On Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2016, Medgar Evers College held its freshman orientation for new and continuing students. In the Founder's Auditorium of the Bedford building, no more than 50 students were greeted with a video of Dr. Rudolph Crew being interviewed by a student of MEC at an event. He was asked questions on the success of the college and what the school has planned to improve upon itself, information that is vital for any college student to know about the school they are attending. "What has the school been doing to improve its quality of education? How does the school plan to make use of my paid tuition in the coming months? How do we compare to other schools?" These are the questions students should constantly keep in mind. Crew, former chancellor of the New York City board of education, addressed all these questions on video for the new students at MEC.

While the audience was made aware of his presence, he was actually a no-show, despite being on the program. I found that kind of strange. Not only was he a no-show, but his absence was not addressed, which I also found strange. Instead, the program was opened up by Robert Waterman, part of the administrative cabinet in the Office of the President. As master of ceremonies, Waterman, of course, opened up with a joke and an ice breaker; he had everyone greet whomever they were sitting next to and take a selfie together. I thought that was a nice touch. One of the main themes that every faculty member and nearly every student speaker stressed at orientation is that at MEC, they are a community. That has always been the theme of the college. Besides the selfie, the staff had all the students get out of their seats and ask each other questions to put their names down on a bingo card. They had the men stand and recite "The Medgar man pledge" led by a male faculty member and some male MEC students, and the women recited a female version led by a female faculty member and helpers as well.

Dr. Zulema Blair, director of the freshman year program, also spoke a few words as to how a freshman student could begin their success on campus. True to form, she covered the same information the students would hear in their Freshman Seminar 101 classes: time management, consulting your advisers, doing research and learning researching skills, etc. Then, she had Yours Truly address the audience. I introduced myself, I waxed philosophical, and I spoke about the realities of attending a predominantly Black institution (PBI). I wanted to talk to them about my personal success at Medgar to give them a little glimpse of what they had to look forward to, but I was rushed off stage after three minutes. I guess they needed time for other speakers. Plus, they already had a Medgar alumni success story scheduled to speak, a young man who had graduated Medgar and had opened up a tax business, and then two shipping businesses. He spoke about his success after college, and he received an applause that, to me, felt as though the audience was impressed. He was then rushed off the stage too. "Times are hard out there, you just have to find a way to keep pushing through," he said to me after orientation. "I do all right for myself."

With the comedy styles of Robert Waterman well received by the audience, I thought the presentation of the orientation was okay. I think it is a little "off" that President Crew did not attend despite being in the program as the welcomer, and that his absence was not addressed. I think that there could have been more discussion from students and alumni to the audience. Who better to connect to them? Even Waterman's youthful sense of humor can't bridge a significant generational gap. Medgar has to let itself be contemporary so it can appeal to a larger audience. Overall, I am happy to have attended Medgar and achieved success, and hopefully, this bunch will feel the same way.