My Experience at Freshman Orientation

Kristie Hinckley is a freshman at BYU who has decided on education as her major. Kristie will be a guest blogger for the McKay School Blog. Her first post documents her perspective of teacher education from the very beginning of university life: Freshman Orientation.

Thursday, August 25

We checked in for orientation at Helaman Field, met our Y Group, and played games.

Convocation was held in the Marriott Center. This was the first time that I had ever been in the Marriott Center and it was awesome! Ryan Greenburg, BYUSA President, spoke, along with Cecil O. Samuelson, President of BYU.

Lunch was held at Helaman Field and then we headed off for a campus tour.
We began at the Service & Information Fair. It gave us an opportunity to sign up for different Y Serve Service Organizations. We also got one of these BYU cinch bags.
We had dinner on our own and then went to the Tradition of Honor Activity in the Marriott Center. It introduced the Honor Code and showcased the BYU dance team, a BYU football player, and a BYU student band. We got some sweet seats!
Next on the agenda: Y Photo & Rise Up Rally
This was very neat. I had not been to LaVell Edwards Stadium in years. It was very organized. We all sat inside the rope markers to form a huge Y of the Freshman Class.
Here’s a picture my Dad took of us in the Y formation…

Friday, August 26

At 8:00am, we met our Y Group and headed to the morning devotional. The devotional was by Todd Parker, a professor at BYU. He taught us about the unique opportunity of being able to attend BYU religion classes.

After the devotional, we split up for the College Showcase portion of orientation. I headed to the McKay School of Education. We split into groups and learned about different majors within the School of Education. These included: Elementary Education, Early Childhood Education, Physical Education, Communication Disorders, and Special Education. This was very helpful. I learned that the Elementary Education Major now includes Kindergarten through 6th Grade, rather than different programs for K-3 and 4-6. Also, a degree in Elementary Education now includes the Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) program. I’m so excited to be a part of the Elementary Education program!

Afterwards, we met with our Y Group, ate lunch, played games, and met with our Freshman Mentor, Catherine. We talked about our fears, why we are excited to be at BYU, and how Catherine can help us out during the semester.

Lastly, we had an Evening of Traditions. I went bowling with some other girls from my Y Group and then to Helaman Field to watch Tangled.  It was lots of fun!
New Student Orientation was a fabulous experience. I learned a lot and met many new people with whom I can walk to classes and interact with on a daily basis. Thanks NSO for a great introduction to a wonderful University! Go Cougars! What activities have helped you to get involved in your major, or even to get acquainted with University life?