Humanities gets Orientation 2012 off to a flyer

Incoming UCT first-year students today had the vacation cobwebs blown away by a spectacular case of the Monday blues.

The blues: Orientation leaders gave first-years a roaring welcome to the Faculty of Humanities.	Rapt: There was plenty to take in for new students.

Jammie Plaza buzzed as blue-clad Faculty of Humanities orientation leaders (OLs) treated its first group of freshers to a roaring welcome on the drizzly morning of 23 January. As the largest faculty at the university, Humanities kicked off UCT's Orientation 2012, with other faculties joining the fray later this week and next week.

With nearly 2,000 new students expected this year, the faculty had a gargantuan task organising its three programmes. The first saw 450 mainly locally based students being introduced to life at UCT.

OL Jol Nash said that the programme is designed to lay a solid foundation on which the students can build a fulfilling and rewarding UCT career.

"If they have a good experience at Orientation, chances are they're going to enjoy varsity," he says.

First-year student Nina Bosse says she planned to make many friends during Orientation.

"I'm hoping to meet a lot of people that know where they're going, so that we can share information, and get to know some interesting people," she remarks.

Bosse and her peers were welcomed by deputy-vice chancellor Professor Sandra Klopper and other speakers on Monday.

Once the speeches were wrapped up, the students were divided into smaller groups and ushered into venues around the campus, where OLs would explain the nuts and bolts of being a successful UCT student.

All of this takes serious organisational skills, and Nash and his colleague Niell Strydom admitted it was no mean feat.

"But it's also a lot of fun," assures Strydom.

The Faculty of Commerce's first orientation programme is next in line, beginning on Wednesday, 25 January