Every year, incoming freshmen are invited to participate in a pre-orientation program, the NOLA Experience, which serves as an introduction to New Orleans and Tulane prior to Welcome Week.
This year, 160 students were accepted into eight different tracks with varying focuses, including environmentalism in Louisiana, New Orleans food and culture and newspaper production. During the NOLA Experience 2008, three new tracks were introduced to the program. One of these tracks, "Let the Good Times Rock and Roll," introduced 19 new freshmen to the various styles of music in New Orleans and how music affects the city's culture.
During the past week, these students met famous local musicians like violinist Amanda Shaw and received the V.I.P. treatment at some of New Orleans' most famous art and music venues. Kara Murphy, a participant in "Let the Good Times Rock and Roll" from Chicago, described the track as an all-access pass to New Orleans' music scene and said that she thought that participating in NOLA would be a great way to meet people.
Steven Eckert, from North Carolina, said that he participated in the "Exploring the Crescent City: A Religious Experience" track for similar reasons.
"I wanted to make friends ahead of time and learn about the city before classes started," he said.
Eckert's track was also new this year and focused on how different religions such as voodoo and Christianity formed New Orleans' history and have contributed to reconstruction after Hurricane Katrina.
Melissa Sweeney, a sophomore and Orientation Coordinator for the track, said it was an "enlightening and eye-opening" experience that revealed the religious history behind New Orleans' greatest traditions, including Mardi Gras. The 10 students in the track visited cemeteries, Buddhist monks and major churches during the week and took part in nighttime activities with the other NOLA tracks.
The third new track this year was "Totally TUBE-ular." The 14 incoming freshmen in "Totally TUBE-ular" filmed and edited a short documentary during the pre-orientation week about the NOLA Experience and met influential people in the New Orleans film industry.
"We get to introduce Louisiana and New Orleans to a bunch of incoming freshmen and capture the whole thing on film so other freshmen can see it," said Sean Higgins, a sophomore and an Orientation Coordinator for the track.
The documentary will premiere on Friday night, when NOLA members from other tracks will see the movie. It will then air on Tulane's Channel 50.
The NOLA Experience 2008 was the biggest pre-orientation program so far at Tulane. Many of the students in the program said they would partake again if given the option, and the program hopes to continue expanding so that more incoming freshmen will have the opportunity to participate.
2008 Woodie Awards
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