TIFTON—Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College has announced eight orientation days scheduled for this summer.
Scheduled days are June 5, June 12, June 26, July 10, July 17, July 27 (Bainbridge), July 31, and August 9.
Welcome Weekend, which is part of orientation, will kick off Friday, August 11 and continue through Sunday, August 13. The weekend will include a kick-off event, the annual Convocation Ceremony, an introduction to life in Tifton with a Second Saturday Celebration, and a ‘Stallion Training’ day.
Trent Hester, ABAC Leadership and Engagement Coordinator, said that 21 orientation leaders have been selected from the student body. This group is tasked with the planning, development, and execution of the Orientation, Convocation, and Welcome Weekend programming.
“Orientation seeks to provide students with the opportunity to gain all the tools necessary to be successful in their first semester,” Hester said. “We will cover everything from how to access all your classes to how to email your professors. We will review every club and organization that we offer on campus, and we’re going to offer campus tours. We want students excited about coming to ABAC.”
Orientation leaders include Ivey Cook, a senior agricultural education major from Tifton; Brennan Hart, a livestock production graduate from Orlando, Fla.; Liz McDaniel, a senior agribusiness major from Camilla; Emily Groat, a senior agricultural education major from Ruskin, Fla.,, Colton Peacock, a senior agricultural education major from Ludowici; Leo Zapote, a senior nursing major from Ashburn; Lily Harbuck, a sophomore nursing major from Americus; Shana Guzman, a sophomore history and government major from Americus; Reanna Brown, a sophomore agricultural education major from Polk County, Fla., Brianna Payne, a sophomore agricultural education major from Lincoln, Ala.; Jenna Williams, a sophomore biology major from Douglas; Sophia Beecham, a livestock production graduate from Orlando, Fla.; Rebecca Perez, a sophomore business major from Omega; Janyra Garcia, a sophomore nursing major form Adel; Karoline Wilson, a sophomore agricultural education major from Fort Oglethorpe; Abigail Rainwater, a sophomore agricultural education major from Perry; Makenley Slade, a junior nursing major from Cordele; TJ Acree, a sophomore elementary education major from Tifton; Oscar Martinez, a sophomore agricultural education major from Pearson; Daniel Durrence, a sophomore agricultural technology management major from Moultrie; and Joceline Tinajero-Campos, a sophomore elementary education major from Albany.
“For the parents and guests, we work to include them in as much of the college process as we can, so they have their own set of presentations,” Hester said. “They hear about a lot of the same topics as the students, like academic engagement, but they also hear how they can stay involved with their students. They’ll hear from the Alumni Association, ABAC police, and the dean of students. When they leave, we want them to feel like their student is going to have a great experience here socially and academically, but also that they can trust us to take care of their kids.”
Hester said this year, there will be orientations for non-English speaking parents for the first time.
“When we were interviewing students who applied to be orientation leaders, we asked them to tell us one thing from their experience going through orientation that would have made it better,” he said. “Overwhelmingly, the majority of our Spanish speaking students that interviewed said they could not bring family members with them because we didn’t have translators, or they didn’t think it would be inclusive enough that they would get anything out of the experience. There was a significant enough volume of those students that we think it’s worth adding sessions for Spanish-speaking parents.”
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