Orientation Day opening new doors

Many adults still remember their first day at a new school - the terror, the nervousness, and the gut wrenching worry that they won’t make any friends.

And for many first year students straight out of high school – starting university can produce similar anxieties.

New students at the University of Wollongong come from a range of different towns, cities and countries – meaning many start their academic life without any existing family, friends or social networks nearby.

To help make the transition to university less scary and more fun, Wollongong Unicentre host a whole week’s worth of orientation celebrations, including a club day, activities, festival days and parties for new students at the start of each university year.

First year students at UOW Katrina Mangos and Stephanie Toole are both from Shellharbour, so geographically speaking attending university isn’t a big step for them.

However, both agreed that starting university was still a daunting prospect.

Ms Mangos, who will commence a Arts/Law degree this year, said her main concerns centered on rising to the challenge of a higher academic tier.

“I think just in terms of the intensity level between high school and uni in terms of expectations and the sort of academic excellence we’re supposed to produce . . . is confronting,” she said.

Another first year student, Monique Sparke, lives in Caringbah in Sydney, and will be commuting to Wollongong to study.

She agreed that starting university can be difficult but said she already had friends studying at Wollongong – something that was helping to make the transition easier.

Orientation Week, or O-Week as it is informally called, is one of the most important events on Wollongong’s student calendar.

It aims to provide new students with the important social connections needed to ensure their university experience is fulfilling on every level.

The University of Wollongong has a massive number of student clubs, with an additional 20 making their campus debut this year.

Monica Miller from the Unicentre said clubs are one of the big ways that people make social connections.

“All these students might not necessarily have friends, they don’t have networks – and clubs provide that community,” she said.