St. Mary's College Is Holding Annual 'Weekend of Welcome' For New & Returning Students

Announcement from Saint Mary’s College of California:

Saint Mary’s College of California is kicking off the 2014-15 academic year with its annual Weekend of Welcome (WoW) for new students.

Activities began Thursday, when a little more than 590 freshmen begin moving into their residence halls. In what has become a Saint Mary’s tradition, more than 160 student volunteers, made up of sophomores, juniors and seniors were on hand to pitch in, using a NASCAR pit-crew approach, to help first year students unload boxes, books and overall college gear into their residence halls.

WoW is full of activities for first year Saint Mary’s students, including a Welcome Mass, resource fair, carnival, convocation, farewell barbecue for families, a Saturday of Service where first year students volunteer for community service across the Bay Area and a distinctively messy, but fun and photogenic tradition where freshmen paint the large SMC letters on the hill overlooking the campus, only they do it without brushes, just their hands.

The “Paint the SMC” event is on Saturday, Aug. 30 from 3 to 4p.m.

During Saturday of Service, hundreds of first-year students will get first-hand experience with Saint Mary’s mission of service by volunteering to provide community service such as gardening and helping to spruce up neighborhoods across the Bay Area.

Students will gather at 8:30 a.m. in front of the College’s Chapel and will board buses to do volunteer work at the Alameda Point Collaborative in Alameda, Urban Farmers in Lafayette, EcoVillage Farm in Richmond and Oakland’s Joaquin Miller Park.

Saint Mary’s President James Donahue will join a group of students on Saturday morning around 9:15 a.m. to help provide upkeep and improvements in the College’s Legacy Garden.