THE
PAGE 2 // WEDNESDAY. SEPTEMBER 1, 2010
New Student Convocation welcomes freshman dass to Elon
NEWS
PENDUluh,
Jack Dodson
News Editor
To welcome the newest class of Elon University
students, the school held its annual New Student
Convocation ceremony Saturday morning, where senior
staff members and faculty from the school offered
advice for a successful four years at Elon.
The event included speeches by President Leo
Lambert, Associate Chaplain and Director of Religious
Life Phil Smith and Vice President for Student Life Smith
Jackson, among others.
“Elon University, from its founding, has been a place
of transformation," Smith said. “This is a place you may
learn from or interact with persons from all walks of
life."
After Smith started the ceremony with an mvocation,
junior Taylor Martin, the Student Government
Association executive president, welcomed the class of
2014 with some advice.
“College is not a place to lose control,” Martin said.
“You’ve worked too hard over the last few years to throw
it away over one mistake.”
He also told the class to remember that Elon’s
campus has a draw to it.
“I don’t know what it is about this place, but you get
stuck by its charm when you step on the campus, he
said.
Jackson presented the statistics for the class: 44
states and 31 countries represented and six students
from Alamance County who graduated from the Elon
Academy, a program geared toward assisting low-
income high school students reach college.
Steven House, provost and vice president for
academic affairs and professor of biology, followed by
introducing the faculty to the new class and the parents,
going through their statistics and awards.
“Although these faculty may all look the same to
you today — dressed in academic regalia and marching
in straight lines — rest assured, they are interesting,
passionate and committed individuals," House said.
“You will see their uniqueness in the classes they teach,
the plays they direct, the art they produce, the polls
they conduct, the mock trials and model UN simulations
they will create for you, and the many other ways your
paths will cross over the next four years.”
Lambert then spoke, welcoming the students,
talking about his experience as a parent with a student
in college and offering some tips for the incoming
students.
“I can identify with the tear in mom’s eye and the
%
HEATHER CASSANQ 1 Staff F
* ^ *h« fmehman class remain at the end of President Leo Lambert’s "human bar graph,” representing tl
lump in dad’s throat," Lambert said. “What a privilege
it’s been for them to help you reach this day."
And with a different take on a New Student
Convocation tradition, playing off the China-themed
common reader for the class, Lambert led into the
annual human bar graph part of his speech by talking
about China’s relationship with the United States. “China
Road: A Journey into the Future of a Rising Power,”
was required reading for the Class of 2014, written by
National Public Radio correspondent Rob Gifford.
To demonstrate the relationship between the
two countries, he had 12 rows of students stand up
in the back of the audience to represent the Chinese
population. Three rows stood up in front to represent
the people of the United States.
“The front row owes the back rows almost $1.7
trillion,” he said. “And the back rows manufactured
almost all the things you bought at Target yesterday.”
After Lambert went through the rest of the human
bar graph, referencing the large amount of poverty,
illiteracy and small amount of access to college
degrees, four students were left standing in the front
row representing people with four-year degrees from
private institutions.
“John and Quentin and Ricky and Olivia, and the
class of 2014," he said, “consider your good fortune this
morning."
Lambert highlighted some of the biggest aspects
he sees as important to an Elon education including
internships, study abroad, undergraduate research
and the ability to have a good time without being
irresponsible.
At the end of his speech, he held an acorn in from
of the class.
“The symbol of promise," he said.“The promise of
an education.”
I . HEATHER CASSANQ I Staff Photographer
Lucie Miller, a senior onentation leader, helps freshman Lauren Koster from New York during move-in day.
LINDSAY FENDT | Photo Edrtw
Members of the Class of 2014 move in with the help of orientation staff Aug. 27.
Freshmen arrive on campus, orientation staff assist move-i
in
Jack Dodson
News Editor
With 1,365 new students and 71
transfers all moving in Aug. 27, Elon
University was full of new students,
parents, orientation and residence life
staff as well as physical plant workers
all helping students get situated.
Early in the day, Orientation
Leaders and Head Staff members
joined Residence Life to prepare for
the new students.
Orientation Head Staff member
Caroline Cronin said there was an
early morning rush when move-in
started, but after that everything
went smoothly. The crowd showed
up at North Area residence halls
well before the 8 a.m. start time that
morning, she said.
“Before sign in, we had at least 30
families lined up,” Cronin said. "Out-
of-staters are eager.”
For the Orientation Leaders and
Head Staff, the day consisted of
long hours. Cronin said she woke up
around 4 a.m., starting work at 5:30
a.m., and wasn’t finished until 1 a.m.
The next morning the orientation
staff met again at 7 a.m.
Cronin said the afternoon was
a little bit of a break from the rush
of students coming in the morning,
though.
Assistant Director of Residence
Life for West Area Richard Baker,
who stood by the tent near McEweri
throughout the morning, said the
move-in process in his area was going
smoothly once the early crowd was
moved in to their dorms.
Once the first wave of students and
parents had come through at the start
of the day. Baker said his West Area
group hadbecome like a well-oiled
machine, with a system to how they
were helping the new students.
He said the most important
thing during move-in day was to get
students in to their dorms.
“We have to make sure we get them
to the right place, answer questions,”
he said.
New students began moving in
Aug. 27 at 8 a.m. Early arrivals were
from more than four hours away, so
many were coming from hotels to’get
to campus. Later arrivals, starting at
10 a.m., were from closer by.
It was a little stressful getting
out," freshman Jillian Plotner said.
But it s nice out, and there are a lot
of people around to help."
Plotner, from Great Falls, Va., came
to campus fromherhotelinBurlington.
Her dad, Alan, said she was the third
— and last — new student moving to
college this summer from her family
Her twin had moved in at University
01 Virginia the weekend before
“It’s been a very difficult summer "
her mother Barbara said.
But for some students, the trip
to campus was much farther than
coming from Virginia.
For Jason Meerbergen, a San Diego-
native and the brother of new student
Ashley, the move-in process came
after a cross-country trip. He drove to
Elon with his father during the wee
before Aug. 27, stopping in various
places in the southern part of
country on the way,
“We stopped in Flagstaff, Oklahonw
City, Albuquerque," Meerbergen sai
“It was a great time.”
He said he and his father
Ashley and her mother at Elon to he P
her move in to her new school. When
they were done at Elon they were
going to stay at his school, Ursinu*
College in Pennsylvania, where hes
junior.
Meerbergen said moving his siste
in to school reminds him of his ear)
days in college. ..
“It’s cool — it’s a lot of wor
Meerbergen said. “It kind of
me back to my freshman year.