New Semester, New Beginnings

Welcome all spring transfers! I would like to personally welcome you to UNCW. You’re officially a Seahawk!

Being a transfer student, I know how difficult the transition can be. The best advice I can give you to help adjust to this new school is to get involved. Meeting new people and making new friends is easy when you find a club or organization that you are interested in. Like sports? Join an intramural team! Like writing? Join the student newspaper!

UNCW has over 230 clubs and organizations on campus, so your possibilities are practically endless. I have met some of my closest friends (including my fellow teal guides) through clubs or organizations that I got involved in. The Transfer Student Organization is a perfect club because the entire purpose of the club is for transfer students to meet and connect with other transfer students. How cool is that?!

College is supposed to be the best years of our lives. So live it up! Get involved and enjoy the remaining time of your college career at the best college ever!

UNCW's Teal Bridge Program

This week we are highlighting a Transfer Specific program here at UNCW that all incoming Transfer to Teal students are welcome to participate in. Teal Bridge mentor and Student Coordinator Alyssa shares her thoughts on the program:

"Being able to contribute to the development of Teal Bridge has been such an honor and a privilege. When I transferred here, there were not any programs specifically for transfer students that would help them become acclimated to UNCW. Incoming freshmen have Seahawk links, and now transfer students have a mentor program. Teal Bridge pairs incoming transfer students with a mentor who has also transferred to the university, but has become established here. The mentors serve as liaisons between UNCW and their "mentees" by helping them become involved around campus, familiarizing them with campus resources, aiding in the adjustment to new classes and a new campus layout; and by being a friendly face to catch up with over coffee or lunch. Incoming transfers have to go through a short application process and survey in order for us to pair them with a mentor who is similar to them. We create the pairs based on mutual interests, institutions transferred from, and by major. This process helps to ensure that the pairs already have common ground. There are workshops throughout the semester that the mentor/mentee pairs attend, which are all designed to help with their overall success at the university. We also plan activities, fundraisers, and dinners in order to foster a successful social environment.

As a student coordinator, seeing the overall enthusiasm from incoming transfer students is truly amazing. It brings me so much joy to know that other students are as excited about the university as I am and that I can contribute to making UNCW their home."

Want to learn more? Visit the Transition Programs website for more information: http://uncw.edu/transitions/