Posted by KBenton on March 30, 2009 under Camp War Eagle | 
I know that you are probably getting anxious and nervous about coming to Camp War Eagle! It is going to be so much fun and in three days you are going to find out more about Auburn then you probably ever wanted to know. You will also get to meet a lot of people and could begin to form friendships that will last you throughout college or a lifetime. I am a junior and I still am friends with several people that I met at Camp War Eagle. People often wonder if they will get to room with a friend, unfortunately you will not get to room with a friend, but use this opportunity to meet new people and find commonalities between yourself and members of your class. Roommates and group members are chosen at random so that you can take every opportunity to get to know other classmates coming to Auburn. Although coming to Auburn knowing no one might seem scary, know that every other freshmen at present and also in the past has been in your shoes. Camp War Eagle is the beginning of your college career and it is a perfect opportunity to step outside your comfort zone and meet new people.
People also wonder what they need to pack for three days. Packing can be a tricky situation because you don’t want to pack too much or not enough. On the first day you will be required to wear the Camp War Eagle shirt that will be given to you at registration. My advice would be to wear shorts and a shirt so that it is easy to slip on your Camp shirt. As for the second and third days you can wear whatever you will be most comfortable in. I would advise to bring comfortable clothes because you will be outside and walking throughout the day. Tennis shoes or some type of sandal would be the best choice for shoes. Please also make sure that you bring sheets, a pillow, and a towel. It is also probably a good idea to throw in a blanket because the dorms can be chilly at night even though it is the summer. Make sure to also pack all of the toiletries and medicine that might be needed while you are at Camp. Remember that you have to carry your own luggage so don’t pack to much but don’t forget anything!!!
Posted by KDuBois on March 23, 2009 under SOS |
Many people are worried when they come to Auburn that they can’t find anything they can get involved in. No worries here!! With over 300 student organizations there are many ways to get involved on campus. Also, if you haven’t been to your SOS session yet, we offer a concurrent session (a short segment of the day dedicated to presenting important information about Auburn) strictly on how to get involved on campus. However, if you’ve already been to SOS, or you have other concurrent sessions you would like to attend, feel free to visit Auburn University’s website dedicated to informing you about the various organizations on campus. This website can be accessed by going to: https://fp.auburn.edu/stuorgs/
At this website you can view all of the organizations on campus by clicking the “View All” option at the top of the page. Once the list of organizations appears, you can click on an organization and it will list an overview of it. For example, if you click on an organization, it lists the meeting location, meeting day and time and the organization’s specific website. This is a wonderful resource if you are interested in getting involved, but not sure where to start.
Lastly, a great opportunity to get involved on campus is through our office, Freshman Year Experience/Students in Transition. The FYE/SIT office selects Camp Counselors (for Camp War Eagle, the Freshmen Orientation Program) every November, Orientation Leaders (for SOS) every January and Parent Counselors (for the Camp War Eagle Parent Program) every February. This is an amazing way to get to know other Camp Counselors, Orientation Leaders and Parent Counselors, as well as the professional staff working in this office. Many students who come through SOS (myself included) became an Orientation Leader immediately after starting school at Auburn. If you would like more information about being a Camp Counselor or Parent Counselor, please visit www.auburn.edu/cwe for the Freshmen Orientation Program, or www.auburn.edu/sos for SOS Orientation Leader information!
Many students attending SOS ask, what will I be doing at an SOS session and most importantly, what should I bring? These both are very good questions that, even I asked when I came through SOS. First, I will describe what a student will be doing on a typical SOS day. During a typical SOS session we generally have Small Group Sessions (SGS) in which you will meet your Orientation Leader. Your Orientation Leader will present information about things such as eBill, parking, tuition costs, etc. Also during and SOS Session you will attend Concurrent Sessions, such as Programs for Students with Disabilities, Financial Aid, Get a Job, Get a Life, etc. After Concurrent Sessions you will attend Tigeri, which is a demonstration for registering for classes. Lastly, you will go on a campus tour, which ends at academic advising. After academic advising you are free to go home!
The second question you may have is what should I bring to SOS? At the beginning of the day, you will receive a packet of information. This packet includes a Tiger Cub (Auburn’s handbook and a calendar), Tiger Transitions (a book with all the information presented on the day, plus other information), pencil, notepad, etc. This information is included in a bag, however, many people find it easier to keep it in a backpack because you will be walking around all day and the bag becomes heavy. However, if you decide not to bring a backpack, all you need is yourself and excitement about coming to Auburn!
Posted by JJohnson on March 19, 2009 under Camp War Eagle, SOS |
Hi folks, Jenn here to tell you all about the regional orientation conference the staff went to last weekend at Ole Miss. Every spring orientation staffs from around the country meet for regional conferences…the region in the southeast is region IV and our regional conference is nicknamed SROW which stands for the Southern Regional Orientation Workshop. Schools from LA, MS, AL, GA, FL, TN, KY, NC, and SC were all in attendance. Over 1200 professional staff and student staff attended SROW.
Our group consisted of 15 folks…3 professional staff, 2 grad assistants and our 10 head student staff. In addition to attending Auburn presented 6 different program sessions and submitted our SOS t-shirt in the t-shirt competition.
The 6 programs presented were:
“And They All Lived Happily Ever After….” This program was about our FYE retreat presented by Ella, Melissa and me.
”It’s a Hard Knock Life Being a Transfer Student-The Importance of a Transfer-Specific Orientation.” This program was about our SOS program and why other schools should have transfer orientation presented by our 4 Orientation Leader Coordinators Avery, Zach, Jay and Katie.
”Down the Rabbit Hole: Helping Out-of-State Students Fall Into Place.” This program was about serving and supporting our out of state students and it was presented by me.
”Everybody Look Left, Everybody Look Right. Everywhere You Look Publicity’s Standing Spotlight.” This program was about our Camp War Eagle Camp Counselor recruitment publicity and it was presented by our 4 Head Camp Counselors Katie, Codi, Sam and Chris.
”Everywhere That Mary Went, Her Parents Were Sure to Go.” This program was about our concurrent parent orientation program during Camp War Eagle and it was presented by our 2 Head Parent Counselors Ellis and Richard.
”The ‘D’ Word: What Are We SROW Afraid of Anyway?” This program was about diversity education and initiatives and it was presented by our Grad Assistant Mary Alice and a former Head Camp Counselor and Learning Community Grad Assistant James Winfield.
All these programs has anywhere from 30-80 students and professionals in attendance.
Our SOS t-shirt we submitted for the t-shirt competition ended up winning 3rd place out of about 15 shirts. We are very proud and we hope those of you coming through SOS will like our award winning t-shirt.
Right now our students on spring break so we have been busy in the office finalizing our upcoming March 27th SOS and Camp War Eagle Schedule.
Please feel free to leave comments on a blog post if you found the information helpful or if you have a question in regards to the post.
War Eagle!
Posted by RKetcham on March 12, 2009 under Camp War Eagle |
This past February, the FYE Office selected their 20 new Parent Counselors to be apart off this year’s Camp War Eagle Staff. We are very excited about having them on board and finally being able to start training and preparing them for this summer. The Parent Counselors are a very unique part of the FYE office and are vital to the success of the Camp War Eagle program. The Parent Counselors are the students that lead and run the Parent Program of Camp War Eagle. They are the ones that perform the opening skit for the parents, lead small group discussion, give tours of campus, and answer any questions that parents or guests have, as well as aid in many other things in the orientation process that the parents and guests of Auburn’s incoming freshman go through.
The process of selecting this year’s group was ground-breaking since we added a second round interview to the selection process. This was the first year that we had a two round interview process, which gave us the chance to get to know the participants even better. After turning in an application, participants were scheduled for a 1st round interview. Callbacks for 2nd round interviews were posted after that and finalists were able to start preparing for their 2nd round interview. Something that we started this year as well was that we asked that each person bring to their 2nd round interview an object that they thought was important for a parent to give their student before leaving for college. Some of the objects candidates brought were a debit card, a tool box, a family picture, a memory blanket and a first-aid kit to only list a couple. This helped us tremendously in the selection process and also allowed the participant to start thinking of ways to serve and help the parents.
The new Parent Counselors were announced following the longtime Auburn tradition of Callouts on the back steps of Cater Hall in the middle of campus. Callouts are when former organization members stand on the back steps of one oldest and prettiest buildings on campus and literally “call out” the new members by announcing the members name and welcoming them into the group. Callouts is always very exciting and this year was no different. It gave newly announced PCs a chance to get to know each other and gave them a glimpse of what was to come. Right now, the PC’s are in training and are getting ready for the fun and exciting summer ahead of them. They meet on Tuesday’s for about 3 hours and are trained about what a PC is and how they help parents. The PCs also hear from speakers, participate in activities and learn a lot of Auburn information which they will have the opportunity to relay to the parents and guests of this year’s incoming freshman. Training comes to a big climax at the end of the semester when PCs take part of training week which allows the CWE staff to fine tune anything and gets everyone ready for the 1st orientation session.
I hope the parents out there are excited to meet the PCs, because I know the PCs are very excited to meet them this summer!
Posted by JOwen on March 10, 2009 under SOS |
One of the most difficult and important parts of attending college is “How will I pay for it?” This is usually addressed by determining how much you can afford to pay for yourself, then augmenting that with two key factors: financial aid and scholarships.
The steps for enrolling in financial aid at Auburn University are fairly straight-forward. First, if you have not already, you need to have completed the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) at http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/. This is an approximation of how much you (or your family) are expected to contribute to your college education. Much of your financial need is determined by this application so be sure to complete and submit it. The next step is to go to the Auburn University Financial Aid page at http://www.auburn.edu/administration/business_office/finaid/. Here you will find links to the necessary forms you have to fill out in order to enroll for financial aid at Auburn. There are a few key pieces of information you need to know about financial aid at Auburn. First and most importantly, you must REAPPLY EVERY YEAR for financial aid; it is NOT automatically renewed. Secondly, if you are entering in summer term, know that it will be awarded separately from the next Fall/Spring financial aid awards. Finally, most grants require that you be a full time student (12 hours minimum).
In addition to financial aid, there are a vast array of available scholarships, some that are even available only to transfer students! There are a number of different levels you may receive scholarships: general scholarships through the university, scholarships specific to your major from your department, and outside donors not directly related to Auburn. The university offers roughly 6,000 general scholarships every year. These can be found at http://www.auburn.edu/scholarship/. Some of these are reserved specifically for you, the transfer student. To be in consideration for these you must meet the following requirements:
-have a minimum 3.25 transfer GPA,
-have at least 30 transfer hours, and
-apply before June 1st.
Also, be sure to check with your department, they may offer even more scholarships on top of any you get from the general university scholarship program. And the best news is that you can have scholarships at both levels. So be sure to apply for as many as you can find!
