By Malak Monir

Preparing students for the challenges of university life was the highlight of Northwestern University in Qatar’s Wildcat Welcome Week, a weeklong orientation agenda that began last Sunday.

“One of the goals of this year’s orientation was to help students gain a better understanding of the university’s academic expectations,” said LaKisha Tillman, coordinator for student activities and residential life. Some orientation sessions required students to read through articles before a session in order to stimulate class discussions.

“Our academic integrity session was changed this year,” Tillman said. “The students did case studies and had examples of plagiarism, it was very interactive.”

Sama Abduljawad, a journalism freshman, felt that while some of the sessions were rather long, they were worthwhile.

“Once you concentrate on what people are saying, it’s pretty interesting. And it’s good to learn about Northwestern before we’re actually students,” she said.

But heavy academic sessions were also balanced with more lighthearted endeavors, including, for the first time, a half-day retreat at the Education City Recreational Center. The retreat featured among other things, a dodge-ball game and the Northwestern tradition of painting rocks.

“Because we did have a more academic focus [this year], we still wanted to make it fun. We still wanted to make sure that the class bonded, that they got to know each other,” Tillman explained.

The theme for this year’s orientation was tradition, according to Tillman. Activities such as ‘March Through the Arch,’ a recent inaugural tradition that marks the start of a new student’s journey at Northwestern, were integrated into the orientation schedule.

“March Through the Arch was amazing. I think that was the best thing that I liked—apart from getting the Macbooks,” said Muhammad Faizan Shakir, a communication freshman.

One of the things that students appreciated most about orientation was the opportunity to interact and help form strong relationships with one another before classes started.

Aisha Rashid Al-Muhannadi, also a communication freshman at NU-Q, said that she valued the time she spent at the start of each day discussing her thought about orientation with her fellow students.

“We just talk about the things we like and the things that we’d like to change,” she said. “I enjoyed that a lot.”

This year also marks the third and final time Tillman is responsible for organizing NU-Q’s New Student Orientation. Next year, she will be passing the baton to student affairs specialist Katie Hyon.

“We have really been very [aware of] the needs of our students. They wanted fun, but they also wanted that academic help, and we’ve given that to them,” Tillman said. “I only see orientation getting better and better.”