The Student Advocacy and Community club hosted a transfer student engagement event in McCastlain hall last Tuesday where transfer students could meet and connect with one another.

Head of the Transfer Student Experience Travis Johnson said, “This is a population of students that don’t get a lot of screentime, and this is an attempt to increase campus engagement for transfer students.”

Johnson explained that for transfer students a lot of times they feel as though the events on campus aren’t for them and he plans to change that.

“This is the first transfer week, this is day one of transfer week. It’s a full week of events, but it’s a new focus for transfer students to be more engaged on campus,” said Johnson.

Sophomore biology major Danielle Newton spoke about what it feels like being an international transfer student and how she wants to have a memorable experience.

“I felt like the vibes weren’t there at my previous school because it was in the country, and I’m an international student so I don’t want to spend my college life in the country. I also felt like I was isolated as well,” said Newton.

Senior art major Alex Registry said, “the art program is actually pushed up in importance here, whereas the school that I transferred from treated it as a high school elective.”

Registry also talked about how he was a student athlete at his last college and how he felt about that experience.

“I didn’t like how the system was over there and it was a lot of favoritism that disrupted the team chemistry, and I was basically looking for both a good soccer program and a good art program and it led me to UCA.”

Registry wants UCA to help him gain more opportunities after graduation.

“Hopefully, I can graduate and as soon as I graduate I’m either in a specific spot in my life to where I’m closer to my career job, or I’m already in that job after I graduate… I wouldn’t want to graduate and then it’s like ‘what now?’” said Registry.

Junior health promotion major Carrington Hopkins spoke about her experience with seeking out help at UCA

“I used to go to tutoring for my bio class because I had a hard time understanding what was going on in the beginning. I felt like they really helped me understand what was going on.”

Newton also compared her experience from her old school to UCA.

“I feel like the tutoring service here is better than at my old school because at my old school they only used to tutor for language and math. They didn’t tutor for biology or chemistry, it was all on your own.”

Registry appreciates the system that UCA has put into place for students to get help.

“I know how to understand and get things done, but when I needed that help it seemed like they had it. I like the system that they have where you can actually set up appointments and stuff like that, that’s pretty innovative.”