O what a week

Exciting, exhilarating, exhausting: Orientation Week is a defining moment in the College career of most Ormondians. Returning students have been introducing newer members to Ormond and their cohort since Ormond’s earliest years, but the way this is done has shifted with the times.

It was in the 1960s that the University of Melbourne first introduced a dedicated period for orienting new students. At this time Ormond was expanding: the student body doubled in size when new buildings opened in 1962 and 1965, and Orientation Week became integral to helping this larger group of people to get to know one another.

The key features of Orientation Week tend to be repeated from year to year. In the 1960s, pranks were popular. In 1969 for example a student took a peak-hour train trip during which a bevy of attendants dressed, shaved and served him breakfast. A fellow Ormondian posed as an indignant onlooker to berate the diner. Another year an Ormond student dressed as a priest ‘married’ an expectant couple in the city square. One feature from that period that still endures is the exam on College history that students must pass to remain members of the Students’ Club.

Later in the twentieth century other traditions arrived. Leaders of O-week, as it was known by then, have worn a uniform of white shirt, Ormond tie and academic gown for at least thirty years. Today, these are worn with a colour coded bucket hat that distinguish General Committee members, O-week leaders and Student Support Committee members (peer mentors).

An enduring recent tradition is feeding new students a few pieces of ‘fake news’ alongside real information about College. In recent years, first-year students have been told that the Academic Centre, or ‘Aca’, was known as the ‘Quacker’, that their electronic key was called a ‘beep beep’, that Picken Lawn was called ‘Alice Lawn’ (the name of a member of the O-week committee), and a new student was the Crown Prince of Sri Lanka. The student was in on the joke and played along.

Another regular feature in O-Week has been a ‘romp’ in which the entire first-year cohort go into the city centre wearing their O-week t-shirt or ‘bumblebee’ jumper along with a themed accessory such as a sombrero, snorkel or surgical mask. Passers-by are bemused at the sight of over 100 identically dressed students, particularly if they perform the year’s ‘Fresher Dance’ – another newer tradition.

In the last two decades new O-week features have replaced some of the parties and pranks of the past. Newer innovations include having a theme for O-week – like ‘Show Week’ or ‘Olympus Week’ – around which some events are based. Other new staples include talks and seminars on wellbeing in College and a Welcome to Country given by Traditional Owners on the first day of O-Week. The student leadership team work hard to make the week as friendly and inclusive as possible, so that people with a range of interests feel welcomed to Ormond.

And while it might have changed a bit over the years, O-week retains a special place in the life of Ormondians; they get to know their cohort, the College, the University and Melbourne and develop a sense of belonging and identity as an Ormondian.