The current COVID-19 situation impacts the life of new students, beginning with the introduction to their new student life. In the previous years Saxion organized an offline introduction week, but due to current measures the university of applied sciences has decided to build an online platform where students can join activities and enjoy an online party. The platform also made sure that the most important part of an introduction week was covered: getting to know each other.
The city centers of Apeldoorn, Deventer and Enschede are usually packed with first-year students during this time of the year, in order to participate in the HOI introduction week. Nowadays, the city centers were abandoned and quiet: the online introduction week was held online. In order to capture the festive vibes of the introduction week, the theme of the introduction week was a festival. Students could visit an online festival area, existing out of a party tent with music, a food court with traditional Dutch recipes, a playground with an escape room designed by students from Saxion, and a school zone with practical information about starting your studies. In total, 10.945 students visited the online introduction festival to get an online grasp about what it is like to be a student at Saxion.
Online is (not yet) the new offline
One of the visitors of the online festival was Elina de Beus. Elina will be starting her study programme Social Work in September this year, together with a friend. At the beginning of the introduction week, she was introduced to her new fellow students by playing an online game. ‘’During this game, we had to carry out small tasks in order to collect points’’ Elina explains. ‘’For example, we had to eat a pepper, do a little dance or do a handstand against the wall.’’ Elina and her team eventually ended up in third place.
Even though the online festival was a pleasant alternative for meeting your new fellow students, Elina would have preferred to meet them in real life. ‘’It’s easier to start a conversation and to get to know each other in real life. But taken into account the current circumstances, I really liked this alternative.’’ she explains. ‘’I have shortly spoken with my new classmates and they seemed really nice.’’ Elina eventually organized her own small party in light of the kick-off of her new student life: ‘’I’ve invited some of my own friends at home and we had some drinks together.’’
I thought it looked really cool. There were plenty of activities to do and stuff to see.’’
Escaping reality
Jari Bosman is a future student Media, Information and Communication and was highly impressed by the online introduction festival. ‘’I thought it looked really cool. There were plenty of activities to do and stuff to see.’’ Jari was also introduced to his new fellow students. ‘’It’s a pity I couldn’t meet them in real life, but we all made a short introduction video wherein we introduced ourselves. We also played an online escape room together. By doing this, we eventually got to know each other a bit better.’’
No false bingo
Sanne, who will start her studies spatial planning, also participated in the online introduction festival. She joined the bingo session, participated in the pub quiz and was introduced to her buddy group. ‘’It was nice to be introduced to my buddy group. We created a WhatsApp group and will meet the upcoming Monday in Deventer. I’m looking forward to meeting them in real life.’’
Sanne’s highlight of the week was definitely the bingo session. ‘’They played fun songs during the bingo session and one of my friends almost had bingo. If I had a false bingo? Luckily not, otherwise I would have had to sing a song which I’m glad that I didn’t have to.’’ Despite the fact that she had to work on the final day of the online festival, she participated in the final hours of the DJ-livestream session.
International introduction
International students also participated in the online introduction week. Future Hotel Management student Yashika Saini visited the festival area. ‘’On the first day of the festival, I participated in the pub quiz.’’ she tells. ‘’I didn’t know all the answers, but it was such fun! Later this week, I took an online sports lesson and I believe I have burned quite some calories’’ she laughs. She is happy that there is an introduction week after all.‘’ My fellow students are coming from all around the world and this was a fun way of getting to know them. I have made quite some friends and I hope to meet them soon in real life.’’
Yashika is excited to start her new studies, partly thanks to the help of her teachers and some second- and third-year students who helped her to find her (online) way at Saxion. ‘’This is a completely new experience for me. Initially, I didn’t know a lot about the Netherlands, but thanks to the online introduction week I have learned more about this country and its people. I am ready to start my studies!’’
