Story by Mary Antoinette M Magallanes and Rezza Mae B Tolinero | Video by OrSem Communications Team
Students donned their respective college colors. Booths and banners were set. Chalk art splashed across the main lane. Loud cheers reverberated inside the gymnasium. Excitement escalates as another school year begins.
Xavier University embraced its new members to the Ateneo family with this year’s Orientation Seminar, commonly known as “OrSem” from June 3 to 5 held at various locations around the campus.
True to its theme, “Always Awesome,” OrSem 2015 offered a good number of surprises and gimmicks to make the experience of more than two thousand freshmen and transferees nothing short of awesome.
The organizers lined up interactive activities to start their college journey, know the important things about XU and meet new friends. The event kicked off with a community mass at the XU Gymnasium, which was attended by the university administration, faculty and staff.
In his speech during the University Welcome, XU president Fr Roberto “Bobby” C Yap SJ dared the new students to step up and lead.
"Let us declare to the world: 'I am an Atenean, I am a leader'," he said.
Yap also challenged the new students to make the most of their stay at XU to find their purpose in life, promote peace and exemplify the value of magis (going beyond excellence) as the university strives to be a leading educational institution in the ASEAN region.
Buzzling OrSem days
Moreover, Central Student Government (CSG) vice president Edison Lacea said, “In every step of the way, your Central Student Government and your college councils will always be here for all of you.”
Lacea shared to the new students that they can weave a great Xavier experience through joining an organization of one’s passion, excel not just academically but also become “men and women for others” and nurture your leadership skills.
The first two days of OrSem consisted of split sessions in which different colleges conducted separate college assemblies, counseling sessions and small group discussions on school policies and guidelines, among others.
The Campus Ministry Office (CMO) and Guidance and Counseling Office (GSO) also advised the freshmen and transferees on the expectations of their respective colleges and gave them survival tips on the courses they have chosen.
“The good thing [about these discussions] is that it is peer-to-peer approach,” explained Office of Student Affairs (OSA) director Ivanell R Subrabas. “We plan to keep it that way for the freshmen not to have any hesitations when something is not clear to them.”
More creative and dynamic activities filled up the third day to assess the learning of the students from the first- and second-day OrSem sessions.
The OrSem Awesome Games included questions from the classroom inputs and even from the speeches of the university officials. Race-type activities were also held to promote XU’s Green Campus Agenda toward environmental sustainability.
In “Pop to Unlock,” select students popped balloons with words to form XU’s new vision while in "Orsemvivor" (inspired from the popular reality show Survivor), students were divided into two categories: "Orsemtastic" which focused on the quality of XU facilities and "Ecovengers" which focused more on the environment.
Student Interest Sessions (SIS), Organizational Tour 2015 and other contests were laid out to cater the different hobbies and endeavors of the freshmen ranging from academic to athletic, artistic, ecological and philanthropic.
More than three hundred student volunteers took part in OrSem to ensure the freshmen and transferees were given a warm welcome.
OrSem ends with a bang!
The three-day event wrapped up with the most anticipated OrSem Night, also known as the OrSem Talent Exposition.
Different dance groups and singers of XU hyped up the crowd as they perform their production numbers.
With spectacular performances from the upperclassmen and the reverberating cheers from the colleges, Talent Expo truly provided a remarkable finale to this year’s OrSem.
Christian Dave Mendoza, an incoming freshman from the College of Arts and Sciences shared: “Grabe akong experience kay grabe akong pag-participate ug sa OrSem Night kay grabe kaayo ang pagka-expose sa talents. I expect that throughout this year kay awesome g'yud.”
[My experience was incredible because I participated a lot and the OrSem Night was truly an exposure of talents. I expect that throughout this year to be really awesome.]
Those who witnessed the grand finale posted their pictures and thoughts on social networking sites with #AwesomeOrSem and #AlwaysAwesomeAtXU.
With the conclusion of the event, Subrabas hopes that the awesome experience of the freshmen during OrSem will hopefully be carried out all the way through their college years.
“We want the freshmen to really have an awesome experience not only in OrSem but really in their entire stay in the university,” he said.
While K to 12 Program paves its way to its actual implementation, this year’s batch of freshmen is the last from the old (K to 10) education system.
“We want them to feel that they did the right thing, the right choice to enroll here, for entrusting their college education at Xavier University,” Subrabas added.
[Music courtesy of The Painted Pianos - "Walking Stick" ]