If the pandemic taught us anything, it is to appreciate the things we love. There are a lot of things to love about Columbia College, and Welcome Week is just one of them.
After a year of out-of-the-ordinary, it felt good to be tired from sweating from moving in dozens of students’ belongings into Hughes, Miller and New Hall. To see pods of students meeting with their First-Year Mentor groups. To see everyone back on Miller Lawn for Welcome Back Bash. And, of course, watching all of you Storm the Gate.
We missed you. And we’re glad you’re back!
Following Move-In on August 25, the college resumed Welcome Week with a myriad of activities for returning students, capped by Storm the Gate on August 29, the night before the start of Fall classes.
The energy around Main Campus ratcheted up several notches once students returned for Fall Semester.
Zoe Baumgartner, a sophomore First-Year Mentor from Ashland, Missouri, seemed to capture the prevailing sentiment. “Everybody seems more energetic on campus. You can feel the energy. I’m really excited for these freshmen to experience Welcome Week in a way that I didn’t get to last year.”
Her friend, Emma Martin from Columbia, is living on campus for the first time after living at home her freshman year. “I wanted to be more involved, wanted to be around people. Already, I feel like I know more of what there is than when I lived off-campus.”
Enjoy these photos from Welcome Week!
Faculty “reconnect, reignite, reimagine”
Students weren’t the only ones experiencing a return to normal during Welcome Week. Under the theme of “Reconnect, Reignite and Reimagine,” the Day Program faculty held a two-day conference prior to the start of Fall classes. Read more
