The Student Activities Center has come up with a way to make the transition from beach bags to backpacks a bit easier.

Welcome Week, which started on Saturday and ends Sept. 7, features a multitude of events designed to build a sense of community and ensure the school year gets off to an enjoyable start, said Tim Miller, executive director of the Student Activities Center.

Some of Welcome Week’s old favorites have a fresh twist this year. Class Council’s annual barbecue, recently renamed “Fresh on the Yard,” will now be hosted by both Class Council and the Residence Hall Association in University Yard.

“This event, in conjunction with Freshman Convocation, will be the main welcome event for freshmen, their house proctors, and some other GW community members,” Miller said.

Another veteran event, the Student Performance Showcase, will be held on Aug. 31. In its second year, the event will feature some of GW’s most beloved a capella groups, dance groups, and theater groups, as well as two student bands for a total of 16 performing arts groups.

Miller said the event touts two major benefits.

“Here students will not only get a chance to meet the performance groups, but also students interested in the arts or forming a band or a group can connect with each other in order to form new groups on campus,” he said.

Toward the end of the week, students can participate in the Colonial Quest Adventure Race. The race consists of student teams who solve clues, answer trivia, and perform challenges in order to get to eight different Foggy Bottom locales, all the while avoiding designated “chasers” waiting to tag out unsuspecting team members.

“It’s like Amazing Race meets a good old-fashioned game of tag,” Miller said. Winners can expect to receive such prizes as tickets to Colonials Weekend headliner Jon Stewart, iPods, GW gear, free GW TRAiLS trips, and SASS and the City tickets.

Another event, the Student Organization and Services Fair, will be held on Sept. 1 from 7 to 9 p.m. in University Yard.