The University of Findlay - UF Celebrates New Academic Year

More than 800 new members of the Class of 2010 shared The University of Findlay tradition of marching through the Griffith Memorial Arch on Sunday, Aug. 27, joining the long line of classes that have done so since the arch was erected in 1923.

Donald Collins, assistant professor of psychology and faculty marshal, led the faculty in to a brief program in the Ralph and Gladys Koehler Fitness and Recreation Complex, their black robes dotted with the bright colors representing the institutions where they earned their academic degrees.

Dr. DeBow Freed, University president, told the assembled freshmen that this formal welcome from the faculty and staff adds to the informal welcomes they had already experienced on the weekend.

A large number of international students were
among those returning to campus.

He encouraged them to experience college as a transition from one set of relationships to another.

“Attending and graduating from The University of Findlay should be a transforming experience in your life,” a time during which students will grow, come to understand themselves and achieve the goals they set for themselves.

After the welcome from the president, Pastor Will Miller, director of Christian Ministry for the College First Church of God, gave the invocation and Dr. Micheal F. Anders, professor of music, sang the alma mater.

Donald Collins, faculty marshal, led faculty
members to the arch, where they officially
welcomed new students to UF.

The faculty then led the way to the arch, applauding as they lined both sides of the walk around the incoming freshmen. Led by freshmen members of the Oiler Marching Band, who accompanied the program and ceremony, the new students marched through the red brick pillars topped by the granite arch bearing the University name and “Founded 1882,” toward the regal structure of Old Main.

The line was dotted with UF-orange baseball caps bearing a pharmacist’s symbol, marking the students entering the University’s newest academic program, the School of Pharmacy.

A student gets settled into her new dorm
room on Friday.

Students clean the Trinity Episcopal
Church on Hardin Street as part of
New Student Orientation weekend.
The group was led by faculty member
John Wolper.

The weekend was a busy one, with move-in on Friday for freshmen and on the weekend for returning students.

Faculty and staff joined 575 new students in an array of service projects on Saturday morning, ranging from cleaning and laying tile at Chamberlin Hill Elementary school to cleaning toys and picking up trash at the Family Resource Center.

Led by instructors in UF’s First-Year Experience (FYE) program, orientation leaders and UF staff, first-year students performed three hours of service during the orientation weekend before their first official day of classes on Aug. 28. A joint effort of the University’s Campus Compact Center for Service & Learning and the FYE, this event promotes the importance of volunteerism and service.