By Raven Lirio
General Manager
During the first weekend of move in, almost 700 new Lutes logged online for the first ever completely virtual student orientation. Previously known as New Student Orientation, the Campus Life Team worked hard to rebrand for LUTE Welcome and bring together an entirely new experience through the messaging app, Discord.
For myself, as an Engage Ambassador, it was initially overwhelming to teach not only guides and new students, but also faculty to get used to the new platform. However, I felt the decision to use Discord rather than Zoom really helped with creating a community for new students. Throughout the weekend, the Student Engagement Team was constantly adding new channels and chatrooms for students to create meaningful connections.
“I believe that LUTE Welcome went amazing and surpassed my expectations,” Engage Ambassador Paige Balut said. “Looking at previous years, I had no idea how we would pull this off but we did. The Discord worked well and was able to adapt as we needed it.”
By the end of the weekend, various gaming channels and fun chat rooms were added ranging from D&D, Minecraft and even a pets channel. New lutes were placed into Just Ask Me (JAM) groups which served as their smaller community group when getting acquainted with campus. Each JAM group included a JAM Guide who not only helped students feel welcome, but also facilitated and answered questions about the various sessions.
“At first, Orientation was very overwhelming,” senior Jam Guide Savannah Pratt said. “We, as guides, were expected to learn a couple of new programs that we did not use last year as Guides.”
For many guides, the prospect of facilitating so many sections presented new obstacles to the new student experience.
“Normally, it would have been easy,” Pratt said. “We were the ones facilitating the class; we played the role of the teacher. This was challenging, trying to give the same Lute Welcome Experience that we had given in years past.”
New this year were faculty mentors who had the opportunity to meet with students over the weekend and provide additional support from a staff or faculty perspective.
“I found having a faculty mentor in my group was extremely useful because it provided a unique perspective for students to ask questions and engage with,” Pratt said.
In addition to Discord, students also utilized the Guidebook app, which acted as a live schedule and resource center for the different aspects of LUTE Welcome. The combination of both apps helped with transforming orientation into a fully integrated and online experience.
“My experience with orientation was pretty good,” First Year Pip Walker said. “I had a great group and we were able to have some really fun conversations. I love the fact that it has provided me with the ability to see some people who all share a class with me and through Discord which is my preferred social media of choice.”
LUTE Welcome marked the beginning of the year for more than just new students. It provided a guideline and template for creating virtual spaces for students to connect and keep up to date. While LUTE Welcome is officially finished, the server will remain open to allow students to keep connected in their small groups and continue to build the PLU community in a virtual way.
“From training the guides to the actual event, the server grew and became a place for students to engage,” Balut said. “I hope that this could be used in future years!”
Despite the challenges faced by the platform, many guides still felt the experience was meaningful.
“By the end of the weekend, I felt like I had everything under control,” Pratt said. “I disliked how impersonal or distant it felt at times, but I did like getting to connect with students in a new manner.”
Discord may be utilized in the future by the university but not specific plans have been fully flushed out. However, LUTE Welcome proved to be a success and leads much hope for establishing online communities in the future.
“This was a great way to quickly adapt to a virtual experience with the fear of COVID lingering on campus,” Walker said. “I can’t wait to see what future LUTE Welcomes look like!”
