A Student Success Moment All Colleges Should Plan For
- Jun 30
- 2 min read
Every college invests significant time, energy, and resources into orientation. Students tour campus, meet classmates, register for classes, get a T-shirt, and begin imagining themselves as college students.
But what happens after they leave?
A thoughtful new essay, "The Drive Home From Orientation," from The Student Empowered shines a light on a key moment in the student success journey: the ride home. It's a quiet transition where excitement, uncertainty, confidence, and anxiety often collide.
While students may tell their parents everything went "fine," that single word can mask dozens of unanswered questions and unspoken emotions. The article poses an important challenge for anyone involved in orientation, admissions, advising, or student success.
Imagine that drive home.
What do you hope students are saying?
What do you hope parents are hearing?
Do you want students talking about the people who made them feel welcome? The friendships they started forming? The confidence they gained about finding their place?
Or are they wondering whether they belong, feeling overwhelmed by information, or quietly questioning whether they made the right decision?
Those feelings and questions don't begin in the car. They're shaped by every interaction students experience throughout the day. Perhaps that's a conversation every campus should have internally.
If you started planning orientation by first imagining the ideal drive home, what would you design differently? Would you communicate differently before students arrive? Would you create more intentional moments of belonging? Would you rethink the balance between information, relationships, and reassurance?
The answers to those questions may have a lasting impact. The emotions students carry home from orientation can become the emotions they bring back on move-in day. Those early impressions can influence how students approach their first week, their willingness to seek help, their confidence in navigating campus, and ultimately, their sense of belonging.
Sometimes the most meaningful measure of a successful orientation isn't what happened during the event itself. It's what students remember, discuss, and feel as they drive away.
