To prepare incoming freshmen for college life, the university held an event called Freshman Success Day. Zachary Araki/The Lion's Roar

Before their first day of classes, incoming freshmen prepared for success. 

Freshman Success Day was held Aug. 15 in the University Center. Deans of colleges, freshman academic advisors and attorney Charles “Chuck” Toney Jr., an alumnus, talked to the students about tips for success. Attendees had the chance to ask their academic advisors questions, play games and learn more about parts of the university such as dining.

“I actually really like it,” said Blaze Petersen, a freshman undecided major. “It’s a lot of new people. I feel at home. I feel like this is definitely a chance to meet new people.”

Tiffani Poteet, a freshman education major had mixed feelings about classes starting the next day.

“A little nervous because some of them aren’t my best subjects, but I’m kind of excited to meet new people and learn new stuff,” said Poteet.

Jalen Hills, a freshman kinesiology major shared his thoughts on the event.

“It’s a great experience to get all these people here in one spot,” said Hills. “This is fun.”

Freshman Success Day was first held two years ago. It was cancelled last year due to the flood.

“Two years ago, it was more of an academic focus,” said Academic Advisor Kandace Formaggio. “Students came, and they checked in. They met with their SE 101 advisor, and they also got to go connect with their academic department and their academic dean. It was very much like ,’This is what you have to do. You have to do A, B, C, D to get ready for school tomorrow. Here’s all the information about our college, here’s information about our department, this is what you need to do for your major.’ Last year, it got cancelled because of the flood. This year, we have some new administration on campus, and they wanted to look at this event as a celebration. It’s kind of too early to have them jump right into their major. Some students don’t even know what they want to major in yet.”

Senior Advisor Mindy Notariano explained the inspiration for the event.

“From the time they attend orientation to the time they start, that information wanes,” said Notariano. “If you go to orientation in June and you start school in August, there are things you’ve forgotten since then. The inspiration for Freshman Success Day came out of trying to give students the right information, the right activities at the right time.”

Formaggio compared the event to her days as a college student.  

“Hopefully they’ve taken advantage of all of these Welcome Week events that have been going on,” said Formaggio. “We didn’t have that when I was here. Hopefully, they’ve been going to these workshops, they’ve gotten everything that they need to, they come with a positive outlook, they start school positively, and they’re not like ‘I don’t know about this, I don’t know about that.’ Again, I tell them, 12, 13 years ago, we did everything on our own. No one celebrated us before school started. We went to class, and it was sink or swim. We’ve made so many big changes. Students are coming in, and they’re really getting so much support now.”