On the first day of every spring semester, the campus awakens from hibernation to greet thousands of new and familiar faces during the annual Welcome Back Week at Kennesaw State.
This semester’s Welcome Back Week took place Monday, Jan. 7, through Friday, Jan. 11.
Among the plethora of events were gatherings where students played golf and bowling, attended informational fairs and even personalized coffee mugs, Pop Sockets and phone wallets.
Students first gathered on Monday in the Carmichael Student Center University Rooms on the Kennesaw campus and in the Wilson Student Center Lobby on the Marietta campus to decorate Pop Sockets.
The Pop Sockets and cellphone wallets were supplied by the vendor Amped Events, and students got to choose the color, writing and design they wanted, according to event coordinator Jancarla Hernandez.
On Tuesday, students met again in the student center University Rooms on the Kennesaw campus and in the student center lobby on the Marietta campus for a hot chocolate bar. Students designed their own mug and picked their favorite hot chocolate toppings.
Before enjoying hot cocoa sprinkled with a mix of chocolate pretzels, caramel sauce, crumbled Oreos, whipped cream and chocolate chips, students decorated their mugs with stickers, sharpies and stencils.
One hundred blankets provided by the vendor By Design were given out at the hot cocoa bars — 50 to the first students to arrive on the Marietta campus and 50 to the first students to arrive on the Kennesaw campus.
The blankets worked well as incentive, according to Hernandez.
“There was already a line and it was like 10:30,” Hernandez said.
Hernandez and her fellow event coordinator Tiffany Milwood said that they try to make sure that they hand out supplies that students can actually use at university events.
On Wednesday, the Student Organization Activities and Resource Fair took place in the student center University Rooms on the Kennesaw campus.
Student organizations set up tables at the SOAR Fair to educate students about their organizations and to try to recruit new members.
Skate Night was a few hours later at the MAC Gym in the Dr. Betty L. Siegel Student Recreation and Activities Center on the Kennesaw campus.
To rent a pair of skates, students handed in their student IDs and swapped them back with the skates in order to make sure all the skates were returned to Neon Entertainment.
On Thursday, in the student center ballrooms on the Marietta campus, students played rounds of glow-in-the-dark mini-golf and bowling, with equipment again provided by Neon Entertainment.
On Friday, at the student center University Rooms on the Kennesaw campus and the student center ballrooms on the Marietta campus, students went to various booths at the Volunteer Fair, where they learned about a variety of internship and volunteer opportunities.
The Annual Spring Bonfire was the final event to take place that Friday night on the Marietta campus, where the Sigma Nu Fraternity tended to the flames of more than 100 dried Christmas trees.
As the holiday season fizzled out with the crackles of a Christmas tree bonfire, students looked ahead to spring, feeling welcomed and prepared.
