It is the end of an academic year, and you know what that means: catching up on hobbies, plentiful rest, and bustling internships. It is also the Freshmen Orientation Programme (or FOP) season as seniors welcome and onboard freshmen for AY21/22.
Most seniors have gone through this rite of passage and would go on to become the planners of the next FOP. For freshmen, the experience of entering university is an exciting albeit daunting one.
Students who wish to experience living on campus, an integral part of the university package would be the Halls and Residential Colleges’ (RC) engagement camps. These camps are meticulously planned by seniors and are avenues for seniors to introduce the residential culture, and its Co-Curricular Activities (CCAs) to freshmen.
Two Raffles Hall campers – Tan Le Jun, Year 3 Computing and Biz School freshman Stan Ong – give their first-hand accounts on their 3D2N engagement camp, RHEX: aRHena, experience.
| OSA: How did the camp differ from your expectation? |
| Tan Le Jun (TLJ): In the 3D2N camp, one day was supposedly for physical activities. We had planned a lot of station games around the hall so that freshmen would not only be able to have fun and make friends, but also become more familiar with the hall structure and this new space before officially moving in in August. However, because of the heightened alert, we had to shift all these activities online. This made things very different from how we envisioned the camp to be, and we had to be adaptable. In fact, we held a virtual Hall tour by filming an introductory video with a storyline about our camp, so that it would be memorable for the freshmen, and at the same time does not take away any bit of their experience.
Stan Ong (SO): To be honest I was quite apprehensive about online camps. I knew that the purpose of the camp was for us to make friends before university starts but it is more difficult to make friends online. However, the way certain activities were planned in the camp alleviated that concern and that was well targeted at helping us make new friends. For example, RHEX had a segment called “Make a fRHiend”, where the partner we were paired up with were grouped with another pair and with an OGL to have a 15-min chit-chat and bonding session in a breakout room. This segment allowed us to become quite bonded, even though it was held online. I was surprised as I anticipated and envisioned myself being bored and being muted on zoom etc. |
| OSA: If there is one thing you could change about the camp (other than the online part) what would you change? |
| TLJ: I would love to have more time for the freshmen to have their casual chit-chat sessions and for us to answer any additional questions about the camp they may have.
SO: It’s a bit of an information overload as it was really hard to focus and listen to everything that the presenters from every CCA and committee had to say. It would be great if there was a compilation booklet for us to refer to, so that even when we zone out on Zoom, we can always find the information again! |
| OSA: Do you think that the camp and other FOP efforts are sufficient to help freshman integrate into university life? |
| TLJ: Yes, I do think so and I certainly hope so based on first-hand accounts and previous experiences as the organising committee of FOP. It is heartening to see that the freshmen are able to have fun despite the online version. While it is almost impossible to replicate the physical aspects of camp, our committee have put in sufficient efforts to come up with more innovative games and new methods such as the virtual tour.
SO: I do think it is enough! There are many other FOPs planned for us freshmen, and I am intending to join more as well! I do think it is challenging and daunting to speak up and reach out to people using only a laptop. I had to step out of my comfort zone to make the experience a fruitful one. |
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Writer: Liu Qianyu, Year 2, Business
Image and video courtesy of Raffles Hall
