Robert Falcetti
This year, Taft introduced a revamped preseason and orientation schedule: instead of varsity athletes, dorm monitors, and international students moving in on different days, this fall, the entire Taft community stepped onto campus, suitcases and boxes in hand, on the very same day. This new schedule has been highly controversial, with various stances held among our community.
Cons: The new arrival schedule at Taft has created a blend of opinions from returning students, but in large part, negative sentiments have been the ones heard throughout campus. This is understandable, as both returning and new students felt like the schedule was not sensitive to the amount of time allotted for activities, and the lack thereof. For example, while pre-season athletes hurried between morning practice, classes, and afternoon practice, new students found themselves with an abundance of time. Ideally, this would create an abundance of introductions and bonding, but in reality, students spent an extensive amount of time in their rooms, leading to increased homesickness and isolation. While some argue that this free time allows students to challenge themselves by adapting to a new environment and socializing out of their comfort zone, in reality, it usually leaves new students watching the happy reunions between returners from the sidelines. A focal point of the new schedule was to mitigate the exclusion felt by the cohort of new students who arrived the week after preseason, where teammates are already laughing about inside jokes in Laube dining hall, and finding that their roommate has taken the better side of the room. However, for us, it felt like it only enhanced the feeling of missing out if you were new and your roommate was a pre-season athlete. Yes, you both arrived on the same day and met one another prior to the start of activities. However, once the pre-season athlete begins their practices, team-bondings, and team-dinners, not only are you not around your roommate often, but you are also actively watching them make new friends. Overall, the new arrival schedule created the social divide it intended to dismantle.
Pros: While the orientation schedule has clearly had its fair share of critics, there were an abundance of perks that flew under the radar. With everyone arriving on campus together at the same time, students had more stress-free time to create genuine connections, without the burden of also learning how to manage six Taft classes. It allows returning students the opportunity to see peers whom they haven’t seen all summer, and it gives new students time to get to know one another without being thrown into classes the day after arrival. While there have been many negative comments towards the schedule in terms of preseason sports, the new schedule makes it easier for new students to try out for varsity sports without having to worry about arriving on campus prior to most students. It also prevents the problem of preseason cliques forming before the majority of campus arrives. Whether it’s jet lag, homesickness, or simply getting accustomed to campus, the new schedule also allows students time to adjust to being away before classes begin. Once classes started, having only 2-3 classes a day provided the perfect buffer for students to shake off their laid-back, summer mode without diving headfirst into school mode. While significant change can seem daunting at first, it’s sometimes just the discomfort of adjustment and change that’s difficult.
As these perspectives show, there isn’t an inherently “right” way to view our new orientation schedule, and there is no guarantee we won’t see more changes next year. For some, this may have stirred up extra feelings of loneliness, anxiety, and homesickness, while others may have thrived under the balanced activity and adjustment period. Either way, we’ve now settled back into the full swing of things, finding our rhythm in our six-day class schedule and afternoon activities.