rom the moment they arrived on campus the last Thursday of August until their heads hit their pillows that Sunday night, the 525 members of the largest freshman class ever to converge on Albright’s campus were consumed by a whirlwind of events that had them on the go, on their toes, and on the path to a successful college career.

For many Albright freshmen, move-in day meant more than packing the family car, driving to campus and carrying their most-important possessions to their room. It also meant they were about to escape the watchful eye of their parents for the first time in their lives.

On the second floor of Walton Hall, Lucia Brooks and her parents, Catherine and Harry Brooks, of Somerdale, N.J., were unpacking her belongings and arranging her room. While their actions said, “Let’s get moved in,” their thoughts seemed to be on the goodbyes that would soon follow.

“We’re frantic parents,” Mrs. Brooks said, “but the college handles nervous parents extremely well. They always had time for us when we called with questions or concerns. Other parents were amazed at the amount of communication between her and the college. It’s reassuring for the parents; it’s been an excellent experience.”

Dad agreed. “I was impressed with the security department as well,” he said. That’s good, because Lucia wasn’t about to go anywhere else. “She was bound and determined to come here, mostly because it’s like a home environment.”

“Albright was the only place I applied to, the only place I wanted to go,” Lucia Brooks said. “I fell in love with it. I came from a small grade school and a small high school, and I wanted to stay in a smaller environment. I didn’t want to be just a number.”

The family realized just how much more than a number Lucia was when they pulled up to Walton Hall. Their car had barely come to a halt when an army of volunteers from the ranks of upperclassmen, faculty, staff and alumni converged to help move her belongings from the sidewalk to the dorm.

“They kicked me out of the car and told me to go register,” Brooks said. “They took everything into the dorm, and by the time I got back everything was there.”

And so began orientation and the Albright College experience for the class of 2008.

POP Goes Orientation

At the hub of the Orientation Program are Peer Orientation Persons, or POPs – upperclassmen who volunteer to spend the first four days of the school year guiding the newest students through the transition to college life.

“Many of the POPs were here for training in the summer, and they all came back a day and a half before orientation began,” said Sally Stetler, director of student activities. “We did some training with them on how to get new students to feel more comfortable and how to get everyone involved in discussions. They also trained on diversity, moral leadership, explaining the discipline code at Albright, and academic expectations. The idea is to give the POPs a base, to prepare them to deal with all kinds of things.”

Each student was assigned to a POP group, with each group led by two of the upperclass POPs. With no more than 18 students (most from the same dorm) to a group, the students got to know their POPs – and each other – quite well over the course of the weekend. That, in turn, gave the new students a head start in forming their new circle of friends.

“The POP groups were a wonderful idea,” said Kristen Landis, who had recently left her home and many lifelong friends in Dover, Pa. “You got to meet and hang out with a certain number of people right away, and those were the people you became closest to first.”