go hike the…
WOW group 803 leaves no man behind, even if it takes hand-building a panel pathway to the beach
The way to get to Week of Welcome (WOW) events, such as kayaking or a beach bonfire, is not a big concern for many new students at Cal Poly. But that is not the case for aerospace engineering transfer student…