September 15, 2011
Live bands, a boat cruise around Manhattan and the chance to party
with a giant red bird — close to 2,600 new students enjoyed their
first taste of life in a dynamic campus community when St. John’s
University pulled out all the stops for its official Week of
Welcome 2011.
Also
known as the “Week of Wow,” Orientation Week offered new resident
and commuter students a dazzling range of activities — social and
academic — to launch the fall semester at the University’s Queens and Staten Island, NY,
campuses.
St. John’s welcomed a total of 2,682 new students this fall —
2,470 at the Queens campus; 191 at the Staten Island campus; and 21
new students at the Manhattan
campus.
Photo
Gallery
“The ‘Week of Wow’ thoroughly deserves its name,” said Lauren
Harding, Assistant Director of
Student Development at the University’s Queens campus. “Our aim
is to get students to feel that they really are part of a
supportive campus community. Students see that St. John’s is a fun,
exciting place to be.”
By all accounts, the welcoming activities were a stunning
success despite the few, last-minute adjustments needed for
Hurricane Irene, which hit New York City on Sunday, August 28. “We
all had a lot of fun,” said freshman Vincent Graziano ‘15C.
On the Queens campus, the Week of Welcome began on
Move-In Day, August 25. That evening, St. John’s rented an
entire Target department store so resident freshmen could shop at
discounted prices to the sound of a D.J. “It was fun and
functional,” said Lauren.
At Staten Island, the welcome extends to two weeks. Events —
including a cruise around Manhattan, free ice cream and an open-air
barbecue — began on Move-In Day, August 27, and continue until
September 12. “We’re a very close-knit community offering a lot to
do,” said Theresa Osorio, Assistant Director of Campus Activities
in Student
Life at Staten Island. “We wanted to showcase both aspects of
life on this campus.”
Though the Week of Welcome coincided with the first week of the
semester, this year’s Orientation — and the engagement of new
students — actually began in July and continued throughout the
summer. Students and their parents enjoyed a full range of social
and academic events.