Virtual Orientation 2021: Behind the scenes

As the Yale-NUS Class of 2025 starts their university journey, the Orientation planning committee (O’Comm) worked tirelessly with Orientation Group Leaders (OGLs) and Residential College Advisors (RCAs) to conduct an exciting and engaging Orientation despite the challenging limitations posed by a global pandemic.

The Orientation Committee, OGLs, and RCAs welcoming first-year students during their move-in onto campus. Image provided by the Orientation Committee.

This is the second year that Orientation was organised against the backdrop of COVID-19. As health and safety concerns resulted in restrictions on the size of social gatherings, mandated safe distancing measures, and some international students who were unable to join the semester in-person on campus, O’Comm adjusted several aspects of the Orientation programme. Many activities were shifted online in order to engage international students based overseas, and comply with current regulations in Singapore.

“When we started planning in April, we already had many hybrid activities in mind. So it was a lot easier to adjust when we had to shift the entire programme to virtual platforms,” said Petrina Loh, Senior Manager (Student Organisations and Leadership) at the Dean of Students’ Office (DOS). For her, this is the fifth Orientation she has overseen at Yale-NUS. “The experience of having done a hybrid Orientation once before helps a lot. We took the lessons we gained from last year,” she shared.

The theme for Orientation 2021 is “Take Root”, with many activities and programming involving elements of nature, such as plants, trees, and farming. “It’s meant to symbolise how we hope Orientation will help the Class of 2025 create their roots in this community. Like how a plant grows, they too will grow over their next four years here,” Petrina shared.

One of the signature Orientation events – aMaze – was cleverly renamed ‘aMaize’ to fit this year’s theme. In the past, students would travel across Singapore to find clues and complete tasks during aMaze. This time, the activities were modified such that students could all participate together on Zoom, regardless of their locations.

One of the activities during ‘aMaize’ involving the use of Google Maps to search for objects and monuments, such as the Merlion. Image provided by the Orientation Committee.

“With the ever-changing regulations, we’ve had to revise our plans for ‘aMaize’ three different times,” said Luke Seow (Class of 2024), a member of O’Comm. “Despite all the changes, I’m very proud of the team and all the creative puzzles that we managed to come up with,” he added. Some of the activities this year included finding clues on a fictional Instagram page, using Google Maps to search for objects, and a Yale-NUS themed crossword puzzle.

Additionally, the team introduced “Halcyon Challenges”, in which a task was revealed every day for students to complete and gain points for their Residential Colleges. “These challenges were designed with the intention of engaging students who were tuning in remotely, and facilitating their interactions with their peers on campus,” said Daphne Lim (Class of 2023), also a member of O’Comm.

In an effort to increase engagement with the Class of 2025 virtually, the O’Comm team devoted much attention to their social media platforms. O’Comm member and summer intern at DOS Office Reisha Lee (Class of 2023) spent her internship designing various forms of publicity. “Our live mukbang (video concept where participants eat food on-screen and interact with the online audience) from last year’s programme was very popular, so we decided to do it again. Also, we also hosted our very first Instagram live cook-off, where we cooked in the three butteries while answering questions from the first-years,” she said.

“It was really fun thinking about all of these out-of-the-box ideas”, Reisha shared, adding that O’Comm meetings were always fresh and exciting.

The Orientation Instagram account had many useful infographics, such as guides on how students can do their laundry on campus, and suggestions on places to visit in Singapore. Image provided by the Orientation Committee.

To prepare them for Orientation, the OGLs, RCAs, and O’Comm members participated in a five-day training programme. Aside from the usual training on intercultural engagement, and consent, they also participated in a new training session on supporting students as a diversability* ally.

“We learnt about the various accessibility routes on campus, as well as how to make classes and Zoom meetings more inclusive to students who are hearing impaired or might need other assistance,” Anastasia Kurniadi (Class of 2024), an OGL at Cendana College, shared. “It was a really eye-opening session. There’s still so much more we can do as a community to be more inclusive, and I hope I can pass this knowledge to the first-years,” she added.

“I’m so proud of the entire Orientation team. They have been so positive, flexible, and creative in the midst of changing regulations, and fully committed to their roles as community role models. I hope the first-years had an amazing and engaging experience,” Petrina added.

Orientation 2021 started on 29 July 2021 and will conclude with the First Year Assembly and Candlelight Ceremony on 6 August 2021.

* Diversability refers to the physical, cognitive, developmental, learning, and/or neurological differences, or diversity, in ability levels.