Orientation provides solid-ground start for newest Wildcats
Thursday, June 22, 2023
Photos by Kimberlee R. Rusczyk, digital marketing manager, and Tom Wilson, writer/editor-PCToday (unless otherwise noted)
The summer's opening New Student Orientation session delivered a one-day blast of essential tools Thursday to incoming first-year students and their families. Required of all new students (including transfers and adult learners), Penn College's orientation program acquaints attendees with campus resources to better prepare them for Welcome Week (Aug. 9-13) and the beginning of the Fall 2023 semester. In addition to broad-based information sessions, the schedule covers a variety of topics to help guests "take care of business" – be it an ID photo, a meal plan, immunization paperwork, a residence hall tour or a cornucopia of resources to help the newest Wildcats succeed. Orientation sessions, coordinated by the Office of Student Engagement, will continue through late July.
![Weeks before the start of summer, the student members of Penn College's orientation team were fired up to assist new classmates and their families. Photographed on the Bush Campus Center Patio earlier this month are (counterclockwise from front left) orientation leaders Kylee P. Albert, Christie R. Baldwin, Eryn L. Nichols, Savannah J. Zook, Hayden D. Lester, Nando J. Ubaldini and Kellor A. Schooley; and orientation intern Maverick C. Stenger, pursuing a master's degree at Slippery Rock University. (Photo b](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2023-06/Orient24_0.jpg?itok=gajjOXZX)
![Warding off a Thursday morning drizzle with umbrellas and sunshiney smiles are Heather M. Shuey (left), senior director of employee success, and Sue A. Mahaffey, coordinator of enrollment management operations.](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2023-06/Orient11.jpg?itok=act2Bq9t)
![Backed by totes full of registration packets, orientation volunteers keep the check-in line moving.](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2023-06/Orient5.jpg?itok=ISWo_BqY)
![Passionate and playful, Schooley is a perpetually good-natured guide.](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2023-06/Orient13.jpg?itok=88N2re--)
![Kyle W. Kern, coordinator of student success, directs a family to its Klump Academic Center destination.](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2023-06/Orient14.jpg?itok=kZV3AzTj)
![Allison Bressler Grove, director of student engagement, reads the Penn College Land Acknowledgement that pays tribute to Indigenous peoples for their stewardship of the historical territory on which the campus lies.](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2023-06/Orient15.jpg?itok=P925NbOF)
![President Michael J. Reed talks to first-year students and their families in an informal sit-down conversation about the exciting times ahead.](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2023-06/Orient4.jpg?itok=d7Pjo6DN)
![Anthony J. Pace, dean of enrollment and academic operations, enlists a brigade of parents as partners in their children's education. In addition to equipping families for the challenges to come, he elicited answers to such questions as what they will – and won't! – miss most when their sons and daughters transition to college.](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2023-06/Orient6.jpg?itok=srtXETgE)
![A tableful of giveaways awaits the newest members of the campus community.](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2023-06/Orient18.jpg?itok=9cZnlVWF)
![Incoming students form a circle for a Bardo Gym session espousing "the Wildcat Way" ...](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2023-06/Orient16.jpg?itok=P-2tK6Y9)
![... a network of mutual support that was emphasized in a team-building exercise overseen here by Albert.](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2023-06/Orient17.jpg?itok=fxq5WuJ7)
![Justin W. Beishline, assistant dean of diesel technology and natural resources, introduces guests to the Schneebeli Earth Science Center that lies about a dozen miles south of main campus. At far right is Carl J. Bower Jr., assistant professor and department head for horticulture, who was among the ESC faculty members taking part in the day's presentations.](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2023-06/Orient7.jpg?itok=rS_5ZK2l)
![Sue A. Kelley, dean of business, arts and sciences, leads an academic session in Penn's Inn.](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2023-06/Orient21.jpg?itok=WT-jOs5w)
![Ellyn A. Lester, assistant dean of construction and architectural technologies, discusses with a packed house the ins, outs and expectations of students in her division's "built environment" majors.](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2023-06/Orient8.jpg?itok=uUFg8XbW)
!["The Rock," emblazoned with paw prints bearing the abbreviations of the college's three schools – Business, Arts & Sciences; Engineering Technologies; and Nursing & Health Sciences – welcomes a new pride of Wildcats.](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2023-06/Orient19.jpg?itok=kXpxkf4c)
![The afternoon included tours of the college's different on-campus housing styles, this one led by Ashley M. Hunter, coordinator of residence life operations.](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2023-06/Orient9.jpg?itok=55NPhtb0)
![Pre-nursing students Kira K. Bierly (left), of Jersey Shore, and Kori A. Prebble, of North Bend, check out the inventory in The College Store ...](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2023-06/Orient22.jpg?itok=beHbIxqy)
![... where Heather R. Harris, part-time textbook merchandise assistant, assists a family.](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2023-06/Orient23.jpg?itok=K5u-t0Xz)