It's straight off a movie set: tearful parents and anxious new freshmen, packing favorite comforters and CD collections as they leave home for the first time.
Some 2,000 students get the keys to their suites in the four village communities at Sonoma State University this weekend. Almost 950 of them will be freshmen.
Although they don't realize it, these students have missed a lot. They don't remember the Cold War. The Vietnam War is as ancient to them as World Wars I and II, let alone the Civil War. To them, bottle caps have always been twist-off and plastic. They have never owned a record player. Popcorn has always been cooked in a microwave.
It's a lot to miss, but there's a lot ahead of them as well. And it all starts at a small campus in Rohnert Park, and it starts with Welcome Week.
Welcome Week 2001 kicks off with move-in day at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 18 with a range of activities that include a parent's reception, family BBQ and a night of comedy and magic.
A college tradition, on Sunday, Aug. 19., students will end a day of residential life meetings and activities with the Rocky Horror Picture Show at midnight.
Activities during the days and weeks following the moving-in weekend help students become introduced to campus life in events that include entertainment, tours of campus facilities, recreational events, shopping trips, and receptions. Classes begin Aug. 22.
Faculty dressed in full regalia will welcome new students in a formal ceremony on the Stevenson/Darwin Quad at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 21. Kim Hester-Williams, assistant professor of English and winner of the 2001 Rowlands Award for Excellence in Teaching, will address the class on behalf of the faculty.
Student leadership workshops are also slated as well as community-building meetings such as the "Journey to a Hate-Free Millenium" at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 21 in the Evert B. Person Theatre.
