Glad I Know Now: Connections Day Four Years Later

By: Mary Grace Donaldson
Posted In: Opinion

Every year, I am given the opportunity to work Connections Day, which is Salve version of “accepted students’ day.” When I attended Connections Day more than four years ago, I remember it being a blur of information sessions and meeting people who I thought would someday have me in class or in a chorus rehearsal.

Working the other side of the desk at Connections Day is considerably different than walking on to Salve’s campus and suddenly becoming inundated with papers, folders and speeches. The people on the other side of the desk where I am observe the fright beaming from the eyes of the potential Salve Regina University students and think to themselves, “Was I that scared?”

I found out everything that I was meant to learn at Connections Day, would I have the same deer-in-the -headlights expression once freshman orientation rolled around? Now that I know the answers to many of the questions asked (and questions that prospective students don’t think to ask), I can speak to what I’m glad I know about.now and what I wish I knew as a prospective student.
1.Glad I Know Now.that CAB and the Office of Student Activities are two completely separate entities. The current Director of Student Activities (who was uplifting and engaging to prospective students for the entirety of my shift.kudos to Heather) took the time (or had her student volunteers take the time) to explain the difference to the young ones. A Friday Night Live collage stood separately from a poster advertising CAB trips. Student volunteers representing both CAB and the Office of Student Activities were present. I only found out last year that CAB and the Office of Student Activities (while the two do work closely together) are not one and the same. I’m glad to see that Heather is ensuring that students differentiate from the get-go.
2.Glad I Know Now.that the meal plan in the Global Café is only available to upper classmen at lunchtime. While I found this one out the hard way during my freshman year (and not last year as I did with No. 1), it would have been useful information to know earlier on. I would have avoided that inevitable embarrassment that every freshman has to deal with, on that day when you’re just tired of Miley and you want a change of pace.but alas, you can’t put that grilled cheese on your meal plan. You have to wait until 4:30 pm for dinner. I made a mental note as tour guides directed their parades of parents, prospective students and their siblings through Wakehurst. They made sure to explain this situation to their respective tour groups.
3. Glad I Know Now.that I could have ran for a spot on SGA as a freshman. I represented SGA this year on Connections Day and many of my peers who stood at the table with me were freshmen. Multiple sets of parents and students asked the non-surprising question of “what year are you all in?” They seemed surprised that we had freshmen answering their questions and were fast in earning their seats on SGA. It is easy to assume that a student cannot join SGA until after actually being a student for a year. If I’d known that was not the case, I may have been on SGA for four years instead of three.
4. Glad I Know Now.that I was not required to attend every single presentation given on Connections Day. Lost prospective students asked us for directions to the Antone Center or to O’Hare over the course of my entire two-hour shift. Their anxieties about failing to show up on time for a presentation-out of fear that Salve may somehow revoke their acceptance otherwise-was obviously present through their deer-in-headlights expressions. I remember dealing with the same feelings.only to find out that no one cared.
5. Glad I Know Now.what the VIA program is. I would hope so after being a part of the program for four years. On Connections Day four years ago, I only knew that it was a “special” option that I checked off on one of my many, many, many student interest surveys. I checked the box that indicated that I was interested in the VIA program, but I did not think to ask students or professors exactly what I was getting myself into. The next thing I knew, I was enrolled in a VIA section of my portal course and my New Student Seminar, along with everyone else who just happened to check off that little box. Now, VIA has its own table with student representation at Connections Day.

So.if next year, you are interested in guiding our “newbies” toward a more positive Salve experience, try to remember what you wished you knew. It could definitely make their lives run a lot smoother.