Ready, Set, Elon! Webinar for incoming Elon families in the Class of 2028

welcome as you're joining The Ready Set Elon webinar um we are letting folks in so as participants are joining us we'll be kicking it off in just a moment we greatly appreciate you spending some time on a Thursday evening or afternoon depending on where you are um with us we'll give it another 30 seconds or so so folks can jump on and catch the very beginning thank you again for spending time with us well thank you class of 2028 eight families for joining us for Ready Set Elon U my name is Emily Lions I am part of the office of parent engagement here at Elon we are recording this session um so at the end we'll be able to share it on our YouTube page so if you would like to go back and review any topics that we discussed or anything like that we welcome you to do that so um again welcome to ready at Elon the chat is open for you to share questions we have pre-submitted questions um that those registered had shared over the past few days and so we have those to address we will do our best to answer as many questions as we can during this time this evening if we don't get to your question at the very end I'm going to share the email addresses for office of parent engagement res live and new student programs so I would love for my um cooworker Will Robertson to introduce himself and we'll get everything started thanks Emily hey everybody I'm Will Robertson I'm the associate director of parent engagement here at Elon um been in this role just over four years so really excited to welcome the class of 2028 and I'll be um the one in the chat hopefully answering your questions as as best as I can and um we're excited to have um student perspective as well as orientation leader uh Sarah with us so Sarah take it away hey y'all um my name is Sarah roer I am a student coordinator for new student programs um overseeing new student orientation um this is my third year with the program so I was an orientation leader and then I was a team lead and now I'm a coordinator um I am a upcoming senior and my majors are dance performance choreography and communication design and I'm super happy to be here super thanks Sarah for being here and we are also joined by Amy and Shan Maguire who are current Elon parents and I'll let them introduce themselves Amy great thank you so much to say we're the proud parents really underestimates um everything that Elon means to us Molly our senior is um rising and she'll graduate and next spring and Sean and I have had the honor of just being a part of this community so glad to be with you all tonight there are so many wonderful things that the next um 3 minutes of our introduction doesn't begin to describe how much we have adored being a part of this community The Faculty is in they're they're just incredible the friendships that Molly has made and the friendships that we have made throughout this time have really been incredible and it's going to be very sad to see this year closing but it is a part of a family that you will never leave and we're just glad glad to be here and be part of um any questions that you may have and thank you for this time and U my name is Shan Maguire and I think just a just a couple of of advice tidbits that I'll throw out uh to to start there's going to be a lot of uh things thrown at you uh this evening and there's going to be lots of uh questions about you know where to park and and really important stuff like that but I wanted to just take it to a little higher level and just kind of give you you uh my perspective on how Molly transitioned to to Elon and the support systems that exist at Elon uh first of all when uh Emily and will and Sarah say that that there is support and uh resources available they they mean it um their their phones ring and they they answer them uh and it doesn't matter whether it's academic or it's personal uh please reach out uh Elon we've done it my Amy and I have done it numerous times uh for various reasons and and we get answers to our questions so so please know that that they are responsive and and we've experienced that firsthand um it's also incumbent I think upon us as parents to maintain that open line of communication with our with our students with our children um I think it's a if it's your first child going off to college there's some emotions there that that uh that I think are significant and should be addressed with the you know as parents and and with the children themselves they should definitely feel supported and understood during this journey it's uh it's really really difficult to leave home uh and and and do this journey on um you know no matter what school you go to so so keep that line of communication open with your with your children as well too um but it's also needs to be encouraging this is a brand new chapter in in your your child's life as a brand new potentially a brand new chapter in your life as a parent as well too uh so enjoy it that that's probably my my biggest uh uh takeaway is is is really enjoy the the whole process uh because it will be hectic at drop off day uh you won't know exactly where to go um the the the team and Sarah will talk about how it all all happens but everyone just desend upon you uh kind of soak it in uh and enjoy so I'll stop there uh Emily and kind of turn it back to you all and we'll set we'll at least myself will hang on for any other parent perspectives or questions that we may have super thank you Sean and Amy um I I I I introduced myself early but I'm Emily Lions I work here in the office of parent engagement along with Will um and if you don't know the office of parent engagement is here for you current Elon families um to be resource so please um know at any time during your Elon Journey if you have a question and you're not sure who should connect with on campus feel free to reach out to us um I'll share our email at the end of this and we will definitely help you connect to the right person get the answers for you so definitely we are a resource in communication for you so um Sarah as Sean was mentioning move in is happening next weekend and office of new student programs leads move in and orientation can you give kind of a overview like what what if if my time for movein is 9:30 what does that mean where do I go what what does movein even look like at Elon yeah of course I will say it is so organized that really all you have to do is follow the signs um essentially your moving time should be in your students Acorn account um that's where all of the information you'll need will be um there may be directions on printing things out just make sure you have all of like your moving time all of the materials and stuff that you need um and know where your students moving into but you will be going to the sh Center for a centralized check-in um it's been this way for a few years now and it's been proven to be really really successful really easy um you'll essentially get a hang tag um at the centralized check-in along with other information um different packets with Phoenix card cards and um keys to your residence Halls things like that um so anything that you'll need and then the there will be Elon police um town of Elon police campus police um other police officers as well as elon's facilities um management and things like that and they will be guiding you also signs um there's a lot of closed roads so that you can easily get to your dorm um with that you cannot get to your moving location without your hang tag so make sure you go through the centralized check-in first um but yeah then you'll be directed to your students's neighborhood and then an offloading Zone um you'll have one person stay with the car at all times and then there will be a team of orientation leaders Ras um a lot of student athletes come and help different organizations on campus a big collection of people will come and help unload your vehicle um different neighborhoods have different things they all have either a laundry cart or a motorized vehicle that can help move things around um and the students items will go in there with that I will recommend um make sure you label all of your items with your students name and their building and room number very helpful keeping things organized um because your student will stay with their things while a family member will move the car if your students moving in themselves it's also super easy um an O will an O is an orientation leader sorry um an O will stay with your students things and move it to their room while the student moves the car um we have a really really strategic process it doesn't take more than like 30 minutes I'd say from being at Char Center to getting all of your things up to your residence hall um obviously unloading or like moving things in setting it up could take as long as you need um but we will have orientation meetings that day at 4:30 so if you have a 9:00 a.m. 9:30 uh mooving time you've got a pretty good amount of time in the day um but you should probably be set by like I'd say 10 if you're moving times 9:30 which is really nice um again like I said pretty quick tons of helping hands a lot of people ready um and then in terms of if you have multiple vehicles or if you're bringing a U-Haul different things like that um they will need a hang tag as well um that will get you to the offload location um so when you're at the sh Center letting people know there um and I would say try to limit to one to two vehicles um just for parking after you have unloaded your vehicles or U-Hauls or anything like that facilities will direct um the cars to a long-term parking spot just keeping traffic flowing um and so there's not not a million and a half spots but we try our best to accommodate for everybody so um just making sure that it's like one to two vehicles is the best um but yeah um that's pretty much move in it's a great day normally it's hot but we've got a lot of volunteers there's about 200 volunteers um faculty and staff alone at Char Center so there's a method to the madness and there's a process and it's been tested and it works great um but yeah sah so if I have a 10:00 move in time um I should be at Char Center at what time 10 o'clock yeah okay so I I don't need I don't need to arrive 30 minutes ahead of time I just need to be at Char Center at 10: yep and then and then I will follow the process there yeah so Char Center is your first spot your number one location um and it's pretty easy to get to so yeah super super so we get to sh Center we get our our packet of of information um we get our hang tags for our vehicles and we follow the the map on our hang tag to get to the neighborhood and all neighborhoods have assistance right all the different neighborhoods will have tons of people helping to unload everything and and then whoever's driving the car will go and park it somewhere else and by that time everything should be in the room and you can start unpacking and arranging and then lofting beds is that a thing so facilities management is awesome and there will be a tent in each neighborhood hard to miss it'll probably be right in the center um convenient location they have some materials to help um lofting beds for me personally I also purchased um like risers for my dorm bed um but the beds Loft pretty high um so yeah very helpful they're willing to help for the whole they have every yeah and so there's different tents at the different neighborhoods where um if you need the items to Loft the beds Elon staff is there to help you with the materials the tools everything that that possibly needed right yep they should have everything you need um yeah the only thing is maybe bring a rubber mallet if you have one um that you can help um cuz they have them but you'd have to share there might be multiple people but any materials that are needed you don't need to purchase they'll have it sure and I and I was I was talking to one of my colleagues who's a Elon Alum and she mentioned how she set her her room up one way and by the time the F the f IND she they had rearranged it like six times anyway so yeah I believe it great great so we move we bring come in at at 10: and we have so many open spaces at sh that if you're there on time you're going to go through the process pretty quickly get to your neighborhood unload items um then come back to your room um different people have different move in time so I know orientation for for students start Friday evening at 4:30 yes so the last the latest move in times are around 1:00 um that gives people time if you want to run to the local Target run to pick up any last things that you might have forgotten and then all of the students will meet their orientation leaders at 430 and then and then families can choose to stay and finish putting away items do a Target Walmart run that sort of thing right yeah for sure um Friday the only things that parents have um while the students are with their orientation leaders is there is a family and parent SE welcome session um there are two on Friday the first one is at 1:30 and that's for people that are moving in earlier in the day um invited to attend that it's not for students it's just for families and then there's a 4:30 also that day for the later move in time so at the same time the students will go to meet their orientation leader there's a welcome session those are both in Alumni Gym but you can find more information about that on the orientation schedule which is on the website and I believe Emily might mention a little more about the website yeah I'm I'm glad you said that Sarah perfect um so if you haven't learned the secret of Elon University's website let me tell you so kind of pretend that you go to Elon university.com and you can use that search bar just as though you would Google right so you want to go look up the orientation schedule go to elon's main website and in the right hand corner is a search bar type in orientation schedule you'll find it you want to know about micr fridges you can find that information you want to know about file break academic calendar whatever the topic is you literally can use that as Google um when I first started at Elon that was a tip that was given to me and it is quite a resource so I highly suggest um trying it out so definitely look up the orientation schedule for more details than what we might go into this evening so um one question um that we had earlier was about shipping items to campus and so if you your student has their campus Box by now and you can start shipping items to mail services and that way they if there's big items small items Amazon packages whatever you would like to have shipped you can have it shipped there um and and um after you've gotten to your residents Hall you can go over to mail services which is in Mosley Student Center and get your items there um they are well equipped having storage spaces knowing that people are going to be sending lots of items so um and the dining Halls will be open on Friday so students will will be using the dining Halls starting Friday um and families are welcome to as well so Sean and Amy do you remember Molly's move in a couple years ago absolutely um to say that everyone just descends upon you you don't have to do anything it is overwhelming when you see this group of her peers all of these volunteers that are sophomores Juniors some seniors that just come out there's athletes there's non-athletes and they just help you do everything and you don't have to sweat at all yeah my job my job was to was to stay with the car as uh Sarah said someone needs to stay with the car and uh Amy and Molly went to the room following the the train of stuff that came out of our car that I didn't lay a hand on at all and I drove to the parking lot and joined them at the uh at the uh at at her dorm room and and the fun began there so it was uh it was really easy really fun and it was warm that day Sarah I do remember it was warm the day we dropped off Molly but it was a lot of fun and um it's a it's a great memory there's music and it's just a lot of fun yeah yes one of the highlights during movein day is having the band come across campus so I hope I hope you get you get to see that yeah so after orientation activities Sarah start um and there's parent information sessions Friday and then Saturday morning we have new student conv ation do you remember your new student convocation I do yes and the student new student convocation is always really really special um it's the first time you get to see the faculty it's the first time you get to hear the president speak other leaders speak um student body president was always a notable one for me and also get our acorns um I actually received my Acorn from one of my mentors in my um Department which is really special and I still have it today so ready for my sapling but Acorn to sapling and it's very um a very warm tradition to Elon and my heart and I love it and everyone really really appreciates it so yeah if you if you don't know um when Sarah graduates in May she'll be giving her her oak sapling so new student convocation happens on Saturday morning um at 900 a.m. our office parent engagement will actually be having a coffee for families um near at the basketball courts at hbb which is um a residence hall near in near the historic district um you can come have coffee some pastry some fruit and then go sit down under the Oaks um which is a special area for for Elon um and we have new student convocation there and when the students proceed out they get an acorn and like I mentioned when you graduate get an oak sapling so you go from an acorn to an oak so um and then um after new student convocation families have the chance to meet their Elon their students Elon 1010 advisor um and students will then go with their orientation groups is that correct Sarah yeah they'll go directly to their orientation groups um there's not really a huge chance to like see your student um but they're going to go to their orientation groups while y'all go to their advisors that's at 10:30 um and then yeah you can continue yes so then um you'll have a chance Eline 1010 advisor is is your is your student first advisor so it's a great opportunity to connect a name with a face so while your students interacting with them they'll have Elon 101 um sessions throughout the fall um and so as they're going through those sessions and they are talking about this person or this person you'll have an idea who they're speaking about um and they'll be the ones who will help guiding them through the advising session for the spring for J Term and and spring semester so it's a great opportunity and then there'll be an information Fair um as well for families that Saturday and then the um sendoff picnic will occur I believe families need wristbands for the picnic online sales for the wristbands are currently closed but if you need a wristband you can buy it Friday and Saturday before the picnic yeah so the wristbands the students will automatically new students all will automatically get a wristband um those are free those do not have to be purchased but for family members um those are in orientation headquarters which is located in the Mosley Center and it's by there's a kitchen in Mosley um kind of more toward Ward The Lakeside area um it's hard to miss there'll be a lot of people there um so you can purchase them there um and I'd also love to just add real quick um for families of transfer students that might not be taking Elon 1010 um because that's only for the new student um like first year students uh there is a session as well for transfer orientation families um at 10:30 in lose Theater which is in the kobc um the Corey Business Center and so that's also for those parents and th that information can also be found on new student programs so if you go to elon's website new student programs in the search bar you'll be able to find incoming students transfer students all this the schedules correct yeah that's all in there um as well as optional um added sessions um there's a ton of different things that are offered and it'll say on there whether it's open for students or for families so definitely take a look can see um because there's some other drop in things as well super super so in the packet of items that the students receive at Char is their Phoenix card is that correct yes they will get their Phoenix card because that's your key to your room and the buildings and buildings on campus to swipe for your meal plans and then you can also parents can add Phoenix cash or they can put cash on that is that right yes um you're going to have a key for your actual room but your building will all do Phoenix card tap access um and you can like um Emily had mentioned you can use it to load Phoenix cash your meal plan food dollars are on there meal dollars which if you're totally unsure what those are your orientation leader will cover it with the new students um so you can get information that way but it's also on the Phoenix card website um and also I found that I tap my Phoenix card for different events I attend sometimes um I know Bingo is an event that I frequently attend um put on by Elon Student Union board and if you tap in sometimes they'll give you like different prizes and stuff for how many times you've tapped in um so different things like that um their Phoenix card will always be with them I keep mine with me all the time um I also recommend on the back of like a phone getting a phone wallet for your student um that way you can do keep your Phoenix card on the back of your phone they're always going to have their phone on them so it's easy to tap it and you normally don't lose it that way um but yeah and clarify for me you mean like like the little slot that you slide your card in the back and okay yes the back okay yeah yeah they also have them at some events so if you're not buying one for your student right now there might be an Elon one somewhere um possibly the org Fair things like that which we can also talk about on the F further along um but I recommend that cuz that way they'll have it with them but they normally don't lose it you kind of need it everywhere so it's one of those things you got to keep with you yes yes yes Sean and Amy do you have any tips from movein that you would like to share did you attend the summer sendoff picnic do you remember any the convocation or anything yeah I think I saw actually I saw a question that came by there real quick Will May will may have seen it um asking what send off or what leaving your your child and student there at at Elon is like and and I'll be completely honest with you it is hard like it's it is a difficult thing um to do if it's your first uh child it it probably is um is probably overwhelming you probably don't want to think about it you went through this long arduous process to find the right tent uh University to for your child to go to they were accepted uh and and you had to choose between multiple uh universities probably to for your student to attend um that's stressful like that that's stress in and of itself uh and now you actually have to drop them off and and and it is not easy I'm not going to sugarcoated it's not easy however um I can tell you and Amy and I have have another daughter that we uh also did drop off fortunately for as well too um and and and every child is different certainly but uh enjoy the the whole process I may have said that earlier um as well as well too but but ultimately uh that drop off is really really special and and you have to trust that uh your your child is in good hands which they are at at Elon and I said this at our at our earlier meeting in the afternoon uh aming I are believers that uh that that our children uh the the right College finds our your your child they are in the right place and and you have to believe that you really do uh but it is a memory it's it's a great memory and and I hope you are able to to Really embrace it and enjoy it I would only add that the convocation and the acorn is a beautiful ceremony so if you can stick around it is um kind of indescribable it's really a great chance and your uh child will remember it as Molly already has wonderful wonderful all right let so a couple questions about um once you're here at Elon and you've started classes and how do you get involved and Sarah you had mentioned the organization fair that happens I believe it happens maybe the second week of class or so somewhere around there there's information that's sent out um and I'm sure you've been a part of this for the past few years there's organizations all over the the quad right there's tables of of everything from the from the outdoors to yoga to um music groups to Elon car club and everything that I'm forgetting in between so did you find attending the organization Fair helpful yeah for sure um real quick I believe it's on August 29th I know it's a Thursday um so around then so yeah it's like the second weekish um and it was so helpful I was able to go with um my roommate and we didn't always join the same things and that was okay because we were branching out and meeting new people um but I found myself signing up for quite a few things um and testing them out and didn't stick with everything of course but um it was a really good opportunity to meet people by attending some like just information sessions a lot of the organizations um have information sessions the first like week or so um and they're open for everybody everyone would love new members everyone is so accepting and inviting to new people and um I just think it's great to go even if you're more on the reserved side and don't really want to put yourself out there like I would recommend every student go even um just because you never know what's out there something that you found you really loved in high school there's probably something for it um so yeah I really loved it and I found organizations that I'm really happy to be a part of through that fair and there is so many people there and it's awesome like there's so many different tents like Emily had said it's all around young Commons um filled all the bricks are full yeah that you gave some great advice because I'm always amazed um I've been at Elon for five years and I'm constantly learning of organizations either new ones or I just had never in stumbled across them um and I'm kind of envious because I'm like that's really cool I would love to learn more about this or that or whatever so I love your advice about just going it going out and seeing what is available and even just trying to you know visit one or two and you never know um what what you might enjoy that's great advice so Sean and Amy have you heard Molly share anything from the organizations that she's joined one thing I was amazed by when we got there was seeing everything that was available so we were kind of worried about that first weekend and what is she going to do and then we saw they were white water rafting the next weekend they were going to the lake the next weekend people were doing all this other so um we were so amazed and impressed at everything that was offered they will be very very busy when they don't return your calls or your text you'll think something's wrong but I think it's because they're so busy that first and their academic advisors play such a big role their Ras they are surrounded by this amazing culture that Elon just offers it it is fascinating they may not who they meet those first two weeks may not who be who they're with in two months but what you will find is they all have such an important part of those first two weeks yeah I wanted to stay another week just to hang out and and do some of those some of those things Molly wouldn't have been very happy with that but uh but but you're you're right I mean it's it's uh I don't know and maybe Sarah there's even a process for even if there isn't a club that you want to do that you can start your own club and do that as well too which I think is a really cool idea yeah 100 % I know um an organization that one of my friends brought to campus actually um and it's a network of of other um chapters and different campuses and stuff and so um it's awesome I'd also love to add that the academic advisers the Elon 1010 professors are very they push the students to go as well to the org Fair there's also a career fair later in the semester that sometimes those events are required for students um and so just so that y'all feel secure like people are pushing your students to find people um it's not it's it's very very normal for all these students to go to these things um so it's not like a weird thing to go like everyone goes even I mean maybe not seniors but like I went last year so as a junior so yeah you know you said something I wanted to remind too which is really amazing is um the job sphere the career sphere if you're um child wants to do a have a campus job there are those opportunities if they only want to work one day a month or be a yoga instructor or there's countless opportunities and I would just say you will be surprised by everything that's there I don't believe we've talked about it but there's also the coffees um and Sarah I don't know if you want to talk about this but it was one of Molly's favorite is still one of Molly's favorite and for those parents who don't know or haven't heard yet um it is a great opportunity Sarah you describe it from your perspective yeah College coffee happens every single Tuesday um typically rain or shine sometimes it moves from um the F beta fi Commons I believe F Beta Kappa yeah F Beta Kappa sorry my bad um the F Beta Kappa Commons which is by academic Pavilions um and that's where it is during the um sunny days sometimes it's moved into McKinnon um or other locations but it is every single morning during a time when there are no classes um which is a great opportunity because students can then go interact with faculty members and other staff people um I personally have really enjoyed going I've been able to interact with different people people who have been able to connect me with people that I can network with and things like that but it's also like free coffee and free pastries and the food is always really really good and they're always improving um it's done through Elon dining and they um are always taking feedback and stuff which I also think is amazing about Elon dining um the chocolate scones are a personal favorite of my bosses um so those are always really good um but yeah it's every Tuesday I believe it's 9:40 um so there's no classes during that time so everyone is really encouraged to go and it's it's one of elon's traditions which is really awesome yeah College coffee is is a great tradition um and it is a time that the whole campus pauses and connects um so we can interact with with everybody yeah that that's that's a great Point um a couple questions that we had that's previously submitted was about Transportation um and getting around so we have Elon Express um which are buses that students have access to um can get them from different parts of Campus as needed and there's couple different routes that also go into retail spaces um into Burlington so if your student doesn't have a vehicle um and needs to go to Target Elon Express will do that um you again you can go to elon's website put in um Elon Express and you can see the routes and the schedule um of how to navigate that so um one question we've had often is what about Transportation like to and from airports right um so so the McGuires um are are from out of state so they had to learn how to navigate Molly had to figure out how to get home and and everything so many of our students are from out of state so we have um shuttles that students can sign up for um that go to the various um airports we put this information um from the office of parent engagement in newsletters that we do send out to families um we want to make sure that we have your current email um is is that's the best way for us to send out communication to you um um so if you haven't gone to our um website um office of parent engagement we have a new family um information form that you can fill out and make sure that we have a current email for someone in the household so you are getting our newsletters and our emails from from from campus so we send all information that um that parents need to know from our office so please make sure we have your current email um as that we also have a Facebook page page um Elon parents um it is a Facebook page not a Facebook group um so we run the Facebook page as a university um sponsored thing so we post the things like the organization fair when um the airport shuttles need to be signed up for um pictures from college coffee and different things like that so so please make sure we have your information and follow us on Facebook as well so um one of another thing that we got several questions about was what happens when my student starts feeling bad or like getting sick um and not feeling healthy so um we have the Ellington Center that's here on campus and you can go for in-person visits but you can also use um timely care which is a system that we offer through Elon that um you can schedule um virtual appointments and Sarah I believe you've used that in the past when you didn't feel well enough to want to leave your space um you were able to do a virtual appointment yeah it's really really easy um they're available 247 which is awesome and they also have a great counseling system through that too um so that's another resource for students you just have to make an account you can make it through the Elon email it's very very simple and you can either do a phone call or a video call which I think is super helpful um it's a resource that's been in use for a few years now and I've heard a lot of great feedback and I believe so is like higher ups in Elon so I recommend at least having that account available um but with feeling sick I would also say try to REM remember to bring a thermometer that was something I didn't think about bringing and had to go purchase one um but it's very helpful I feel like yeah yeah good advice and I do think sometimes it's helpful to kind of maybe have a conversation of um you know what to do um I I still have three team teens at home and but we're kind of talking through because I'm not always there with them and so I'm like hey if you're not feeling well you know you know if you have a headache drink some water you know that's always my first answer um but you know again like what's happening like let's think through like what should you be doing you know should you be going to class um and it's kind of remind your student that they are their connection to their Professor right they're here on campus they're the ones going to class and so if they have a concern where they're not feeling well um they need to just message their Professor so um let's I want to share so Elon uses Moodle so professors will connect with students a few days before class probably within a week or so um so if they don't have anything on Moodle for their classes yet don't don't stress about that classes don't start for for till the Tuesday after moving so there's still time time um professors are still kind of getting back into the swing of things next week um is really when they start coming back to to campus and and getting their back to to their schedules um so Moodle is where they will put their syllabus their expectations of their students um and everything like that their grades their assignments um they'll see all this through Moodle so um the professors will share you know what their expectations are for if you're not feeling well and how to contact them and their office hours um and I I found most professors are are great about you don't feel well let me know you know what's going on has that been your experience Sarah yeah for sure um you just have to be open I would say new students should always just get used to emailing your professor being open with them um they are willing to work with you if you communicate your needs and communicate to them um across the board about anything really um Prof are very very very here and very supportive for the students um and they want the students to succeed which is really in my experience amazing with Elon um they want your students to do well and so if you communicate to them openly hey I'm really not feeling well I will get the work you need done but I cannot be in class today like they will be receptive um another thing with Moodle with professors is uh make sure your students know some Prof professors won't post their Moodle page until the first day of class just as like they don't want to overwhelm the student or things like that um they'd rather go through the syllabus their on their own time first I've noticed that um and I'd be like oh no I hope I'm still enrolled for this class I don't see it on Moodle but they are um I'm always still enrolled it's just that some professors like to do it that way um so if your student doesn't see anything even the day before or the day of their first day of that class tell them not to worry um that's normal and they will realize that um so yeah yeah I'm glad I'm glad you mentioned that because that that is that is very true um I was just glancing through some of the questions real quick um Phoenix card like we mentioned earlier you can add Phoenix cach to it um and used at different places um for concessions you can some local restaurants take it if you go to elon's website type in Phoenix card it will walk you through the process of how to to add funds to it um and whatnot so there was a question and I I'm an MBA student here at Elon so I have evening classes my classes get out at 9ine and I was noticing there's a class somebody was asking about late night classes um and I know when I get out at 9900 PM there's plenty of it's almost like a whole another party campus opens up there's I'm ready to go to bed and there's students ready to to do activities so it's not uncommon would you say Sarah for there to be a lot of people walking around 8 nine 10 o'clock at night um when you're getting from place to place if you have to go to the library late or anything like that yeah 100% And um something that I think is also awesome is Elon Student Union board sub does late night events on Thursday Friday and I believe Saturday as well um which they will get a taste of during orientation there's a huge late night event I believe it's on Friday or Saturday night um and that's a taste of like everything that they could bring they've had glow-in-the-dark putt putt they've had um silent um Disco things like that which is always so fun and it's a great they're typically open I believe until at least like midnight on those nights which is a great opportunity for students to get to know new people and also have like some structured like social School event that they can go too and be like hey I'm going to bring a bunch of my friends and we're going to go to late night Elon and we're going to go meet new people and I know my first year especially I went almost every single weekend as much as I possibly could because it's actually really fun um it's so I know some people might be like oh I don't want to go to late night Elum but like it's actually really really fun they always have really great events and a lot of time give out like free things I've gotten free Elon cups I've gotten an Elon bucket hat like keeping an eye out for all of those um events especially like the evening ones are just great because if you're done your homework already and you don't want to just sit around like it's a perfect thing to go to um and bring new people to and you're always going to meet people there I always have met like random people that I probably wouldn't have talked to otherwise that just happened to be there and I'm like hey I'm Sarah what's up um and that's very common at Elon I feel like especially um just connecting with people um I think that's one of the things that's great about it but yeah even just walking around late night there's always people around um elon's never I'd say not busy except for maybe the summer but other than that there's always people around so I'd also say it's very safe especially like in the evening times like I've never felt unsafe and there's a lot of different measures put into place that make me feel safe um some things that we'll talk with the students about during orientation different apps that we have um the Rave Guardian app things like that but there's also a blue light system which is always helpful um but yeah super you had you had mentioned this earlier but um late night bingo that's probably one of the most popular um I I strongly suggest you encourage all your students to attend Bingo um it is it is quite quite an event um the prices are amazing I've heard is tons and tons of of of of fun um talking about the glow-in-the dark um and the sub and whatnot um I know for family weekend and then some families had questions about visiting campus and whatnot um the Saturday night a family weekend so family weekend will be September 27th through 29th so starting that Friday um if you're able to come back to campus for family weekend we would love to have you um and we have on that Saturday night there'll be the um Commons young Commons will be full of glow-in-the-dark activities which is lots of fun after Rock capella um but we'll also have fall convocation um with um Arthur Brooks um Amy is a is a great fan um she's she's she's followed him for a while so what do you remember some of your favorite things about family weekend Amy or Sean oh I was just gonna say if you have not first overall the the group of speakers that Elon brings in is absolutely unmatched not just for us during parents weekend but please watch it Emily mentioned the emails earlier there are so many Fascinating People that our students have access to on a regular basis so when you see those emails maybe just a little reminder to your student to try to visit that but parents weekend is such a beautiful time at Elon there are so many different options and you get to meet The Faculty you get to see where where the kids are eating you get to try the delicious food um the football game the tailgating and you get to see their friends so I would probably have to say especially that first year the friends that Molly made which by the way are now still her best friends and probably for life so I'd have to say that was probably some of my favorite was meeting all the people that she's been hanging out with and also uh if you haven't met Dr book yet she is so accessible and and so engaged aging and I I I highly recommend I think she has a coffee or a brunch or something during that uh uh family weekend and I highly recommend uh touching base with her there but but she's always present it seems like as well as well too and and I think that's uh I think that shows the culture that has continue to be built at at Elon uh I think Sarah mentioned it the the welcoming uh nature of of the faculty staff uh flows through to the students and I think that it becomes part of that overall uh Elon culture and and Amy mentioned the speakers I mean we're huge fans of of Arthur Brooks um uh been following him for years can't wait to see him in in in person as well as well too but family weekend is is it's fantastic and it's just enough time I think from the time of drop off to to when you see potentially you see your your your child for the first time live and in person again um that you're ready to to to be there and be back on campus and do remind this is a reminder you're bring your students with you to to that speaker convocation because sometimes parents aren't sure but absolutely bring them and and their other friends um there was one more that came up earlier and I wanted to I think we probably going to talk about it but just J Term and there were a lot of questions about J Term so I after you talk about it I'll make some comment comments about what it meant for us sure sure so J Term is January um there is um classes for for the fall go through the first part of December students go home for winter break and then return for J Term which is um a few weeks in January and one thing that's great about Elon is with J Term students can take one course during that time that's really concentrated and knock out several you know knock out credits during that time so that way they stay on a four-year track um Sarah you do you have some favorite J Term classes or that you've taken um yeah I took like some pretty standard classes I feel like but they offer really really fun ones too um I took my literature credit during my sophomore year J Term um which is one of the Elon core curriculums that's required I'm planning on taking my core Capstone which is typically done senior this upcoming J Term um but I planning on utilizing all four years of my J Term just because um I am a double major and my schedule is pretty tight um but it's a great opportunity to allow myself to double major and still get all the credits I need to graduate and also lighten my load a little bit um come senior year um but yeah there's amazing amazing classes and I also know that it's a great opportunity for students to study abroad I'm sure everyone's heard about On's amazing study abroad programs um I know a lot of really really cool three four week long j-term abroad programs um one of my mentors last year summited Mount kilamanjaro which is like a crazy wild opportunity and as well as some other really really really awesome um hikes and things like that um and that's just the start of it um so yeah J Term is definitely something I feel like it's in elon's culture a lot of people take advantage of um it's not it's more Uncommon for people to not be around on J Term than it is for students to be here um which I really love because it's also you're taking um one class that time and it's typically a block section so it's a little bit longer it's like 3 hours depending but it's a great time to like hang out with your friends too it's a good um moment to meet other people and do different things um so yeah it's different than semesters but it's a really nice different if makes sense it does it does Amy I'd love to hear your thoughts on J Term it's just it was something so novel to us frankly and the fact that they could be on campus for this amount of time and take a very unique different class that maybe wasn't even in their at all curriculum or a part of what they needed and just the time on campus when it's a little quieter um I would just say make sure that you ask lots of questions about J Term and um I think there are some other options we didn't explore this but sometimes I've known families who maybe their child did go home and and take an internship program during J Term or even stayed at at Elon and did an internship so the it's really endless the opportunities are really endless so you can be creative and I just think it's really another benefit of what makes it so unique at on the campus and certainly you know we are ranked um in so many high national rankings for that experiential learning and I would just say this is a part of it that the the study abroad um are just other additions that make us a really unique um place for your kid to grow up yes Emily can I interrupt you most certainly most certainly all right I have a question for Sarah Sarah this is something that's come up in the chat and I feel like you'd be the best one to answer um like meal plans and food and things like that so what is the difference between food dollars and Phoenix cash and meal plans and meal plans plus X number like what does that all mean yeah for sure this was really confusing to me my first year and so I'm happy to answer it um all first year students will have unlimited meal plan um at least which is essentially unlimited swipes into any dining hall any of the three mchan Lakeside and clohan um and then if you're doing a unlimited plus seven you get seven extra swipes a week for retail locations um so we have Biscuitville we have Einstein Bagels we have kudoba just to name a few um and those reset every week and then 14 plus unlimited is the exact same thing but you have 14 that week um and then the 7 plus and 14 plus all come with meal dollars um I don't know off the top of my head how many but meal dollars are essentially um it's money loaded onto your students Phoenix card automatically depending on the meal plan you have but you can also load it yourself um that can be used to purchase things at retail locations as well um or at things like our Winter Garden Market or our Fountain Market which is in clohan and the other ones in Lakeside um and then food dollars is really really awesome and I feel like not enough people know about it um but it's money that can be loaded onto your Phoenix card that you can use similarly to meal dollars but it gives a discount on things um so for me last year I was living in an oncampus apartment and didn't require a meal plan um so I had had Phoenix or uh sorry food dollars loaded onto my Phoenix card and it gave me a discount for things like Biscuitville or things like flat out and freshy which are all in the Winter Garden which is um located by Lakeside which I found very very helpful um and then Phoenix cash kind of is the similar thing you can use Phoenix cash the same way as food dollars and meal dollars as well as other places as I believe Emily had mentioned earlier um some different locations at downtown Elon take it I know there's a um the Lowe's grocery store um which is right around in Burlington they also take it different other places do too um but yeah so your students meal plan depending will have meal dollars but if you're going to load um for retail locations money I would say try food dollars because they do get that discount um and then Phoenix cash is the same it works for the exact same um as well as other places too I clear thanks so much Sarah you had mentioned that um this has gone over during orientation as well so that way that the students understand kind of what their meal plans will do right yeah and then so it's talked about during orientation and if there's any other following questions that's where the Elon 1010 professors are available as well as um pure Educators which are students that are working as well with the Elon 1010 class um so and really any anyone's able to help I will say the Phoenix Card office handles a lot of that so they're a resource as well um if you can't connect with other people but yeah and they are open also during a movein weekend for questions or or anything like that um Phoenix card um Services is in the Oaks which is also where campus safety can be found as well um and that's where you can get your parking permit and and whatnot so we are almost at a time um in a moment I'm going to share our emails for office app parent engagement new student programs and residents life but Sean and Amy with your Elon experience what parting words would you share to incoming families as they get begin their Elon journey I have to jump in and say congratulations you've made a great decision um take some deep breaths give some big hugs and um live every moment and just really know everybody is surrounding you and helping you you have such a network of people at Elon to support any questions Sean and I are added to that you're welcome to reach out to us at any point Emily and will can share our contact information too and um just have a wonderful time and enjoy it and and I the only thing I'd add to that is the message that one of the mess messages that we gave to both of our daughters as they went to college is is use these four years uh as as Sarah and others have said said to to try new things uh you get to risk uh these next four years uh with with a nice safety net of of Elon below you to be able to try these new things before you go out into the real world and and just take advantage of these of these four years I mean we've spent an hour talking about uh some of the programs but but we could spend hours and hours on on all of the different opportunities so I just I just uh I guess another piece of advice is is just really impressed upon your your your your child that this this is um these four years they go by fast uh I I can't believe that we're here four years later um uh having this conversation but just make sure that they really know that you have their back Elon definitely has their back and and it's uh it's it's just a really great journey super so um if you need to email us um you can email office of parent engagement at parent engagement at elon.edu one moment I'll share our that's my screen real quick um so new student programs is NSP elon.edu residen life if you have specific um residence hall questions that we didn't answer or anything feel free to reach out to them they're a great resource as well um for residen life at elon.edu um thank you so much for spending an hour of your Thursday with us we greatly appreciate it um will and I will be on campus on Friday and Saturday so if you see us please say hi Sarah will be with orientation leaders as well so if you see her say hi as well but thank you so much for your time and have a wonderful weekend