Senior Week, which happens the week before graduation at both Lincoln Center and Rose Hill, offers a packed program of events with one aim—giving the Class of 2013 a week to celebrate all they have accomplished.

Beth Coyne, director for the transition year experience, said Senior Week offers an important moment for students to take a deep breath and look back on all they have achieved.

“Students have been working hard for last four years, and as they’re coming to the end of their undergraduate time at Fordham, and it’s just a chance for them to celebrate, and take that sigh of relief, and say, ’I did this. I’m graduating,’” she said.

Senior Week events are tailored to each campus. Lincoln Center students attend a wine tasting, go to a Broadway show, and take a boat cruise around the Manhattan island. Rose Hill students look forward to the traditional kickoff event, a Senior Ball, and the popular Parent Appreciation Dinner Dance on Martyrs’ Lawn.

This year, both campuses will feature special events with Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham. “Paint the Night Maroon” at Lincoln Center on Tuesday, May 14, and the “Always a Ram” luncheon at Rose Hill, on Thursday, May 16, are both free and open to all students with advance registration.

Daniel Patterson, associate director for the transition year experience at Lincoln Center, said that while this week marks an important transition from students to alumni, he encourages students to simply celebrate together with their community.

 “I like providing the opportunity for them to come together as a class for one last time,” Patterson said. “The community here is incredibly tight, and this is one last opportunity to enjoy and relish it.”

Senior Week is organized by student leadership committees and staffed, especially at the Rose Hill campus, by a group of underclass volunteers. Rose Hill Senior Week co-chair Rocco Totino, a senior at the Gabelli School of Business, said he’s been involved with every senior week since his freshman year.

“When I was a freshman, my sister was on the Senior Week committee and encouraged me to be a volunteer,” Totino said. “Even though I’ve been attending this event for the last three years, this year it’s mine. It’s kind of crazy how fast the past four years have gone.”

Totino and his Lincoln Center counterpart, Chantal Freeman, a senior at Fordham College at Lincoln Center, both said it was hard to wrap their mind around the fact their college career is nearly over. Freeman said that Senior Week allowed her an opportunity to flex her event planning muscles—skills she has been honing since organizing her high school prom and homecoming in her native Flossmoor, Ill.

“My focus has always been making events experiences for people. I knew that I wanted to make Senior Week special for my classmates and do something different and unique for our class,” Freeman said.

She used Facebook to solicit input from her classmates on what they would like to see at Senior Week and to assess whether they were willing to invest in slightly more expensive events, like an upgraded wine and food pairing at a nearby restaurant.

For Totino, Senior Week offers an opportunity to be a full participant at his all-time favorite event, the Parent Appreciation Dinner Dance. The Bronx native said that while so often students celebrate amongst themselves, he was grateful to have the opportunity to celebrate with his and his classmates’ families.

“It’s nice to have the whole family around, and it’s the day before graduation with so many mixed emotions. People are so happy to be with their family and having this one last night of being at college to take it all in,” he said.

For Coyne, watching students reconnect with the people with whom they have walked their Fordham journey is the most meaningful part of the event.

“People may have been roommates freshman year, but drifted apart,” Coyne said. “It’s a chance to relive memories and rekindle friendships before everyone moves on to their next opportunities, whether it’s work, graduate school, going abroad, or wherever life takes them.”

by Jennifer Spencer

“We really hope that parents feel welcomed to this community that we truly feel is a family,” said Dorothy Wenzel, director of student leadership and community development at Lincoln Center.

“We’re not just wanting to meet your son or daughter, but also to meet you,” she said.

The whole campus rolls out the red carpet as new students arrive. Residential students will even get a little help unpacking from hundreds of enthusiastic orientation leaders.

“On Sunday, when you pull up with your car, we don’t want parents to be lifting things. We have orientation leaders who will make the process as painless as possible,” Wenzel said.

In the hustle, bustle, and emotional transition of those first few hours on campus, Beth Coyne, director of the transition year experience for the Rose Hill campus, said the programming for both students and parents is focused on introducing the resources available at Fordham and helping students find their way.

“New Student Orientation is really about getting your basic needs met—getting settled into the residence halls or connected with the commuter assistance programs, meeting your academic advisor, figuring out where to find your classes,” Coyne said.

The connection of the Fordham family is evident from day one. Each student, whether living on-campus or commuting, will be connected with a freshman mentor to help guide them through their on-campus experience and answer questions along the way.

Keith Eldredge, dean of students for Lincoln Center, said that while it’s impossible to cover every piece of information a student needs at orientation, the program will give students the tools to know where to look.

“A big piece of orientation is showing all the ways that we’re here to support and assist you. There’s no way students are going to be able to retain it all, but at least they know where to ask the question,” he said.

Eldredge said that while it can be difficult for parents to transition from the high school experience, where they are aware of every issue surrounding their son or daughter’s education, it is important to empower students in this new phase of their lives.

“We’re a very caring community, and students are more than a number here. But it really is about their independence and them seeking out the resources they need,” he said.

Both Lincoln Center and Rose Hill also offer a First Year Formation symposium, designed to give students more resources in the transition to student life through a weekly semester-long course.

Sessions designed especially for parents are a key part of New Student Orientation. Christopher Rodgers, dean of students for Rose Hill, tells parents what to expect in their student’s freshman year, from academic stressors all the way through to mental health and the disciplinary process.

Rodgers said he shares with parents the mission of the disciplinary and judicial process—to care for students while holding each to high standards of personal conduct.

“We’re an institution in the Jesuit Catholic tradition. We have a commitment to training men and women who will serve the larger society after they leave,” Rodgers said. “Our standards are high.”

Both Wenzel and Coyne said that though some parents find it hard to break away from helping students unpack to attend the parent sessions, these are important moments for a couple of reasons.

“The parents sessions are filled with information to reassure the parents that your students are safe and will be OK,” Coyne said.

“It will also give the students a chance to settle in on their own, talk with their roommates a bit, and then meet up with their parents again before saying goodbye,” she said.

As parents process the emotional impact of sending their students off to college, Coyne said parents can rest assured that students are in a position to thrive.

“They are in good hands, and they will be well taken care of at Fordham,” Coyne said.

“We care very much for our students and are here to make sure they do their very best to succeed.”

By Jennifer Spencer