As summer comes to an end, Auburn's campus will be filled with thousands of new faces and opportunities to meet some of them.
Welcome Week, running from Aug. 17-24, is a week full of events to help students meet each other and get to know the campus in new ways.
"We decided to do something different," Welcome Week director Amanda Cyr said. "We only wanted to repeat one event from previous years, so what we did was redo all the events that had been done before and just completely scratched everything."
Cyr and her team have been planning this week since February with a small staff of less than 10 people.
Every event the team planned will be a new experience, except for casino night, which they will be repeating, but revamping.
"Casino night will have 26 card tables, slot machines and prizes such as a Yeti Cooler," Cyr said.
Welcome Week isn't just for freshman.
"It's open for all Auburn students and that really was a big objective for us," project coordinator
Sean Conley said.
Welcome Week has multiple activities each day, along with some money savers and free food.
For students who want to stay active, there will be activities to keep people fit, such as an afternoon in Chewacla State Park where students can swim, hike and eat lunch, which will be provided.
Throughout the week, students can preview the new fitness classes offered at the Recreation and Wellness Center.
To avoid having students wait until the first day of classes to find the right buildings, Camp War Eagle camp counselors, SOS Orientation leaders and Camp War Eagle parent counselors will be running campus tours for students based on their class schedules.
Susie Pratt, project coordinator, said Welcome Week is important for students, partly because many of them come from out of town and may not have established relationships.
"It's just very important that we have this opportunity for students to get involved with right off the bat," Pratt said.
"Having this opportunity is a great way to get people to just come out and really see what Auburn has to offer so they can make the most of their experience, whether it's their freshman year or junior or senior year."
The Welcome Week team said they have learned from this experience as well.
"It's just been a great learning process," Cyr said. "I know how to deal with different types of people and different types of situations now."
But the staff said not every aspect of their job is easy.
"It's been a constant uphill battle since February and now we're finally seeing the actual results," Conley said. "We've got our Welcome Week shirts with our sponsors printed out.
You know we've got all of our events set up, it's cool to really see all gears clicking."
For a complete Welcome Week schedule, visit Auburn.edu/WelcomeWeek.
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