MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Foot traffic will pick up on WVU’s downtown campus this month. For the first time, West Virginia University is hosting new student orientation each weekday throughout June.
This summer, as many as 5,000 incoming fall freshmen will visit at some point to schedule classes, get their identification cards, tour student housing and more.
“If anyone is around the Mountainlair or downtown campus throughout the month of June, we just encourage them to smile and say hi and share our West Virginia spirit with all of our new mountaineers,” encouraged Katlin Swisher, Interim Coordinator of New Student Orientation.
University leaders added sessions and extended them in June to help accommodate high school calendars.
“The weather that we had over the winter, we learned that a lot of schools in the northeast were delaying on their graduation dates and expanding their school years later into June. We actually found that the later dates such as June 29 and 30 actually have been more popular than we ever expected,” Swisher explained.
Financial aid advisers will be available for families. Academic advisors for both traditional and non-traditional students will be available for one-on-one meetings to schedule classes.
Students will be able to register with Student Health Services to register in the system saving them time should they have to visit after their first semester beings.
“They’ll only have one first day of college. Our team and really the whole university is here to make it memorable for them. Our goal is for them to depart confident in their decision to join the mountaineer family,” said Swisher.
Members of the class of 2019 are encouraged to explore all services offered during new student orientation.
“I just recommend students, especially in the afternoon, to take the time to make their day theirs to answer any of those questions before they head back home,” Swisher said.
Orientation leaders will be watching the Twitter hashtag #WVU19 to learn more about how families are making their way through the process.