New Gusties experience first days on campus: Greeters help acclimate first-year students to the Gustavus community

Orientation flew by again, welcoming in this year’s new Gusties. Moving in last Friday, taking a classic picture with Gus down at the sign and moving into a weekend full of exciting events.

“I love seeing all the students with their parents, I just love everything about move in day,” Director of Campus Activities, Andrea Junson said.

The energy begins to build before students even unload the car, greeters line the streets cheering excitedly as the students arrive.

“Gustavus is my home and I want the first-years that come in to feel like Gustavus is home.” – Emma Myhre

“I feel glad that we’re able to ease their nervousness even if it’s just for a moment,” Senior greeter Liliana Briggs said.

This year’s new students attended all of the classic events orientation such as “Can I Kiss You”, E Pluribus, and the Reading in Common book discussion. New students also had new options such as Learn to Live sessions, a new resource offered by the Counseling Center, and continued discussion of the reading in common book discussion in the Diversity Center.

Junso worked closely with the Diversity Center to train this year’s Greeters and faculty to facilitate productive conversations about difficult topics addressed in the book.

“We went through a lot of traning to have those discussions,” Sophomore, Emma Myhre said.

Myhre acknowledges the difficulty discussing the book’s themes of institutional racism and oppression, but thinks the conversations can benefit not just the first-year students, but the Gustavus community as a whole.

Junso got a lot of positive feedback from both first-year students and Gustie Greeters on this year’s Reading in Common book, “Between the World and Meby Ta-Nehisi Coates. Similar feedback is expected when speaker Jamelle Bouie comes to campus Sept 16 to talk about the issues explored in “Between the World and Me”.

“I was really proud this year of the Reading in Common book,” said Junso.

Gustavus tries to help students transition both academically and socially while incorporating all Five Pillars during the Orientation weekend.

The Reading in Common discussion corresponds to academics and excellence. Faith is discussed during the “Faith and Inter-Faith” session, while

E Pluribus addresses community, justice, and service.

Orientation Evaluation results show E Pluribus as the most highly rated event.

Some events, however, are federally mandated to be part of college orientation, such as “The Buzz” with the Dean of Students Office and “Can I Kiss You”.

“We just choose to do them in the most engaging way possible,” Junso said.

Student feedback from the Orientation Evaluation tells administration that first-year students pick up on the messages that “Can I Kiss You” presents and they like the way it is presented to them.

Senior greeter, Christine Peterson, says that it can be hard to keep up the energy all weekend, but the opportunity to meet all the first-year students is what has kept her coming back for three years.

“They make me want to be the best Gustie I can, so they want to be that Gustie too,” Peterson said.

Peterson loves the opportunity to show the first-years what the Gustavus community is like, but thinks the most important role is to make sure students have met 1 or 2 other people that they feel comfortable with.

“That’s my favorite thing about this place [Gustavus], Junso said. “We value community so deeply.”

Myhre’s favorite part of orientation was teaching the first-years what resources are available on campus and showing them how to make connections, whether it’s student to student or student to facility.

“Gustavus is my home and I want the first-years that come in to feel like Gustavus is home,” Myhre said.