From August 16-19, first-year students arrived on campus before classes for Wolf Pack Welcome to learn more about Loyola, listen to keynote speakers and bond with classmates.

Josslyn Littles, a Krewe leader and senior design major, believes that this year’s Wolf Pack Welcome focused on creating activities that encouraged more participation from the first-year students.

Instead of the traditional hypnotist and movie night, the late-night activities this year, including “90s Cartoons & Breakfast,” “Twerk N Tone,” the Silent Disco and game nights in Satchmo’s, helped first-year students bond and connect with their classmates, according to Littles.

Wolf Pack Welcome invited three new speakers to motivate and inspire the first-year students. Littles believed that the younger speakers, Bonny Shade and James Robilotta, connected well with the new students. Shade spoke to students about sexual assault on college campuses and Robilotta geared his keynote presentation towards leadership and becoming involved on campus.

Krewe leader coordinators, Brianna Daniel-Harkins a pre-law history senior and Danielle Bella, a music therapy senior, agreed that the young speakers’ energetic personalities kept the attention of the first-year student.

One of the new activities added to Wolf Pack Welcome was the library scavenger hunt.

“We wanted to be proactive about letting students know what we offer,” said Jason Ezell, instruction and research coordinator at Monroe Library. By participating in the scavenger hunt, first year students learned how to log into their accounts on the library computers and how to make reservations for books and study rooms.

Victoria Elmwood, the user experience and instruction librarian, believed that the scavenger hunt was a fun way to introduce new students to campus and its resources, without the traditional boring talks. She saw that the students were motivated to participate because they wanted to learn about the resources available to them.

Welcome Back Week is also offering new programming for students to start the 2018 year off right.

First-year students had the opportunity to ask Krewe leaders last minute questions during their first week of classes at the “Just Ask Me Table” stationed in the Peace Quad.

Sophomore Kick Off cook-out began the new Sophomore Year Experience program on August 21. The program will provide ways to build deeper connections and relationships within the Loyola community. The events will include a new academic support series and “Food For Thought” program where students can dine with a faculty member in the Orleans Room for free, according to an email to the Class of 2021. Littles was excited to see how the new program will strengthen the sophomore class.

After Welcome Week, Daniel-Harkins and Bella encouraged new and returning students to learn more ways to get involved on campus at the Student Organization Fair on August 28.