By Lester Williams Jr, Contributing Writer
Attending university for the first time requires new students to adapt to a different environment and new experiences.
For incoming students, one of my recommendations is to understand the true scale of Saint Leo University’s Main Campus by taking time to walk around the area to better navigate the campus in the future.
It is due to my various walks around the campus that I was able to realize all the services the campus offers which made me feel like everything I needed was within walking distance and appreciate the hard work needed to keep the campus functioning.
I also suggest that new students should try and get out of their rooms in their free time. For me to manage life on campus, it was important that I didn’t spend all my time in my room in the male freshmen dorm known as Benoit because spending time outside of the room is how I made friends, adapted to living on campus, and got the full campus experience.
Due to the anxiety of some students when starting their journey at Saint Leo, orientation leaders such as Audrey Ang a sophomore majoring in biomedical health science help guide new students during their first week on campus.
“As an orientation leader, we are the first people new students interact with, so it is important for orientation leaders to be sociable and informative,” stated Ang.
“New students should know that Saint Leo has resources available on campus to help better themselves, whether academically or mentally,” Ang said. “Counseling Services, Career Services, the CAVE… these are just a few resources that are readily available for all students, so it is important to take advantage of that.
In order to help incoming students make their transition to Saint Leo as simple as possible, Saint Leo created the New Student Orientation (NSO) which brings together various events that incoming students can participate in. These events give new students opportunities to make new friends as well as learn responsibility and the resources that are available to them.
As a result of the support orientation leaders, I felt confident I could adjust to living on campus because I was guided by individuals that Saint Leo trusted to educate me on what it’s like to be a part of Saint Leo University’s community.
Besides orientation leaders, new students should also know that they can rely on the members of the Undergraduate Admissions Office such as Jenna Skrelunas an Assistant Director, to help them make their transition to university life easy to understand, possibly even before they step foot on campus.
“Some of the Admissions staff goes out to high schools for visits and College Fairs to recruit new students while others stay in the office and review transcripts and other documents,” Skrelunas claimed.
“Making connections with your professors, advisors, other staff members on campus, or even your peers can allow opportunities to arise that you would have never even imagined,” she added.
Thanks to the admissions staff, I felt like I always had someone to turn to answer all my questions before I arrived on campus.
Saint Leo’s Undergraduate Admissions Office is located in the west area of the campus next to Marmion and Snyder Residence Halls and can be contacted using admissions@saintleo.edu. And phone numbers are (800) 334-5532 or (352) 588-8283.
To some people starting their journey at a university can be a stressful time period in their life, which is why our staff have committed themselves to ensure that new students adapt to their new surroundings before and during their on campus.
