newsletter - Albert Dorman Honors College - New Jersey Institute of ...

Honors College NewsletterFall 20012001 Honors Freshman Retreatby Christopher J. HodacThe Honors Freshman Retreat was a success this year,with nearly all of the new members of the Honors College inattendance. Held at a campground near Stickles Pond in Newton,New Jersey, the retreat allowed the newly inducted students achance to get to know each other, away from the hustle andbustle of the city. The weekend started on Friday, August 24,2001 at NJIT, where registration and assigning of teams tookplace. Events for that night included a party in the CypressHall game room and a bus trip to a nearby movie theater.Saturday morning marked the departure for thecampground, and upon arrival, the retreat began immediately.Events at the campground included multiple teamwork exercises,as well as relay races against other teams. Leading the teamsof freshman were upper-class students of the Honors College,who were there to answer any questions the new students hadabout college life. These upper-class students were also thereto help the new students make the transition more comfortablyinto their new environment. After the busy and tiring day ofactivities, the freshmen used free time in many ways. Somedecided to play volleyball or basketball at the campground’scourts, while others decided to sleep or listen to music. However,the most favored of all of the activities was a large slide aptlynamed “the mud slide.” This slide consisted of a large sheet ofheavy plastic tacked down to a large hill, while one person keptthe slide wet with a hose.Saturday evening, the freshmen had their first officialmeeting in which they were addressed by the Director ofAcademics, Dr. Donahue, and the newest member of the HonorsCollege administration, Dr. Reibstein, the Associate Dean. Thismeeting consisted of welcoming the students to the HonorsCollege and to NJIT, as well as to inform the students of theirobligations as Honors Students. After this meeting, the studentshad another period of free time, which they used to walk aroundthe camp, or to watch a movie.Sunday marked the end of weekend retreat. After themorning meal, those students running for the freshman classrepresentative position of the Albert Dorman Honors CollegeCouncil were nominated. Concluding the day’s events, studentsprepared for the trip home. The retreat ultimately enabled theincoming students to meet each other, and to start buildingfriendships before school started, and through this retreat, themembers of the freshman class learned much about each other,as well as themselves.The Albert Dorman Honors CollegeNewsletter CommitteeChair/Editor-in-Chief: Lisa M. KardosLayout Editor: Usama ElmalakWriting Staff:Sreelatha AkkapeddiVivek GangiredlaChristopher J. HodacDaniel PerezUma R. PhatakJeremy PonJonathon SalazarSriram P. SivaprasaduLayout Team:Oluwasanmi KoyejoSeth LevySpecial thanks to Roman Onik and Scott Saito forhelp with editingTo contact the newsletter committee, please emailLisa M. Kardos at lmk2@njit.eduSix