“Where are all the students?” asked Halli Koopman, a transfer student attending Calvin for the first time this spring semester.
Without the typical fall semester orientation or the heavily emphasized first six weeks of acclimation to the university that students entering Calvin during the fall semester experience, it can look different to find community.
There are three goals of orientation for students: connecting students to other students, learning about resources and how they are available to students and getting students involved in something, according to Associate Dean of Campus Involvement and Leadership John Britton. Each of these goals are emphasized for fall semester students as well as spring semester students.
Chimes talked to two Calvin transfer students –– one transferred in the fall semester, and the other transferred in the spring. While both have been able to find community at Calvin, they each had different styles of acclimation to the university.
Mid-year orientation
Though mid-year transfer students have an orientation, called mid-year or winter semester orientation, it looks different from Quest –– the orientation that students arriving at the beginning of the fall semester attend. Mid-year transfer students come to campus three to four days prior to the start of the semester to attend mid-year orientation.
Britton said that “there’s more awareness” for offices, departments and faculty of the influx of students in the fall semester, which he believes is the challenge for the community of students that enter during second semester. Britton said that “it’s a challenging environment for the college to actually provide the same kind of resources and information,” as faculty are likely to presume that students in their classes have already experienced a semester at Calvin.
“I describe it to [second-semester transfers] as they’re jumping onto a train, but the train isn’t stopping at the station,” Britton continued. If a student falls off the metaphorical train, there aren’t any special check-ins or processes set in place by Calvin to get them back on the train, though some Orientation Leaders may do check-ins post-orientation and share their contact information with students. In order to check up on students, Britton said that “it has to be reciprocal,” so students should reach out when they are in need of help.
Transfer experiences
Bryce Ronk, a junior, transferred from Waynesburg University in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, to Calvin mid-year in the spring of 2023. Ronk entered during the spring semester with an estimated 15-20 other students.
Ronk describes his orientation experience as “more personalized” than what he has seen and heard of the typical Quest orientation in the fall semester. Features of the personalized spring orientation that Ronk enjoyed included going to the Orientation Leaders’ houses for games and movie nights, going bowling and taking a trip to Tacos El Cuñado. He recounted a story in which “one of the nights we literally just sat out [at the fireplace outside Hekman] until two in the morning talking, and just had a lot of fun and hanging out.”
Ronk has remained friends with a few of the people he met in orientation –– about a quarter of the group –– but he also found community on his floor. It wasn’t found at big events (though he does think highly of the events Calvin plans). “I would say for me in general, the biggest part was just having a big dorm community,” Ronk told Chimes.
“The events are cool, but you don’t know anyone. So going to big events wasn’t necessarily the biggest factor for me. It was more like people being able to address me in the dorm in a chill environment and be able to say ‘Hi, my name is,’” Ronk continued.
For students who transferred in mid-year, Ronk suggests taking the initiative to put yourself out there. “You are the new kid. . . Every single person out there is going to have their own friend groups,” he said.
“If you’re willing to put in a little bit of extra effort compared to what you would normally have to do, then you’re gonna find a great spot,” Ronk said in terms of seeking out community.
Micah Machiela, a senior this year, transferred from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, to Calvin when his family moved back to the United States in the summer of 2022. Transferring in during the fall semester, Machiela had a positive experience, saying that “my experience was similar to traditional students, just delayed by a couple years!” He found community within his KE apartment mates, meeting people in classes, the McGregor research fellowship and serving on Student Senate last year.
Machiela’s advice for students looking for community, but especially transfer students, is “to get involved early on with at least a couple of extracurricular activities” and to connect with professors as they “can lead to opportunities that put you alongside other students with similar interests, which can lead to some really cool collaboration.”
Calvin’s place in spring orientation
Overall, Britton said that Calvin is “positioned well, structurally, to serve these students well” without Calvin’s previous January interim. However, with the growth mindset that Calvin is implementing, Britton told Chimes “the college is going to have to rethink and redirect” how all offices welcome students, and that “it really needs to be a college-wide effort to welcome and to induct students into Calvin.”
