Winter 2014

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First-year students get a leg up at the Bean in Chicago’s Millennium Park during the Purple Pride! event. Photo by Stephen Anzaldi '10 MS

A Warm Welcome

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Check out the March through the arch photo gallery and Watch the video of the festivities.

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In a whirlwind week of activities, the class of 2018 gets to know each other and their new home.

In mid-September more than 2,200 members of the incoming class arrived on the Evanston campus for a rain-free move-in day, kicking off the weeklong Wildcat Welcome orientation program, which featured more than 1,800 hours of individualized programming, information sessions and events.

After getting settled in their new digs, the first-year students said goodbye to their parents at the sixth annual March Through the Arch, where the class of 2018 paraded through the Weber Arch and across campus to tunes from the Northwestern University Marching Band and the cheers of faculty, friends and family.

At Purple Pride!, an event incorporated into the orientation schedule for the first time last year, students set out in the Second City on their second day as Wildcats. A squad of buses shuttled the students to Chicago’s Millennium Park, where they enjoyed icebreaker games and learned a few new dance moves after remarks from Burgie Howard, assistant vice president for student engagement, and alumnus Michael McGee ’10.

The rest of the week included bonfires, barbecues, improv and opportunities for worship and workouts. Before the Wildcats win over Western Illinois, the first-year students enjoyed the Wildcat Dash at Ryan Field. The fun continued on Saturday night with an exclusive late-night trip to Six Flags in Gurnee, Ill. 

Orientation programming also included Wildcat Weekends, a series of four event-filled weekends. During the first Wildcat Weekend, students attended Deering Days and NU Nights, a barbeque with comedy, dance and music performances on Deering Meadow, and spent Sunday in the city during NU in Chicago: Neighborhood Exploration Day.