Opening Weekend welcomes new students to UB

Ready or not, this long-anticipated and much-needed summer season is drawing to a close and the new academic year is upon us. UB welcomes new and returning students, beginning today, with a wide range of activities designed to be fun as well as informative.

Opening Weekend offers the newest members of the university community the opportunity to learn about UB resources and campus services, as well as attend social events and meet fellow students.

Faculty, staff and student volunteers are helping incoming freshmen move into their residence halls today and tomorrow. Once students are moved in, they can take part in activities such as ice cream socials, campus walking tours, open houses and job fairs.

The marquee events begin Friday afternoon with the traditional interlocking UB photo. More than 2,300 people will gather on the Student Union Field at 3:30 p.m. to form the university’s logo.

The New Student Picnic, another signature event of Opening Weekend, will take place from 5-7 p.m. at Baird Point, North Campus (rain site is the UB Stadium Concourse). New students and their families can enjoy a free, first-come, first-served chicken barbecue while meeting UB faculty, staff and other new students.

The Electric Company, Buffalo’s premier improvisational comedy group, will perform at 6:30 p.m. (rain site is the Student Union Theatre).

Later in the evening, social gatherings will take place in the second-floor lounges of Richmond, Spaulding and Wilkeson quads in the Ellicott Complex; behind Governors Complex; and outside Goodyear Hall on the South Campus.

Opening Weekend activities will continue on Saturday with Pride and Service Day, in which students spend the morning taking part in community service projects. Also on the agenda are walking tours of the North and South campuses; a bus tour of such off-campus destinations as Niagara Falls, the Elmwood Arts Festival and Canalside; and the Welcome Back Bash.

Sunday’s events include the Welcome Back Carnival on the Greiner Hall lawn and Movie Night, with films screened on the Student Union Field and in the Student Union Theater.

Opening Weekend kicks off “Fall into UB,” a month-long, campus-wide series of special events designed to celebrate the start of the academic year.

For the full schedule of events, visit the Opening Weekend web site.