Back in Black! I mean Green!

The first and second weeks of school here at Tulane are always my favorite time of the year. There is just so much action on campus. Tulane hits the ground running pretty hard with all kinds of great orientation activities and stuff to do on and off campus. I am actually heading out next week to start a 8 week binge of travel to recruit the class of 2017, but it has been great to spend the last few weeks helping the class of 2016, our freshmen, get acclimated with Tulane and our campus. Here are the five best things about the first two weeks of class!

1) Presidents Convocation and Rite of Passage- For every class at Tulane, there are exactly two times when you will be together with your entire class. One is commencement and the other is convocation. Convocation occurs shortly after move in day. The class hears all kinds of inspirational speeches, gets some words of wisdom from Scotty C (our president, Scott Cowen) and then exits Mcalister Auditorium in a grand fashion amongst a tunnel of their friends and family. Don't forget to touch the Victory Bell for good luck!

RHA/HRL block party on McAlister Place

2) Activities Expo- This took place just three days ago on Friday. There are over 200 organizations here at Tulane and nearly all of them set up shop on the LBC quad for a full afternoon to recruit new members. Students can tour the hundreds of booths and sign up for anything that interests them- club sports, fraternities and sororities, religious organizations, etc. Tulane's got them all, in a big way! This year's activities expo also coincided with both an HRL/RHA (Housing and Residence Life and Residence Hall Association) block party and Friday's at the Quad. Basically, it was a Tulane explosion.

3) Target Shopping night- During Welcome Week, Tulane rents out our local Target and shuttles the entire freshman class out there to shop till they drop. Sadly this year had to be cancelled because of the days we had off for Isaac, but this is a yearly event here at Tulane that is a big hit. We even get DJs and make a party out of it.

So many organizations want to meet you!
Rugby, sailing, pro-life, cheerleaders,
Indian Students, radio DJs, etc etc etc.

4) Riverboat Cruise- An annual tradition here at Tulane, the entire freshman class spends an evening out rollin' on the Mississippi River on the Creole Queen, New Orleans' largest paddle wheel riverboat. I can honestly tell you I have friends to this day, years later, that I met on that rive boat cruise. There is great food, a ton of music and a really great time to be had. It's definitely a staple of the first year orientation week. This year's cruise just set sail on Thursday last week. From what my freshmen told me, it was a huge hit.

5) Free stuff. The first two weeks of school at Tulane are just a bunch of free stuff. Free food, free shirts, free gelato, free music, free events, free everything. I honestly think you could feed and clothe yourself for the first two weeks of school exclusively by getting all the free stuff that Tulane and our organizations, schools, departments and staff give out. Take last Friday- the admission office had Pinkberry on campus, complete with 2,000 cups of frozen yogurt and toppings. We wanted to hear how our student's experiences went during Isaac and to catch up with out first year students who we had recruited. We went though 1,990 cups, four of which I ate, but still, it was a lot of free froyo and a great time too.

So it's full steam ahead here on campus. Coming up: Outreach Tulane, more football, more Fridays the the Quad, etc. As I mentioned, I am heading out next week for a few weeks in California and Florida. Looking forward to meeting all of you future Tulanians out there. All this could be yours in one year minus two weeks!

PS- Interested in meeting Tulane in your town? Check out where we will be here!

I ran into a bunch of my NOLA Experience kids at the Pinkberry tent! Reunion! 

mmmm Pinkberry!

Lucky Dogs at Friday's at the Quad. A.k.a. more free food. 

More organizations to join.

...and more

and still more...

Here is the Rite of Passage for the class of 2016!

A traditional second line always kicks off the
Convocation, and leads the Right of Passage.