First in-person Welcome Days since 2019 see high turnout
Admitted and prospective students are invited to attend Welcome Days to learn about life at URI. Pictured: Tour guide Ty Bully with his brother, who has committed to URI, and parents. PHOTO CREDIT: URI Tour Guides
The University of Rhode Island is hosting in-person Welcome Day events for newly admitted students for the first time since spring 2019.
During the Welcome Days, high school students accepted to the University are invited to learn about the various academic and extracurricular programs offered on campus.
“We know that students are still debating between [URI] and other universities,” Campus Visit Experience Director Erin Earle said. “We put a lot of activities and events on for students to participate in depending on what their needs are.”
Two Welcome Days have already been held on March 27 and April 9. The last Welcome Day is this Saturday, April 23.
The event runs on a block-schedule coordinated by Earle and her colleagues in the Office of Admissions. Throughout the day, programs inform students about the University’s academic colleges, campus recreation, student-organizations and residential life. They can also experience dining in Butterfield or Mainfare dining halls.
“There are lots of different things for students to do throughout the day,” Earle said. “If students want to learn more about their academics, they can. We also have athletic facilities open throughout the day and options for students to visit various resources available on URI’s campus.”
During the event, tours of the campus were also offered.
Molly Cronin, a sophomore business major and a URI tour guide, said that she likes Welcome Day because it gives students more of a taste of campus than just a regular tour.
“I enjoy Welcome Day because it gives the visitors a chance to interact with current students,” Cronin said. “Visitors can explore the surrounding areas of Narragansett and Wakefield on a bus tour, which is not offered on a day-to-day basis.”
Another part of Welcome Day that Cronin enjoys is being able to watch prospective students meet and interact with each other and start to form connections before even officially enrolling at URI. She said that was something that she didn’t expect to see, but that it has been heartwarming to encounter as a tour guide.
While the days are long, Cronin said that it’s refreshing to see so much Rhody pride around campus during the Welcome Days, since she feels there has been little school spirit and pride since the COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout the 2020-2021 academic year, all events for incoming students were held online.
“We’re bringing in a big crowd of students, which is great,” Earle said. “A big difference between now and 2019 is that my team and I worked hard to plan a safe event.”
Earle said that she is pleased with the number of students attending the Welcome Day events this semester, with attendance identical to how it was two years ago. She said that the itinerary of the Welcome Days has remained the same since 2019 and only a few modifications have been made.
Earle and her team worked closely with the University’s COVID-19 task force to ensure the necessary precautions had been taken to successfully plan and execute in-person Welcome Days once again.