Before the start of the new semester, Bowdoin first years and sophomores will have the opportunity to "re-orient" themselves to college life by attending a series of workshops on study skills, time management, health and wellness, and student involvement in the campus community.
This Re-Orientation conference, or "Re-O," will take place January 21 and 22, beginning with a keynote address by Will Smith '00, dinner in Daggett Lounge, and a social activity at the Cram Alumni House.
Sunday's program will include workshops scheduled to take place from noon until 5 p.m., followed by a program evaluation.
Workshop themes include "Managing Your Reading Load," "Opportunities for Engagement in the Local Community Through Service," "Eating and Exercising Your Way to Success," "Time Management for Unmanageable People," "Staying Safe at Bowdoin College," and many others.
This is the first time that such a program has taken place at Bowdoin. According to Assistant Dean of Student Affairs Tim Foster, "The idea itself comes from Carnegie Mellon and a similar program I developed there 15 years ago."
While this has never been implemented at Bowdoin before, according to Director of Residential Life Kim Pacelli, "We've talked about doing stuff like this.
"Students liked orientation and wished they could do something like that later on," she said.
Re-O, open to the first 130 first-year and sophomore students who sign up, "should be a good way to focus in, learn new skills and strategies, connect with students, staff and faculty, and get a jump start on the spring semester," Foster said.
In addition to including those who have taken the initiative themselves to sign up for Re-O, the planning committee has also solicited student nominations from academic advisors, coaches, deans, the Baldwin Learning and Teaching Center, and others.
"Many important topics covered during Orientation are not immediately relevant and only become so after an 'awakening' of sorts," Foster said.
"This program will allow participants to develop new skills prior to the start of the new semester," he said.
In addition, "the program offers an opportunity to focus on sophomores who tend to feel relatively neglected in their second year after being the featured class," Foster said.
"Students have expressed enthusiasm for this idea," he said.
The Re-O conference planning committee, chaired by Tim Foster, is made up of students, faculty, and staff representing various cross-sections of the campus community.
On the planning committee are are variety of administrators, coaches, students, and other staff.
According to Pacelli, the planning committee was formed largely out of the Health and Wellness Committee, which included many people from the Office of Student Affairs and the Office of Residential Life.
"People in the group either directly participated [in Re-O] or appointed others to be involved," Pacelli said.
In order to determine the program's area of focus, first-year and sophomore students were surveyed about workshop ideas.
While some of the workshops will be discussion-based about the Bowdoin experience and social scene, others will be more topical and individualized. The Baldwin Center will also conduct a session on study skills.
Re-O is intended to be a small event, serving as a trial with the option of expansion in the future.
"I think we need to see how it goes, what people find helpful and not helpful. We'll be doing some evaluation and seeing where we are next year," Pacelli said.