IT’S THAT TIME AGAIN: CLASS OF ’04 ARRIVES AT BARNARD
COLLEGE AUGUST 29, 2000 – Orientation includes first-ever
community service event to spur volunteering
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August 29, 2000, NEW YORK,N.Y.
About
556 first-year students from 38 states and
28 foreign countries entered the wrought-iron
gates of Barnard College today with their
parents, trunks and computers in tow, to start
their journey as Barnard students.
Visit
the Orientation Photo Gallery
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New
students will kick off the first week with an innovative
orientation program, running from Aug. 29 – Sept.
4, including a first-ever community service project
encouraging volunteerism in New York City.
The
Class of 2004 is the most selective in the College's
history, according to Jennifer Fondiller, Dean of
Admissions. A total of 3,910 applications were received
and 1,334 students were admitted - for a selectivity
rate of 34 percent.
According
to director of college activities, Cherie Sheridan:
"This year, we wanted to provide students with
a community service building exercise during orientation,
giving them an opportunity to bond with their classmates
in service to the greater New York community."
The
Barnard/Columbia joint orientation program is developed
by an orientation committee of Barnard and Columbia
students. During the first day, students and families
will be introduced to the campus. As a Barnard tradition,
a
special family orientation will be held after lunch
where the administrative staff will address a host
of parental concerns. New events in the orientation
program include Community Service Project, Community
Forum, and a reading with Cristina Garcia, a 1979
Barnard graduate.
During
the Community Service Project, on Sept. 3, all returning
students and the first-year students will attend
a number of community service programs, which are
set up with local health organizations, soup kitchens,
schools, New York City parks and playgrounds. Students
will volunteer on projects ranging from feeding
the homeless, cleaning parks and playgrounds, to
teaching urban youth awareness for safer sex. Organizations
and sites include: Riverside Park, West Harlem Art
Fund, Leukemia Lymphoma Society, Callen-Lorde Community
Health Center, Wigstock - Gay Men's Health Crisis,
NARAL NY, God’s Love We Deliver, Project Return,
and Jewish Home & Hospital.
At
the Community Forum, August 30, the members of all
three undergraduate schools will come together as
the class of 2004. Selected essays written
by the incoming students discussing issues of diversity,
made into a dramatic play, will be acted out by
students. The reading with novelist Cristina Garcia,
on Sept. 1, gives the first-year students an opportunity
to meet a Barnard alumna, who will read from her
acclaimed novel Dreaming in Cuban and will
lead a short discussion on its themes. To prepare
for this session, each student was sent the book
during the summer to read.
This
year’s orientation is made more accessible through
the new student affairs web-site, which provides
answers to any questions that students might have
on the upcoming school year. The site features a
bulletin board where students have e-mailed questions,
which have been answered by the members of the Orientation
Committee.
According
to Rebecca Cole, Barnard College orientation coordinator:
"Almost 100 questions have been posted on the
bulletin board this summer and it has really been
a helpful tool preparing students for the upcoming
year even before the orientation, in addition to
the selected 250 orientation leaders who have been
in touch with the incoming students throughout the
summer."
| What: |
Move-in
Day at Barnard College, Class of 2004 |
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Orientation
2000 |
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| When: |
Tuesday,
August 29, 2000 |
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Move-in:
8:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. (prime time) |
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Family
Orientation: 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. |
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Community
Service Project: September 3, 12:00 p.m.- 5:00
p.m. |
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| Where: |
Barnard
College, 117th St. & Broadway, Manhattan |
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Family
Orientation: Held Lecture Hall (304 Barnard
Hall) |
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| Contact: |
Lucas
Held, Office of Public Affairs, 212-854-2037
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Petra
Tuomi, Associate Director of Public Affairs,
212-854-7907 |
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