Dear Editor,I am writing to respond to your article “Orientation leaves more questions than answers” by Cody Lewis (Aug. 27 issue). I am sorry that Cody feels like orientation was not informative and did not meet his expectations. However, the things that he was complaining about were informative. Students do need to know about parking and meal plans. If he had questions about school at ETSU, maybe he should have asked his orientation leader instead of complaining about not getting information after the fact. I know many orientation leaders and I can say with a fair amount of certainty that if he would have asked his questions, they would have been answered.

Cody seemed to have a rather large issue with the icebreakers that were played during small groups. Part of the point of orientation, and college for that matter, is to meet new people. Icebreakers are a way to achieve this. I was the only person from my high school who came to ETSU, and I knew nobody coming in as a freshman. But the icebreakers in orientation allowed me to meet people.

And if you participate in these activities instead of sitting back and thinking how stupid they are, they will probably work for you and you will meet new people. I can attest to this. My best friend and roommate for three years I first met in my small group from orientation. Icebreakers work.

The biggest issue I had in Cody’s assessment of orientation was his not bringing his mother. Part of orientation is for your parents as well. Cody says that “first impressions are everything, and having my mother trail behind me every step probably wouldn’t have been the best idea.”

If you have some issue with having your mom around, that is with you, not orientation. But as you will figure out, at least if you are lucky, your parents are the best resource and probably your biggest supporters in college. It seems like a poor way to show your thanks for this by writing an article in the school newspaper about how you are embarrassed to have them around.

Orientation leaders and people at this school work their ass off to make new students feel welcome as they first experience ETSU. It appears to me that Cody should have spent less time complaining and thinking how stupid and useless orientation is and actually participated and maybe Cody would have his questions answered.

– Matt Brewer

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