SOAR
For many years, alongside their University acceptance letter, students received an invitation to join SOAR - the Stockton Outdoor Adventure Retreat. This event was a three-day event where incoming first-year students stayed in cabins at Camp Ockanickon, about 45 minutes from Stockton鈥檚 Galloway campus. Students received a necklace and a bandana to represent the color of one of eight tribes and engaged in icebreakers, outdoor events like archery, rock-climbing and canoeing, and other team-building activities. On the third day of each SOAR retreat, a group of faculty, staff, alumni and administrators would cycle 40 miles from the Galloway campus to Camp Okanickon to highlight the importance of exercise as an integral part of education and to meet students in an informal setting before the semester started.
Students who participated remember their team chants and share memories unique to the SOAR experience. The best part of SOAR is that it gave these incoming first-year students the opportunity to build connections and create friendships before the academic year began in a small group setting. Walking around campus those first days of the semester was a little less anxiety-inducing for students who went to SOAR because they were able to recognize some familiar faces from their time at Camp Ockanickon.
As powerful as that program was for those able to participate, Student Affairs leadership recognized the majority of incoming students were unable to do so. In 2019, the University elected to develop a broader range of "Welcome Week" activities open to all students to create friendships, build rapport and forge those same connections before the first day of class.
