News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Incoming Tennessee Tech students can register for the school’s SOAR program to get familiar with the campus over the summer.
Director of New Students and Family Programs Courtney Brehm said students can choose from ten different two-day sessions. She said students will hear from the finance team, dining services, student life, and the Dean of Students while on campus. Brehm said familiarity and comfort help students start their college career off on the right foot.
“This is really going to be, for a lot of students, could be their first time on campus if they didn’t come to a campus tour or any of our other recruitment events,” Brehm said. “But this is really where I think a lot of students, for the first time, actually see themselves as a Golden Eagle.”
Brehm said students should visit the Tennessee Tech website and register as soon as possible because the mandatory sessions fill up quickly. She said the sessions run from May through June with a few additional sessions at the end of July.
Brehm said students will get a lesson on accountability from the Campus Police Department and finalize their fall schedule with advisors.
“Throughout the program, they will be put into small groups that we call ‘Tradition Groups,'” Brehm said. “These Tradition Groups are led by our orientation assistants who are current students here on campus. You know, they’re really there to help the new students through the orientation experience and the transition process. So anything from answering questions to just giving their best advice and experience.”
She said the experience helps students develop relationships with faculty and build friendships with future classmates. She said while some students have already toured the campus, this is the first glimpse of life on a college campus for many participants.
“We still have some things in place that will help them get acclimated and started off on the right foot like our Week of Welcome programming,” Brehm said.
Brehm said students are invited to give feedback on their experience so that the school can maximize the experience for future sessions. She said as admission numbers rise, programming has been adjusted accordingly, but there are no major changes expected for this year’s sessions.
