By Giselle Lee & Stephanie Starks | Staff Writers
The Class of 2030 was welcomed on Wednesday and Thursday at the Mark and Paula Hurd Welcome Center for the annual A Waco Welcome event, which allowed students to familiarize themselves with campus resources and Waco businesses.
El Paso freshman Arielle Beltran Del Rio learned about the event through the Welcome Week schedule and said she found it a “good way to get connections” within Baylor and the Waco community.
“I walked over here with my friend,” Beltran Del Rio said. “I think it’s a really good opportunity to kind of get connected into the community and what other places there are outside of Baylor.”
Beltran Del Rio mentioned that the friendly atmosphere made her excited as a new incoming freshman.
“I’m going to be able to study around people that genuinely care and that I can always reach out to them if I’m struggling or if I need anything,” she said. “There’s always people around that can help me.”
For Lawre Hale, a Baylor parent from Round Rock, A Waco Welcome introduced her to businesses and other places she hadn’t known about before arriving at Baylor.
“This is a neat event that shows us all the different little businesses that are around town,” Hale said. “That’s been fun to discover places we didn’t know were here.”
Gail Offringa, Senior Director of Volunteer Engagement, explained that A Waco Welcome was the “final cherry on top” in a parent and student’s journey to Baylor. This journey began with the initial enrollment management webinars and continued through summer send-off parties across the United States.
“We see many of the people we’ve met already throughout the past year, and it’s really about the students moving in and their time to say goodbye,” Offringa said. “It’s like a handoff because parents are always wondering how and where do we say ‘goodbye,’ so it developed into this wonderful event.”
Offringa said that while the event provided a “bigger picture” of the university, the emphasis remained on the people who contribute to the wider Waco community.
“The companies that are in town, such as Baylor Flowers, give a more global view of what their student’s life will be here and put the opportunities that they have as Waco has grown over the last few years,” Offringa said. “It sounds cliche, but everybody tells me this from coast to coast that the people that make the difference and they find out it’s the real deal.”
Offringa hoped the A Waco Welcome gave new freshmen a “good foundation,” with resources across various departments that may help their success.
“New college students don’t even know yet because they’re elevating into a higher level of study requirements with difficult material,” Offringa said. “It gives students psychological and social confidence when there’s a community around them to tap into.”
