RCPD WOWS Incoming Students

Chad Sevensma sits waiting at a desk, with sweating palms and a twitching leg. His eyes focus on inanimate objects around the room to avoid making eye contact with others, as he wonders what he can expect at Michigan State University.

His uncertainty as a transfer student brought him to RCPD's Welcome Orientation Workshop (WOW), but the helpful information he found there made him stay. "Coming into [the university] I just figured I'd do what I had done at my community college back home," Sevensma said, "But they did suggest some helpful things I'd never thought about."

Elaine High, the event's coordinator, agreed that students should come away from the workshop with those feelings. "We just wanted students to know the resources that are available to them," High explained, "Whether its information on using the CATA, Financial Aid, the Learning Resource Center, or other helpful things this campus has to offer."

The two-hour informational meeting, held in room 317 Bessey Hall on August 24^th, was open to incoming freshmen, transfer students, and students that have already been at MSU for some time but have been introduced to RCPD recently.

WOW included a general information session and breakout sessions that informed students of alternative testing options and assistive technology resources. High says that although these were informative, she thinks student and faculty run discussion panels are most helpful to students." This year we added the faculty panel, but students really like to ask the student panel for advice because they can relate to the feelings they're having," High said.

Sevensma agreed, saying the student panel helped him understand what life as a MSU student could hold. "The entire workshop let me know the real deal." He said, "The speakers didn't sugar coat anything, but they let me know that there is help out there and hope; I appreciate that."

High says WOW participants will continue to experience that genuineness in the future.

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