Trinity will this year introduce an extended orientation programme throughout the first term for incoming students, aiming to make the transition to College smoother and less stressful for newcomers.
The new orientation programme will see Trinity hold talks on all aspects of College life throughout the first 12 weeks of college. Trinity In 12 Weeks will supplement the existing orientation programme, which sees important information presented to first-year students in a series of talks delivered during freshers’ week.
The former orientation programme involved a tour of Trinity, the library and the sports centre, as well as processing student cards.
The Transition to Trinity Officer, Eimear Rouine, designed the new programme after two years of assessing how best to aid students with settling into College.
In an email statement to The University Times, Rouine described the programme as “an extended orientation programme which aims to equip new students with everything they need to know to be as successful as possible during their time here”.
A specially designed webpage, which hosts information packs, can be accessed through the Trinity website, with links to information packs relating to each theme going live on the relevant week.
The new programme will feature information sessions on a variety of topics, from study skills to healthy relationships, with information packs related to each theme available online.
The sessions will be delivered to first years by their Student to Student (S2S) mentors, who will send weekly emails featuring links to the online information packs. Additionally, they will be encouraged to arrange meetups related to the themes.
Speaking about the role of S2S mentors in delivering the orientation information, Rouine said that the information sessions will “reinforce the messages we give during orientation”, describing how the programme “allows the mentors to tailor the programme to their mentor group’s needs while still making sure that all students can access the information they need”.
The webpage first launched last year, receiving over 10,000 hits, with information pertaining to the first three weeks’ themes proving the most popular. Additionally, study skills and exam skills received a surge increase in online attention in late spring, as exam season approached.
