The following is a guest blog by Samuel Fredrickson and Nikisha Falcone, two UVM Program Board leads, and 2018 Campus Programs summer interns who helped create and program a majority of the year’s Opening Weekend and Week of Welcome events.

Welcome back, Catamounts! We know it’s sad that your summer is coming to a close, but that doesn’t mean the fun has to end. Along with classes starting, so does Week of Welcome! There are plenty of events happening on and off campus this week, and we got to get the insider scoop from some of the students who helped to make it all happen. Our guest blog below is meant to provide you some some insider tips on our own personal favorite events. You know, to help you start planning your own first week back in Burly.

Greetings from the Campus Programs Interns!

Hello! We’re Sam and Nikisha and we spent the whole summer helping plan Week of Welcome (“WOW”, as we like to call it). We’ve been working out of the Department of Student Life in the Davis Center, planning well over 30+ events which we hope you’ll attend – all meant to help welcome and familiarize you with your new campus (and the people on it)!

We know what you’re thinking, “30 events is a lot to choose from”, and while we hope to see you at them all, we each have our personal favorites that we want you to know about. From attending them as first years, to planning them as upperclassmen, we love these WOW events – and we hope you will too. Want to know the full WOW schedule?  Easy. You can check out all our upcoming events with this handy dandy link: uvmbored.com/wow.

Sam’s Pick: Lake Monsters Game

The school year hasn’t really started yet, so why not go to a baseball game? Centennial Field is home of the Vermont Lake Monsters, and is actually one of the oldest fields in the country. Though it may be smaller than the professional fields, the benefits is that every seat has a good view, and the crowds still sing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”.  Plus, we’re providing free food vouchers…and it’s one of the few (only?) places in Burlington you can taste the ice cream of the future…

Nikisha’s Pick: Raptivism featuring Aisha Fukushima

Aisha Fukushima considers herself a “Raptivist” or a rap activist. As a raptivist, one of the main goals is to challenge oppression with expression worldwide. She does this by mixing performance with rap, and hip hop to talk about topics such as global citizenship and female empowerment, and I’m so excited that we’re able to bring her to campus!  She did a pretty amazing TEDx Talk earlier this year – be sure to check it out.

Sam’s Pick: Week-End Cookout

In the the past this was known as Back to School Bash, but we flipped the script this year.   Now celebrate the end of your first week (Week END, get it?) with an awesome cookout. There will be free food catered by B.Good, lawn games, and some great, live, student bands. All happening as sun hits the horizon and the golden hours sets in creating a beautiful place to hangout, relax, instagram a scenic Vermont landscape, and enjoy some awesome food. Plus, we’ll be giving away limited edition #UVMWOW dad hats.  Exhale the week’s stresses with us.

Nikisha’s Pick: Coffee at the Catamount

Coffee at the Catamount is a WOW classic event – but I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of it. All week long from 10 AM – 1 PM, we’ll be giving away free (and free is my favorite price!), coffee, tumblers, snacks from local food vendors, and selling tickets to all of our WOW events. It’s a great time to catch up with friends, and fuel yourself for the day.  Free Tumblers will be given away on the hour (10am, 11am, 12pm) – so if you’re looking for some classic WOW swag – this is your daily spot.

The first week of classes can be a lot – we’ve been there.  It’s totally normal to feel overwhelmed, happy, scared, sad, anxious, excited, nervous, or indifferent – sometimes all at the same time.  We hope our events help you explore your campus a bit, meet some new faces, and help you experience UVM and Vermont in a brand new way.   A full rundown of events is available online at uvmbored.com/wow. Additionally, all on-campus students will receive a WOW brochure upon checking into their residence hall – but if you ever need help seeing what there is to do (or if you have questions) swing by the WOW table at Coffee at the Catamount OR the Department of Student Life on the 3rd floor of the Davis Center – Student Life staff is here to help you out. 

Hope to see you at our events! Happy #UVMWOW, Catamounts!