New students get first taste of campus life next week

This fall’s new freshmen will get an in-depth introduction to campus life starting next week at UW–Madison.

More than 7,000 new and transferring students plan to visit UW–Madison between now and mid-August during continuous sessions of asummer orientation program for new and transferring students.

The first two-day session for new freshmen gets underway Sunday, June 17, and the last ends Thursday, Aug. 9. Seven separate one-day long sessions for transfers begin Wednesday, June 13, and are dispersed throughout the summer.

The SOAR program, short for Student Orientation, Advising and Registration, introduces students and parents to UW–Madison, provides advising services for students and registers students for their first semester of classes on a campus that typically enrolls more than 40,000 students.

Peg Davey, SOAR director, says the program also helps new and transferring students learn about campus resources and expectations, and helps them make friends and meet other students, faculty and staff. Parents of new and transferring students also attend SOAR sessions designed specifically for them.

“We hope the parents learn about the campus, gain an understanding of how this transition will affect them and how they can support their students,” says Carren Martin of the Student Orientation Office. Martin and colleague, Tori Svoboda, lead the planning for the orientation segments of the program.

“And we want students to be excited about coming here, and understand that they have opportunity and responsibility for creating their own experiences,” Svoboda adds.

As SOAR has expanded and the numbers of new students increase, SOAR activities have spread to venues all over campus. Many SOAR activities for new freshmen will take place in the center of student services, the Red Gym, and the nearby Pyle Center and Lowell Center, all on Langdon Street.

Advising sessions are located at Union South and sessions for freshmen parents are held in Upper Carson Gulley in the Lakeshore Residence Halls.

Among other activities, students will have a chance during SOAR to visit residence halls where they’ll live this fall. They also will sign up for a NetID that will give them access to university online resources, including the new My UW–Madison Web portal.

Nearly all new students attend SOAR. The 30-year old program is coordinated by the university’s Office of Admissions; Campus Information, Assistance and Orientation; and academic advisors from all schools, colleges and the Cross College Advising Service. A leadership team drawn from these units does much SOAR planning.

“I continue to be amazed at how many staff, students and faculty pitch in to make SOAR work, and how much they enjoy it,” Davey adds. “And it is a wonderful leadership experience for students, who work at SOAR in many capacities. Student coordinators play a major role in planning and carrying out the student and parent orientation segments of SOAR.”