GW will welcome transfer students from New Orleans universities at a special Colonial Inauguration Thursday, in an effort to introduce students to their temporary home in D.C.
The program, which will run from noon to 7:30 p.m. in the Marvin Center’s Hippodrome, will focus on providing new students with information they’ll need during their stay at GW, such as how to use their GWorld card, find University housing and visit the Student Health Center.
Members of the 2005 Colonial Cabinet, GW Transfers and various other University departments will be on hand to meet students and answer their questions.
“We want (the transfer students) to feel comfortable and capable to use their time here well,” said Renee Clement, assistant director of the Student Activities Center and director of CI. “This isn’t a marketing event. We’re going to show them how to make use of the campus to have the best time this semester.”
Clement added that Friday’s event would be more comparable to the two-day international CI than the regular three-day summer sessions for incoming freshmen. She said she contacted 49 New Orleans transfer students about the event.
The University will provide CI-goers with lunch and dinner, and will take the students off campus to tour D.C. highlights such as Georgetown and the National Mall.
“It’s focused on integrating the city into their experience,” Clement said. “Despite the crisis that brought them here, they can still have a fantastic semester.” Tulane University junior Kati Milligan, who transferred to GW after Tulane announced it would be closed for the fall 2005 semester, has been trying to settle into life at a new school. Milligan said getting used to a city campus is just one of the recent obstacles she’s had to face.
“I still don’t know my way around, and which way the letters go down and the numbers go up. It’s definitely a huge change,” she said. “Every day it gets a little easier.”
Going to a GW student orientation, Milligan said, would make for a good chance to meet other New Orleans students and find out more about the University.
