July 18–24, 2007, Number 452
This photo was taken at the F'all Nighter. The service organization I belong to, Circle K, sponsors a euchre tournament—which is one of many activities students chose to participate in throughout the night.
Orientation—Things to do
In a little over a month, your son or daughter will be leaving home and heading to Michigan Tech to begin the next phase of their life. For most students and parents, this can be a stressful time with a lot of worry and maybe even some second thoughts. Trust me, from my own experience, even though I loved everything about Michigan Tech, I was very nervous when my parents and I pulled into the Rozsa parking lot that first morning. The staff at Michigan Tech realizes this and schedules an entire week of Orientation instead of just a couple of days like many other schools. I realize parents may be more nervous then their students, so I will go through the Parent Orientation next week.
Students should receive more information about orientation in late July. This is also the time to look for their housing and roommate assignments. Once the roommate assignment is received, make sure to start communicating with the roommate. Read through the Orientation packet as it will contain a very good outline of things to do before and during Orientation. This information can also be found online at the Orientation website.
Orientation officially begins on Saturday, August 25, with new student check-in and move in. Initially moving into the residence halls will be a little hectic on Saturday and Sunday due to the number of people moving in at once. Even so, there are lots of volunteers (students, staff, RA’s, OTL’s) to help move all the stuff into the students’ rooms. Once moved in, there are a couple of important things that should be done sooner rather than later.
Tech Express Card
The Tech Express Card is the student’s ID card at Michigan Tech. This card is probably the single most important thing a student should have when on campus. This card is used to swipe into the residence halls and cafeterias, campus buildings, sporting events, and the library. It also contains the students dining dollars and/or Tech Express cash that can be used at the campus bookstore and campus food outlets.
For the weekend of Orientation, the Tech Express card can be obtained in the Red Metal Room of the Memorial Union Building (MUB) from 9:30 a.m.–5:00 p.m. After Orientation weekend, the card can be obtained from the Tech Express office located in the one end of the campus store in the MUB. For more information on the Tech Express Card, see one of my previous articles.
IMPORTANT: Returning students DO NOT need to obtain a new card; they just use their old one.
Vehicle Registration
Most first year students do not bring a vehicle to campus since Houghton and the campus aren’t that big. If your student does decide to bring a car though, the deadline for online vehicle registration is Friday, August 10. By signing up before the deadline, the parking sticker will be included in the check-in packet. Otherwise, it will need to be picked up separately. If your student did not register their vehicle before coming to campus, they will need to go to the Housing Facilities Office in G044 of Douglass Houghton Hall.
Adventure Trips
Orientation is meant to be a fun time that brings students together and helps them make some early friendships. Near the end of the week, over Labor Day weekend, there are going to be numerous orientation trips going on. Since they do have a limited number of spaces, pre-registering is required and can be done at the trips website. The trips help students get out and discover the great resource that they will be calling home for the next few months, the Upper Peninsula.
I know when I was a first year student I went on the Porkies trip. I joined approximately 30 other students as we rode to the Porcupine Mountains located near Ontonagon. It was an all day trip where we got to hike up and down hills while circling Lake of the Clouds. I met one of my good friends at college on this trip, because as it happened, we lived only a few doors down from each other.
Saturday night is also the F’all Nighter which is held in the Student Development Complex. It is put on every year by Alpha Phi Omega and is a chance for students to have fun and see many of the student organizations on campus. There are a number of events like basketball, volleyball, swimming, ice skating, and Circle K puts on a large Euchre tournament each year. It is a good way to let the students relax and end their busy week before classes start on Tuesday.
If there are ever any concerns or topics that you feel should be addressed, please send me a personal email and I will try my best to include them in my future articles.
Until next week,
- Michigan Technological University
- 1400 Townsend Drive, Houghton, MI 49931-1295
- 906-487-1885