BLOGS
Finally, after waiting for more than 3 months the day had arrived where I’ll be changed from being a wild kitten to a perfect purple blooded Wild Cat. The transformation happened from 27th to 30th August 2012, the convocation ceremony made us realize how important we were and how we shall embark upon the 4 year journey in Northwestern University in Qatar. The Dean and the faculty came inside the forum and following them was our student government president Dana Atrach. The moment when you feel that you’ve done it, like seriously you feel that you’re about to start a new life, a new journey and you’ve conquered all obstacles was when Dana Atrach came on the stage and delivered a heartening speech. For me in my opinion, was the best speech I had ever heard in my life. It was motivating, emotional and exciting altogether, it made us feel proud of ourselves and Dana has been a role model for all of us for all of students in the class of 2016. She told us about her experience and how she looked up to her seniors and tried to modify her life. Then she told us we should not do that because we should not try to be someone else, we should be ourselves and we all promised to be ourselves throughout the 4-year journey.
The first day of orientation
The most exciting part of the first day of orientation was when we were about to get our latest Macbook pro laptops. Everyone was talking about the laptop distribution. We had communication/journalism overview section in which we learned what we will study in the semester and how it will help us in our professional life. Then we had lunch that was very delicious, after that we had our team building activities with our energetic peer advisors and orientation leaders. Ending the orientation’s first day was with an extravagant dinner.
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The second day of Wildcat orientation began with a wildcat chat with our respective peer advisors, and then we had a very exciting session with Lakisha Tillman about true colors in which we had to take a color test and distinguish our personality which best suits us in colors. Orange was my color as predicted by my friendly and caring orientation leader Rinilda Raviraj. She welcomed us and sat with us in our lunch and told us what could benefit us. She gave us a glimpse into the future of Northwestern University in Qatar. She shared with us her experience so far, which was very interesting and hopefully we will do the same to the upcoming freshmen of many years to come.
Our second day just got better when we went to the Grand Hyatt Hotel for the class of 2016 dinner hosted by Dean Dennis. The food was exquisite; I can still imagine all those sushi that I had that day. Still seems mouthwatering, as it was that day.
On the Third day we talked about Academic integrity and academic success. We saw videos of Northwestern traditions like Dance marathon in the Evanston campus, painting of the rock and also Northwestern University in Qatar’s very own Go Wild Week! We also painted a small rock to follow the tradition of our campus. My rock was colored green and white to signify my home country Pakistan, we bleed green before we bleed purple.
We learnt about educational and service trips abroad and also how we can spend a semester abroad in Evanston US. The best part of the third day of orientation was when we went to see the Northwestern University in Qatar’s studio. You could instantly fall in love with the studio and its facilities. We made a welcome video of class of 2016 with groups over there.
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Zach, me and Sophie – WildCats’16
The last day started with a wildcat chat with our peer advisors and we had to write a letter to ourselves, which will be given to us when we graduate after four years. In the letter I wrote what my aims and objectives would be and how I will excel in NU-Q as an all-rounder.
We had the most fun in the tradition that was called ‘ March through the Arch ‘ it was a mini copy of a tradition Wildcats have in Evanston campus. They march in through the gates as freshmen and march out as graduates. We did the same, marched through a balloon arch as freshmen and shall pass through the same arch as we exit as graduates of this prestigious university. Our last day came to an end with an enjoyable strength quest, which made us believe who we were, and we got to know about our strengths.
I would like to thank all my peer advisors, orientation leaders and faculty staff; if it weren’t up to you guys we wouldn’t have had so much fun. :D
Feels great to be a wildcat.
GO WILDCATS !!!
My Orientation experience by Shahnawaz Zali
Northwestern University in Qatar Class of 2016
keep it up boy:)
well written
keep on meowing like wild cats and you will go places