By Mariah Bennett | Staff Writer
New Student Programs hosted the Out-of-State Student Mixer as part of its lineup of Welcome Week events from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Aug. 23 in the Barfield Drawing Room in the Bill Daniel Student Center.
The event, which brought in approximately 250 students, featured a green and gold candy bar, name tags with each student’s home state or country and Baylor merchandise, including stickers and patches.
Daniel Haddad, associate director for orientation programs, said the event usually brings in a couple hundred students each year. He said the mixer, which was founded in 2004, is organized so students can find others who are from the same area, region or even country, thereby finding connections that help make Baylor feel like it’s a home for them.
“Being able to come and make this larger university feel a little bit smaller and to find more of a community is the whole point [of the mixer],” Haddad said. “Now, what connects us is that we’re all Baylor Bears.”
New Student Programs will also be hosting a transfer student mixer on Friday in the basement game room in the Bill Daniel Student Center.
Andalucia, Spain, sophomore and mixer attendee Victor Martinez Gil said he has felt very included so far in his first weeks as a transfer student at Baylor.
“People are very interested about Spain,” Martinez Gil said. “I’m also very interested about the U.S. and Texas and Waco and Baylor, so they help me out too.”
Chicago freshman and mixer attendee Makenna Donohoe said her favorite part of the event was meeting people from around her area, including a student who went to a high school in the town she was born in.
“As an out-of-state student, everyone always asks, ‘Oh, why Baylor?’” Donohoe said. “So it’s good to have a community of people coming from another state to come and talk with.”
