New Student Orientation (NSO)
The NSO program is designed to help start incoming students out on the right foot. The day begins with a student resources fair, followed by a welcome from the President or one of the Vice Presidents. Then, a Student Success staff member reviews the plan for the day and engages the students in an energizer to get them moving and talking with one another. From there, participants report to a series of concurrent sessions that address topics like financial aid, the TRIO program, returning to college as an adult learner, why college is not the 13th grade, career tracks, and the transfer process. Academic sessions hosted by faculty members follow the concurrent sessions, where they work with students assigned to their specific discipline in an effort to answer questions and lay out the designed curriculum. Then, students are separated from the folks with whom they arrived. We talk to the students about the computer systems on campus in addition to hosting an open question and answer session. The supporters are taken aside and given a program that addresses their role in student success. Finally, faculty and staff help the students get registered for classes.
