By: Micah Ledford —
The struggle to unpack in the Aug. 16 pouring rain made moving in a difficult task for students and parents. Thankfully the rain went away and the sun shone on the Cardinal Kickoff Picnic, where students and families celebrated the start of the new year at the Student Activities Center Ballroom.
President Neeli Bendapudi, Dean of Students Michael Mardis and other faculty roamed around the Student Activities Center Ballroom greeting new faces with warm smiles.
The marching band performed fresh out of their nearly two-week band camp. Freshman Jonathan Roy was impressed by their performance.
“The band performance was really good! You can tell that they have put a lot of work into preparation,” Roy said.
After a heartfelt reunion with their Student Orientation Staffers, students congregated in the Ekstrom Library for the Kick Back in the Stacks.
The library came to life with a dramatic mix of student performers, student organizations, campus resources, an Insomnia cookies table, and much more. Organizations provided free items such as snacks, t-shirts, and more as an incentive to recruit students.
Students were provided with an opportunity to party with existing friends and make new ones just by walking around.
Several students performed group dances in front of their peers.
“It was very cool and interesting to see different groups doing a bunch of dances. I liked seeing different cultures being shown in the dances,” said freshman Lilly Montenegro.
Freshman Dillion Kahl said he had a positive experience in his first days on campus.
“Welcome Week gave me the chance to get connected on campus and meet new people, something which otherwise would have been difficult as a commuter student,” Kahl said.
Photo by Micah Ledford / The Louisville Cardinal
