Seventh Street Plaza was lined with booths, balloons and food trucks for a Fall 2023 Weeks of Welcome kickoff on Monday.
Weeks of Welcome is a biannual event designed to help new and returning students acclimate themselves to San Jose State’s campus for the new semester.
Various events will take place between Aug. 21 and Sept. 29 according to a campus events webpage.
Programs such as student government, athletics, the music and dance department and representatives from the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library were all in attendance.
Jess Prudent, campus programming coordinator within student involvement said the timing of all Weeks of Welcome events are crucial in student connections.
Prudent said while student involvement can provide ways for students to engage in campus activities, it’s ultimately up to them to take advantage of social gatherings and organizations.
“So what we do is create opportunities for [students] to engage and for them to engage in a way that feels safe or casual or welcoming,” Prudent said. “Instead of going just into an office, you can meet people, you can play activities and have games, so I would say it’s about as impactful as you want it to be.”
Health Science Librarian Suzie Bahmanyar said the kickoff has been a good way to promote resources the library offers.
“This [kickoff] helps introduce them to ‘oh you got a library and you’re offering things, like, save money on textbooks, jobs, laptops for the semester,”’ Bahmanyar said. “So [there is] a lot of good benefits to getting to understand what’s available at the library.”
Bahmanyar also said the library’s location on the northwest edge of campus might impede students from accessing its resources.
Data science freshman Maya Simon said the event exposed her to a variety of programs and clubs SJSU provides.
“They have all these tables and stuff showing what SJSU has to offer,” Simon said. “For example the Wellness Center, also marching band and stuff like that.”
Simon said an interesting piece of information she got during the event was the Student Wellness Center’s dedication to safe sex and healthy students.
“I learned about the different things that [the Student Wellness Center] gives out,” Simon said. “For example, like condoms and how they offer different shots and vaccines.”
Business administration freshman Carina Chan said the large size of the event helps bring students together and promote a space for friendly and informative interactions.
Chan also said the kickoff encourages her to embrace a more extroverted side of herself.
“I’d say in high school I was definitely super introverted,” Chan said. “But since [college] is a new page, new school, I've decided to try and put myself out there, see what college is about.”
Aside from improving interpersonal communication among students, Prudent said social events can lead to academic success.
“Multiple research articles across multiple universities have shown that when our students are able to connect within the first four to six weeks of their time with us, they tend to do better academically,” Prudent said.
According to a June 14 Central Michigan University academic journal article, the relationship between social relationships and learning is statistically significant.
The same article also found that students who face challenges with social relationships often translate to poor academic performance, according to the same article.
Software engineering graduate student Harika Kolipaka said the kickoff made her excited for the start of the semester.
Kolipaka also said this is her first time living away from her home country of India, and that it’s comforting to know there are outlets if she ever feels the need to converse with someone or be part of an organization.
“It’s really overwhelming to do everything on your own, but there’s so many clubs and so many resources on the campus,” Kolipaka said. “I think I can reach out to anyone if I want to talk to somebody regarding my mental health. I think there are many pretty good resources on campus.”
