When freshmen return from winter break in January, they will have the option to attend Encore Orientation, a seminar style program that aims to provide more insight into campus offerings. The topics are a supplement to fall orientation, which was shortened this year by two days.

“After settling into campus and having a grasp on community and social life, it’s more appropriate for the student to absorb [information about the] CRC (Career Resource Center) and study abroad,” said Timothy Shiner, Director of Student Activities and Leadership Development (SALD).

The development of the program not only reflects national trends, student wishes, and what Shiner called “common sense,” but also saves the University money. Shaving off two days from orientation removed the cost of feeding about 1,000 students for those days.

“The biggest cost of orientation is food,” Shiner said. “There will be some small expenses [for encore orientation] but overall they’re minimal…so we’re absolutely saving a very significant amount of money.”

The newly developed encore orientation features workshops on writing college level papers, how to be an overall great student, and information for those hoping to be pre-law or pre-med. The event will run for about half a day, with two to three workshops occurring simultaneously. Some offerings are repeats from fall orientation, while others are new programs students may not yet know about.

“[There are a] variety of things that students can choose from depending on what they like,” Shiner said.

Despite efforts from Shiner, Dean for the Class of 2014 Marina Melendez, and Dean for the Class of 2013 Louise Brown, some freshmen feel that Encore Orientation is somewhat redundant.

“I don’t feel it’s necessary, since I attended it the first time and I retained the information,” said Ariel Lesnick ’14. “The things that appeal to me I already learned about during orientation.”

Other students agreed.

“The last thing I would want to do is go to more seminars when we’ve already gone through a semester,” said Sarah Sculnick ’14.

Despite their apprehensions about encore orientation, freshmen did agree with the logic that receiving more specific information now is more helpful than receiving it at the beginning of the year.

“I didn’t have a clear sense of what I was doing here at first,” said Maddi Kidd ’14.