TOTEMS

Each year since 2002, newly arriving Earth and Mineral Sciences students at University Park have been invited to a free three-day orientation trip. Held at the Lake Raystown resort, the experience provides an opportunity for new students, upperclassmen student mentors and faculty to get to know each other in a low-key, relaxed atmosphere.

TOTEMS participants move in to their dorms three days early, missing the mad rush and mayhem of Move-In Weekend. They spend three days hanging out, enjoying the water park, bartering groceries in order to cook supper, playing volleyball, toasting marshmallows and playing mini-golf in the dark. When they return to the University Park Campus, they have scores of new friends and have gotten to know a dozen faculty members in an informal setting. The intimidation factor of a large campus with over 40 thousand students is greatly reduced.

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