The June 23, June 25, June 27 and June 30 on-campus summer orientation sessions for the Class of 2024 are to take a virtual format, according to University President Mark C. Reed, Ed.D., in an April 30 university announcement.

“This portion of the orientation program will be virtual to allow greater flexibility and predictability for incoming students and parents,” Reed wrote in the announcement. “If conditions allow, we will offer on-ground orientation experiences before classes start.”

The orientation program will use Canvas as its platform, said Beth Hagovsky, Ed.D., director of Student Leadership & Activities. The Canvas site will be built up with information on the weeks leading up to an incoming first-year student’s orientation date, and more resources will populate once their orientation session goes live. 

“Some things will only populate on the day of your orientation, and that makes it exciting,” Hagovsky said. 

The platform to be utilized for parent information is still unknown, Hagovsky said, but it will not be Canvas.

“We’re hoping to use a different platform for families because, much like we do with on-campus orientation, we really want students to have independence through the process,” Hagovsky said. “We really want students to feel empowered on their own on Canvas, especially since when they’re students here at St. Joe’s, they’re going to be using Canvas for courses.” 

When Hagovsky heard orientation would have to be held online, she knew two things still needed to happen this summer for incoming first-year students: course registration and housing selection. 

“[Students] will, with their orientation leaders, be brought into a Zoom room, and they will be in waiting rooms until it’s their time to register for courses,” Hagovsky said. 

For registration purposes, Hagovsky said orientation still needs to spread out across four days. 

“We still need them to be in smaller groups,” Hagovsky said. “We can’t have a thousand students all come to the same orientation session on the same day because they still need to register for courses. Much like it would have been if they were here on campus for orientation, we need them to be in groups of approximately 250.” 

Alex Weitman ’21, orientation coordinator, confirmed that the Office of Residence Life will be conducting live virtual tours of first-year residence halls during each orientation session to prepare students for housing selections in July. 

“They are going to do live dorm tours, going to Lafarge, Villiger, McShain and Sourin to show, ‘This is where you would live if you lived in Sourin, this is how many people would live with you, and this is [what] the furniture would look like,’” Weitman said.

Orientation Leaders’ involvement is needed as much online as it would be for on-campus orientation, Hagovsky said, to make the experience as similar as possible.

“[Students] will get groups,” Hagovsky said. “They will get Orientation Leaders. There is still going to be that moment where they find out what their group is and who their Orientation Leaders are. They will still have a color. The Orientation Leaders will still be wearing red polos. All of that will be the same, it’s just going to be online.”

To emphasize togetherness, packages with orientation t-shirts, information handouts and miscellaneous St. Joe’s “swag” will be sent to incoming first-year students.  

“The [packages] kind of give them a sense of team, making them feel more together at this time despite everyone being on Zoom,” Weitman said. 

As for after orientation, Hagovsky said she expects Orientation Leaders to interact with their groups once a week. Whether it’s a TikTok competition or a Netflix watching party, she said there needs to be consistent engagement throughout the summer.

“We need this to be exciting and fun,” Hagovsky said. “Is it the same as field games? Absolutely not. But how do we make that St. Joe’s ‘The Hawk Will Never Die’ spirit online? It’s definitely going to be challenging, but I think that the Orientation Leaders will come up with a number of ways to make that happen.”

With the hope to be back on campus in August, Hagovsky said there are plans to have an on-campus orientation take place the same weekend as move-in. Hagovsky said students will still have to pay an orientation fee for the online program and on-campus orientation. 

Weitman said this has proven very challenging to plan, as the program will likely be significantly modified. Possibilities such as campus not opening in the fall or government restrictions preventing large group gatherings need to be taken into account.

“Obviously, it’s probably going to look different,” Weitman said. “It’s going to look more like how move-out is now, where they have small groups of people come in three hour blocks. It’s not going to be like previous years where everyone is moving in at the same time or weekend. We have to plan for that.” 

Whether it’s in August or a later, undetermined date, the goal will still be to give the first-year students a fun weekend. 

“There is a significant chance that this class unfortunately might not run the art museum steps with us,” Hagovsky said. “But maybe that becomes an end-of-the-year thing, a way to wrap up your first year. These are the things we need to [be] open to.”