Orientation is a required experience for all incoming students鈥攆irst-year, transfer, residential, and commuter鈥攁nd takes place over all four days, August 20鈥�23
This immersive program is designed to help you build friendships, get connected to campus, develop strong academic strategies, and establish the mindset and habits that support long-term success. Orientation includes academic advising, your first class meeting for WST101, and a wide range of social activities, traditions, and opportunities for fun. Whether you live on campus or commute, Orientation is a vital starting point that ensures every new student begins the semester prepared, confident, and connected.
Questions? For more information about orientation, contact Student Affairs, 724-946-7110, studentaff@westminster.edu
The mission of New Student Orientation is to prepare first-year and transfer students for a successful transition to 鲸鱼传媒. The program works to ensure that new students have an awareness of campus resources relating to academic success, student engagement, and wellness support. Further, we are deliberate in our integration of dialogues around inclusivity, justice, and shared responsibility for upholding an affirming and respectful campus community.
Resident students only
Mailbox keys and parking passes will be with residence hall check-in materials
Residence Halls
For anyone who has not already filled out their parking registration information.
Thompson Clark 176
Commuter students and early arrival residents
You will pick up your Orientation folder, name tag, and receive additional instructions for the weekend鈥檚 events. Here is where you will also find out which Orientation group you will be in!
Commuters will pick up their mail keys and parking passes.
Orr Auditorium Tent
Students and Families
Step into the past while celebrating the present! Visit the Alumni Association Welcome Tent for a memorable photo experience designed for new students and their families. Explore our curated display of 鲸鱼传媒 yearbooks and historical photos鈥攚ho knows, you might spot a familiar face from your family鈥檚 Titan legacy! Even if you're the first Titan in your family, there are plenty of photo ops waiting for you, including a Titan cutout and fun signage perfect for capturing your 鲸鱼传媒 moment. Legacy Titan? Be sure to stop by and ask about your exclusive legacy gift!
Campus Quad
Students and Families
First floor, McKelvey Campus Center
Students and Families
The traditional Opening Convocation is a time of academic celebration that signals the start of the new academic year. All new students sit as a class in the front of the center section of seats; families will fill in the back rows and side sections.
Orr Auditorium
Students and Families
We ask you to take a few minutes following Opening Convocation to say farewell before we begin the sessions dedicated to new students.
When ready, families can escort their students to the tunnel on the Campus Quad and receive an Instant Photo and card while their students meet their Orientation Leaders.
Campus Quad
Orientation Leaders will help you gather as your individual groups, connect with your peers and direct you to your group鈥檚 weekend meeting location.
Various Locations
You鈥檒l engage in high-impact group activities with your fellow classmates and Orientation Leaders. This time will be filled with fun, laughter, and community building.
Memorial Field House
President Kathy B. Richardson will host new students for dinner at the Manse. Instructions for departure will be communicated by your Orientation Leader.
President鈥檚 Manse
While half the group has dinner with President Richardson, the other half will participate in larger-than-life games.
Campus Quad
Meet and mingle with fellow commuter students and learn some tips and tricks to enhance your commuting experience.
MCC Commuter Lounge
Meet your Resident Assistant and fellow first-year students on your floor to review important community information while relaxing in your home away from home.
Residence Halls
Take an opportunity to interact with your residence hall community through various games and activities.
Residence Hall Lounges
First floor, McKelvey Campus Center
Various Locations
Various Locations
This is your very first 鲸鱼传媒 class where you will meet your WST101 instructor. Materials for the class will be provided. This session is for all new first-year students and transfer students registered for WST 101.
Various Locations
For transfer students not enrolled in 鲸鱼传媒 101, meet with Orientation Leaders to discuss specific information catered to you as a transfer student.
MCC Cultural Center
McKelvey Campus Center first floor
Bring a copy of your class schedule or be sure to pull it up on your phone. Orientation Leaders will let you know where to meet in-between sessions for classroom tours.
Various Locations
During the Titan Talks, you will hear from staff and students on how to navigate the various components of college life. You will be given tools to promote academic success that can be tailored to fit your individual needs. You will attend a new presentation topic each hour. Reference the description for each presentation below.
Various Locations
Orientation Leaders will show you around to your classroom locations. Within each group, they may split further to efficiently bring students to different locations.
Various Locations
During the Titan Talks, you will hear from staff and students on how to navigate the various components of college life. You will be given tools to promote academic success that can be tailored to fit your individual needs. You will attend a new presentation topic each hour. Reference the description for each presentation below.
Various Locations
Orientation Leaders will show you around to your classroom locations. Within each group, they may split further to efficiently bring students to different locations.
Various Locations
During the Titan Talks, you will hear from staff and students on how to navigate the various components of college life. You will be given tools to promote academic success that can be tailored to fit your individual needs. You will attend a new presentation topic each hour. Reference the description for each presentation below.
Various Locations
Understanding 鲸鱼传媒 culture and how being a student in college differs from high school are keys to your successful transition. This session will explore some of the unique changes now that you are in college, such as proactively communicating with professors outside of class, expectations of being a student on campus and the nuances within your 鲸鱼传媒 experience.
This orientation session will introduce you to strategies and resources that will help you regularly organize, plan, and prioritize things like laundry, meals, jobs, athletic schedules, appointments, and social events. Every participant will leave with a framework that will guide your transition from being in class fewer hours, studying more on your own and taking charge of your academic path.
You will have the opportunity to meet with the college counselors, learn to identify signs of stress in your life, learn skills to manage your emotions, and identify resources on campus to support you and your well-being at 鲸鱼传媒.
McKelvey Campus Center first floor
Orr Auditorium
Kick off your first weekend at 鲸鱼传媒 in glowing style at the New Titan Rally - an ultimate neon-infused welcome event hosted by the Campus Programming Council! Get ready to light up the night with high-energy beats from a live DJ, compete in glow-in-the-dark mini golf, and treat yourself to cotton candy and fizzy creations from a custom soda bar. This is an opportunity to shine, connect, and celebrate your new start at 鲸鱼传媒 with your new community of classmates and friends!
Berlin Lounge, McKelvey Campus Center
McKelvey Campus Center first floor
Various Locations
TRIO Students Only
Berlin Lounge
During the Titans Together sessions in the morning and afternoon, you will engage in conversations focused on critical topics about what it means to live and learn in a community with your fellow Titans. You will attend two sessions prior to the break and a third session after the break. You will attend a new presentation topic each session. Reference the description for each presentation below.
Various Locations
During the Titans Together sessions in the morning and afternoon, you will engage in conversations focused on critical topics about what it means to live and learn in a community with your fellow Titans. You will attend two sessions prior to the break and a third session after the break. You will attend a new presentation topic each session. Reference the description for each presentation below.
Various Locations
In order to create a community that allows all students to reach their full potential, everyone must be treated with respect and appreciated for their individual experiences. This session will focus on campus policies that set the foundation for us to interact in an honest, respectful community where we can belong and further develop as a person and community.
Alcohol and other drugs remain a leading cause for concern among college students. While often celebrated as a 鈥渞ight of passage鈥� in movies and television, it is important to know the impact of alcohol and drug use. Learn from our Wellness Center staff on how to remain safe and responsible and the resources available to you at the College and in the local area.
In this two-topic session, you will be provided with some best practices related to financial management to help you as a college student and ways to keep your data and information secure in an online world with increasing cyber-attacks.
Following lunch, your Orientation Leaders will introduce you to Downtown New Wilmington businesses, the Saturday Market and point out local resources.
McKelvey Campus Center first floor
During the Titans Together sessions in the afternoon, you will engage in conversations focused on critical topics about what it means to live and learn in a community with your fellow Titans. You will attend a new presentation topic each hour. Reference the description for each presentation below.
Various Locations
McKelvey Campus Center
During the Titans Together sessions in the afternoon, you will engage in conversations focused on critical topics about what it means to live and learn in a community with your fellow Titans. You will attend a new presentation topic each hour. Reference the description for each presentation below.
Various Locations
McKelvey Campus Center
During the Titans Together sessions in the afternoon, you will engage in conversations focused on critical topics about what it means to live and learn in a community with your fellow Titans. You will attend a new presentation topic each hour. Reference the description for each presentation below.
Various Locations
We are committed to creating a campus culture of safety for all students and believes it's up to all of us to make that happen. This interactive training session will introduce interpersonal violence, ways to identify and prevent it, aspects of healthy relationships, consent culture, and the importance of bystander intervention.
Meet your student leaders with Student Government Association (SGA) and the Campus Programming Council (CPC). They will share ways you can get involved within each organization, as well as the exciting events and programs being offered during the fall semester. In addition, hear from the College鈥檚 Dean of Students on how to use your voice on campus to enhance your experience.
Transitioning away from home can be challenging. This session will introduce you to topics that help you navigate the reality of living and learning in a new environment. Get the inside scoop from peers on how they managed first-year fears and expectations and also from staff members who support students in their transition.
McKelvey Campus Center First Floor
Come enjoy once-in-a-lifetime access to Memorial Field inside Harold Burry Stadium while taking pictures to celebrate the beginning of your Titan journey.
Memorial Field
Late Night is an annual comedy performance created by students, for students! Hosted by your very own orientation leaders, this high-energy, student-led show is a time for you to enjoy some laughs and see that when your orientation leaders aren鈥檛 guiding you through college life, they know how to bring the fun. Every sketch, character, and joke is written, directed, and performed by the orientation team, giving orientation leaders the creative freedom to let loose and connect with new students in a completely different way. Get ready to see your student leaders perform in one of their favorite parts of orientation weekend and join your new classmates in a night of comedy you won鈥檛 forget!
Anderson Amphitheatre
Join Faith & Spirituality along with pastors and members from local churches for breakfast outside the Wallace Memorial Chapel.
All new students are invited to join.
Outside the Chapel
McKelvey Campus Center First Floor
Memorial Field House
McKelvey Campus Center first floor or Galbreath Dining Hall
Join 鲸鱼传媒 student leaders within Faith & Spirituality to hear about worship, fellowship, service trips and more.
Campus Quad (Rain location is the Cultural Center.)
This concludes your orientation schedule. Please check out advertising and Engage to take advantage of Welcome Week activities. Schedule is subject to change. Stay connected to your WC email.