The Northwestern Office of New Student and Family Programs plans to modify the 2012 Wildcat Welcome program to encourage more interaction among new students and attract a wider variety of activity participants, said Patti Hilkert, director of NSFP.
Hilkert said NSFP has yet to finalize these plans for Wildcat Welcome, which begins Sept. 20.
“We’re just trying to focus our events a little bit more,” Hilkert said. “Instead of doing a bunch of little programming all over the place, we’re trying to make big events that have a lot going on to appeal to everybody kind of all in one setting.”
Hilkert said one possible new event is an activity night at the Henry Crown Sports Pavilion and Aquatics Center, which would include sports and non-athletic activities.
One of NSFP’s goals for the next Wildcat Welcome is to help students meet peers from different NU schools, Hilkert said. For instance, peer adviser groups from different schools might team up for activities, she said.
“We’re really trying to promote kind of a ‘One Northwestern’ and get everybody excited and on the same page that we’re all Wildcats,” she said.
NSFP will also continue Serving Communities And Promoting Engagement, a Wildcat Welcome service day that began last year, said Jessica Sopko, the graduate assistant for NSFP. During SCAPE, Sopko said new students volunteer with various nonprofit organizations in Evanston and the Chicago area. One improvement for this year’s SCAPE will be that the University will make sure that students have enough work to complete at these organizations, Sopko said.
Weinberg freshman Chloe Padula volunteered to work at a food pantry in Evanston during SCAPE last year, but when her group arrived, the pantry was closed, she said.
“No one actually showed up, so they called the bus after half an hour and we just got to go back to campus,” she said. “I figured it would at least be open, but it wasn’t, so clearly there was a lack of communication.”
NSFP is also working with NU’s Office of Sustainability to plan an activity to promote green living on campus, but the details have yet to be determined, Hilkert said.
“It’s important to teach students about what we can do to make a difference in the world in regards to sustainability,” Hilkert said. “It’s something that we hope people will take with them once they leave this campus.”
This year, the final day of Wildcat Welcome is Sept. 26, which falls on the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur. Activities for that day will be optional, Hilkert said.
