Incoming freshmen mingled, danced and ate with peers and professors Aug. 19 at Lunch on the Lawn. 

Maggie McGowen, graduate assistant for First Year Experience, said the event featured attractions from last year’s Stress Less Fest, including Big Poppa Bubble and bracelet-making. 

“It’s been really interesting this summer, planning logistics, because the freshman class is a lot bigger than it was last year,” McGowen said. “So it’s been really fun thinking about what worked last year, what we should add this year and trying to think of how we can still make this a real personable week for these freshmen when the number has multiplied as much as it has.”

Dierra Williams, a freshman psychology major, said Welcome Week has “definitely lived up to its name.”

“SOSers [Student Orientation Staff] are always there and ready to help you if you need it,” Williams said. “It feels like a community.”

Jade Serna, a freshman business major, said the SOS staff made the event fun and inviting.

“The SOSers really are trying to get us involved and really are trying to speak to us and make us feel like it’s not so scary to make new friends,” Serna said. 

Tables were set up on the lawn in front of Irby and McAlister Halls. Students were able to eat lunch with the faculty members from their respective colleges. 

“I like the feeling of having the independence that comes with and being able to reach out to other people if you want to,” Serna said. “I feel like it’s not forced. It’s very much like they put you together with people, but you’re able to roam within the barriers they give you, and I like that.” 

Students also danced along to music played by a DJ in Alumni Circle. McGowen said, “With all the fun stuff going on, it’s developed like a sense of community.”

“A lot of what we try to do is make it so our freshmen can meet other freshmen and have fun with other freshmen they haven’t met yet,” she said. “This event, with all of these little fun things, has achieved that goal. They’ve got to do a lot of fun things together.”

Lydia Thomas, a freshman psychology major, said she enjoyed how involved everyone at Lunch on the Lawn was.

“I like how open and nice the people are and how inclusive they are, especially with doing the bubbles and the dancing in the street — that was amazing,” she said.

UCA President Houston Davis said Lunch on the Lawn was a good event to have after the “stressful day of move-in.”

“It’s been great to get to run into students and they’re like, ‘Oh, I got a good night’s sleep,’” Davis said. “They feel like their Welcome Week really has started. So it really is good getting to know people and getting to know them fresh.”

Shelby Richardson, a freshman with an undeclared major, said, “Everybody is really nice and  very interactive with everybody else.”

She said she is looking forward to “getting to experience new things, making new friends and figuring out where I’m going.”

Williams said she is looking forward to using college as a way to get out of her comfort zone.

“Especially in classes, because I have a hard time actually raising my hand and speaking,” she said. “So, I’m hoping to just be comfortable with hearing my voice out loud, alone and when it’s isolated, and to be able to meet with people and actually hold conversations.”

Serna said, “I’m looking forward to just making experiences, making friends, furthering my career goals.”

McGowen said her biggest piece of advice to new students is to stay involved.

“Whether it be working, joining an RSO, getting involved in your classes or finding some sort of community that you can have, because college can be hard, especially that first year. So having that group around you is what’s going to make it easier,” she said.