Summer SOAR Sessions in Full Swing

June 6, 2014

It’s summertime in Statesboro and while that may equal apartment complexes turning into ghost towns, shorter lines at the on-campus Chick-Fil-A and more parking at the Recreation Activity Center, that’s not all the 90 degree days bring. SOAR, Southern’s Orientation, Advisement and Registration program is in full swing! Run by the Office of Orientation and Parent Programs, SOAR is required for all new undergraduate students.

Here at my.georgiasouthern.edu, we caught up with Logan Franks, coordinator of orientation and parent programs, for a Q&A to get the scoop on what students can expect to learn, whether faculty and staff can attend campus tours and she shares her favorite thing about heading up the program. Q:  What can students expect to learn by attending SOAR? A: Students learn what it means to be a Georgia Southern Eagle. They learn how to navigate things on their own while here on campus. We educate them on various resources including: Financial Aid, Student Activities, University Housing and of course, how to transition in their academic life. Q: How many students will attend the Summer SOAR sessions? A: Students are still currently able to register to attend SOAR this summer, but right now we have 3,839 students registered for our various SOAR sessions. Along with those students come many parents, family members and guests. By the end of the summer, we are hoping to have welcomed over 4,000 students and more than 6,500 guests. Q: How often do SOAR sessions take place? A: We have 13 SOAR sessions throughout the summer. A majority of them will take place throughout June, but we also have a good number of them in July as well. We do have a SOAR session that is held in January for students starting in the spring. All of the other SOAR sessions are held in the fall. Q: Can faculty and staff tag along on the tours? A: Always! We love for our faculty and staff members to be able to meet our SOAR Leaders and tour campus with them. Q: How would you describe SOAR sessions and what is your favorite thing about leading the program? A: SOAR sessions are wonderful! Each session, we get to welcome new students and guests to the Eagle Nation. Our staff has the opportunity to interact with families that are going through a lot of changes and we get to help navigate them through those fears, anxieties and most common, excitement! It's hard for me to pick a favorite thing about the SOAR program, but if I had to, it would most definitely be the SOAR Leaders. These amazing student leaders on our campus go through a lot of hard work and training to make sure that they can successfully welcome all of our new Eagles to campus. These students are outstanding, and they are a majority of the reason that people come to Georgia Southern and fall in love. Learn more about SOAR, including presentation information and meet the 2014 SOAR Leaders.