I, like a lot of my fellow students, have a hard time adjusting to college life when I get back from an extended break. I’d rather go back to hibernating than doing anything productive. When fall semester hits, I at least have the Week of Welcome events to get me motivated to come back, but where’s the spring semester equivalent of that?

Sadly, there isn’t a Week of Welcome in the spring.

Why should we have one? Well, that answer is a bit more complicated. There are various reasons why we should have one.

First, we have many new students coming in during the spring, for example transfer or dual-enrollment students, and there are very few ways to really show them what ULM is all about. Events like Week of Welcome help incorporate new students into the ULM community. People who begin school in the spring don’t have this opportunity.

Second, older students don’t have that same joy walking around campus during the first week of spring semester than they did during the first week of the fall semester. That needs to change. According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, 30 percent of college students reported that stress had a negative affect on their academic performances. With a lot of students stressed we could use a quick dis-traction to get us through the week.

If organizations like the Student Government Association and Campus Activities Board (CAB), who usually foot the bill or help organize these events, can’t give us a full load like they do during Week of Welcome, then we’ll take what we can. Surely, there’s something in their budgets they can spend during the first week of spring.

They could do small things like another “Open Mic Night” and it’d still bring people in. I honestly don’t see these organizations doing anything wrong with the way their events have been going lately.

Chi Alpha has been announcing events for the first week of the semester to help introduce new students to the university, so not all hope is lost. Maybe they can help create a domino effect, so other organizations around campus can help out.

During finals week last semester CAB gave away prep kits for students. Students were allowed to go up to the table and fill their kits with whatever was available. The event lasted less than an hour before CAB ran out of supplies. Food, candy and supplies, it was all gone. Another event like this to kick off the semester would really be appreciated by students.

The dilemma at hand is not super serious, but it does need to be discussed. I assume a lot of the freshmen will be wondering what happened to all the free food they were enjoying in the fall by Monday’s lunchtime. The problem shouldn’t be hard to fix.

The solution to all of this is simple, give the people what they want; well, not really. Give them something fun to do, you have to start somewhere. Give us a snack here and there and a small event later on in the day. Just don’t give us an excuse to go back in our dorms and wish it was still winter break. Make us feel welcomed back.