July 23–29, 2008, Number 502
Passport to Discovery: Parent Orientation Information
I hope all you parents of first-year students are ready for Michigan Tech's orientation week, August 23-30. This year should be great and as your student will have plenty to do, so will you. Michigan Tech offers great programs for you to participate in while up for the weekend of new student move-in. This week's article will discuss what orientation week will have in store for you, the parents, and other information you may find useful.
This year's theme for Michigan Tech's Orientation is "Passport to Discovery". I found this to be interesting as I've sometimes heard, jokingly, that you need a passport to come to the U.P. I realize for some that the Upper Peninsula of Michigan is very rustic in appearance, but I'm sure that the theme isn't looking at the travel from one foreign place to another. Rather this year, as first year students and their parents make their way to the campus of Michigan Tech, they will experience the next step in their young adult lives: college. At Michigan Tech we work hard to make sure that each and every student feels welcomed and that they get the best possible orientation experience. Therefore we have lots of things for the students to do to learn about campus, but we can't forget the importance that you parents play in the lives of your students. So to keep you informed about the happenings at Michigan Tech, there will be programs for you as well.
By now, many of your first year students should have received an orientation booklet of information. This booklet is provided to you by COMPASS (Center for Orientation, Mentoring, Parents, and Academic Student Success), the department here at Michigan Tech that coordinates the orientation week schedule and programs. There is an online pdf of the booklet that can be found online. This booklet has a lot of pertinent information, however for this week's article I'm focusing on the parent's portion. Pages 23 through 26 in the booklet are titled Family Orientation and begin with opening information about the Family Picnic.
Family Picnic
This event takes place on Sunday afternoon (August 24) from 4pm to 6pm. All first-year students and children five and under seat for free, and family members/guests need to purchase tickets in advance. The cost is $10 per person and tickets can be ordered online (scroll down the page until you come to information about Family Picnic, several time slots available), on the phone, or by filling out page 24 of the booklet and mailing it in. This can be a great opportunity to hang out with your student and other families before the end of move-in weekend.
Parent Orientation Information Sessions
To help parents find answers to some of their questions, there will be several time slots on August 24 set up as information sessions. The Opening Session for the Parent & Family Orientation will start at 10am on Sunday. This includes a presentation by the Dean of Students, Gloria Melton, as well as some fun skits that talk about the common experiences that college parents experience. Then in the afternoon there are several different info sessions to choose from. This allows parents the opportunity to go to sessions they are interested in knowing more about. The exact line-up of which sessions will be offered has not been finalized, but some examples of what may be available are: Health and Safety Matters, Discovering Student Activities, Financial Aid In Every Direction, Building a Career Starting in the First Year of College, and a Parent Panel just to name a few. Online, there is a draft schedule of events for parents. Keep in mind that this is just a draft and times/locations may change or be updated as it gets closer to Orientation Week.
Sibling Orientation
This program is newer to the orientation week as it allows the siblings of first year students to experience a taste of college life. This program is called The College Experience for Siblings and takes place on Sunday, August 24 from 10am to 4pm with the cost being $25 per sibling. Michigan Tech offers this to the families of incoming students to allow parents to participate in parent program while their younger children do some fun and exciting activities and explore campus. Their website will explain more information about Sibling Orientation and registration (scroll down page a little ways). The session is set up to allow the younger siblings to enjoy a program set up similarly to a Summer Youth Program (SYP) career exploration. The cost helps cover participation in group projects, supplies, and lunch. As mentioned above it is possible to register early (highly recommended) and can be done online or by calling the Rozsa Center box office at 906-487-3200.
As parents, it is important to know a lot about what your student will be doing at Michigan Tech. Thanks to COMPASS and many other great departments on our campus it is possible for you to learn and get the needed information. The Parent and Family Orientation website will give you more information as well as links you may find helpful. I encourage you all to check out the Orientation booklet, the schedule and other links on the Orientation 2008 website.
If there are any questions or comments about this week's article, please email me at my personal email address. Also, Michelle Nightingale the Assistant Director of COMPASS, can answer questions you may have regarding orientation, so feel free to email her at orientation@mtu.edu. Next week, I will continue with Orientation Week information, focusing on the student aspect of the week. If there would be any key points you would like me to cover regarding this topic, please email me.
Thanks goes to Michelle Nightingale for her assistance in providing information about orientation week.
Until next week,
- Michigan Technological University
- 1400 Townsend Drive, Houghton, MI 49931-1295
- 906-487-1885