(DePaul University/Jeff Carrion)As you probably know, summer is when we welcome over 4,000 new students to DePaul through new student orientation. Freshmen participate in Premiere DePaul and transfer and adult students in Transition DePaul. Even though orientation programs are again online this summer, we are still welcoming many new Blue Demons into the community, and your help in doing this is more important than ever.
The online orientations consist of an asynchronous pre-orientation module, a synchronous virtual orientation session and a synchronous academic advising appointment. These orientation components take place throughout the summer with the first virtual, synchronous Premiere DePaul session for freshmen happening on June 22.
In addition to these required online components, incoming students can sign up for optional in-person events called "Blue Debut." Unlike last summer, you may find yourself bumping into new students and families on campus during these Blue Debut events, taking place in Lincoln Park during August. Blue Debut are one-day, on-campus experiences taking place August 2, 4, 5, 9, 11, 12, 16, 18 and 19 (the first three Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays of August). The program runs from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and takes place on DePaul's Lincoln Park campus. Students and families can sign up for an optional admission tour at 3 p.m. as part of their Blue Debut registration. Those tours will take place on both campuses.
If you are Lincoln Park-based and plan to be on campus, be prepared for increased activity on these dates. If you are Lincoln Park-based and have not yet committed to office time on-campus, please consider spending some time there in order to create a greater sense of the student-focused, welcoming community that is DePaul University.
Many new students will not be able to participate in Blue Debut, so our digital/remote presence will still be important. If you have social media accounts, you may get more questions and requests via comments or direct messages. How you respond to them, and how quickly you respond, has the ability to powerfully inform their first impressions of DePaul as a welcoming and engaging community and can affirm their decision to attend DePaul.
Even under these unusual circumstances, we are still DePaul: We respect the human dignity of all with special care for the marginalized, we engage in and with the DePaul and Chicago communities, and we "Take Care DePaul." I hope you'll take some time to consider how you might exemplify these tenets as you interact with new students and families this summer.
As always, if you are unsure of how to help a new student or family member, or if you have any questions about Premiere or Transition DePaul orientation programs or Blue Debut, please visit
orientation.depaul.edu, or contact the Office of New Student and Family Engagement at
orientation@depaul.edu, and a staff member will be happy to assist you.
Thank you for everything you do for DePaul and its students!