Orientation Week begins

19 February 2008

The Monash University Sunway campus came alive after the summer break as a total of 820 new students who will be starting their freshman year began their Orientation Week. From 8.45am a steady flow of new students came into the campus, eager to make new friends and start their university life.

After registration, the students proceeded to Auditorium 2, where Professor Walter Wong, Deputy Pro Vice-Chancellor welcomed them with a motivational speech. He congratulated the students for entering an educational institution that is ranked among the top 50 universities in the world and was confident that they would definitely benefit from the facilities and the quality education here at Monash.

He also hoped that the students would make the best of their days in Monash and gain many wonderful memories during their time at the university.

Mr Graham Down, Director of Monash University’s English Language Centre then took over and gave an overview of the university along with an ice-breaking session. To ensure that the students were not bored, the session was conducted in a very fun manner as students laughed and smiled while getting to know their peers as well as learning about the rules and regulations of the university.

Right after the session, Shazeea Banu, Vice President of the Monash University Student Association (MUSA) introduced the MUSA committee members to the newbies. This was then followed by a second ice-breaker session which was made more funny and challenging as students were quizzed on how much they remembered from the first session!

With co-curricular activities being a big part of student life, the new students were briefed on the Clubs and Societies at Monash by Ms Hon Jin Ling, the Head of Clubs and Societies Division from MUSA, whose session was then followed by refreshments.

While having refreshments, the students were also entertained by their seniors who played and sang live music right in front of the cafeteria. To make things even more exciting, the Hitz.fm Cruisers were on campus to give away freebies to the students who participated in their wacky and funny activities.

Many students also took the opportunity to walk around and familiarise themselves with the campus which will be their haven for the next few years. Existing student volunteers called Buddies, were on hand to assist the freshmen from the moment they entered the campus, helping them with any difficulties and answering any questions they had. - By Anita Hadi