As Seton Hall began the Fall 2025 semester, more than just classes were in session.
The first two weeks of instruction were accompanied by fun-filled events for students to integrate into the SHU community, either returning to school or beginning their college careers.
The Weeks of Welcome (WOW) events took place from Aug. 20 to Sept. 6 and consisted of various activities hosted by the Office of Student Engagement (OSE) and Student Activities Board (SAB), along with other community members, to form the WOW squad.
The WOW events started during the New Student Welcome Weekend with a movie under the stars, Camp Pirate, and the Blue Day Carnival. As classes began, the WOW events continued with First Day Butterflies, The Great Dubois Circus Show, Commuter Corner, Open Mic Night, Casino Night, Wingo, Music Under the Stars, and a Point Pleasant Boardwalk trip.
Nyla Dixon, a junior biology major, is a member of SAB as a campus life coordinator. Dixon said the point of the WOW events is to acclimate new students to SHU and allow them to make personal connections and feel more comfortable on campus.
Dixon said as a freshman, her WOW events introduced her to some of the friends she still has two years later.
“That’s what the whole purpose is,” Dixon said. “To get you comfortable being on campus, being with other people, and it’s a good way to get a full view of Seton Hall.”
Gianna De Meo, junior political science major, is a campus life coordinator for SAB. She said the WOW events allow freshman and new students the opportunity to meet others. It also reminds students that fun can go along with school.
De Meo and Dixon said the WOW events are unique to SHU.
Noemi Cerquierra, a junior secondary education and math major and campus life coordinator for SAB, agrees.
“A lot of my friends, their colleges, they don’t do all this,” Dixon said. “When I came here, I was like ‘this feels like summer camp.”
Dixon said the WOW events serve as a glimpse of what student life at SHU can be like for an active student.
“The first week of school is literally your only free week, so make sure to take advantage of it,” Dixon said. “It is the best way to make connections with Greek life and other people, and it’s almost like a foundation, because it sets you up for a great semester.”
For Pasquale Russo, a freshman accounting major, the WOW events helped him meet new friends and get a feel for the Pirate community.
“The people who run the events are very nice people, which makes the school look good and makes me feel comfortable going to a school with people like that running the events,” Russo said.
Russo attended the Wingo event, a night of wings and bingo. Russo said he heard of the event last minute but thought it sounded interesting and found some of his friends already there. One of whom was Kylo Paz-Diaz, a freshman physics major.
“The best part was getting to hang out with friends I already had but also meeting new people at the same time,” Paz-Diaz said.
Russo said he got on Paz-Diaz’s back, trying to get the attention of the event runner, which was a success. Russo said he competed in a scavenger hunt between rounds of bingo. The event runner would call out random things for the contestants to find and bring back, eliminating the last person to do so.
“I got out in the first round, but it was still so much fun,” Russo said.
Miguel Carrera, a freshman economics major, was at Wingo with Paz-Diaz.
“We met people through other people, and we all got together and tried to help him win,” Carrera said.
Carrera echoed Russo’s statement, noting the WOW events helped him feel more comfortable at SHU, seeing so many others in the same new position he was in.
“If I hadn’t gone to the WOW events, I don’t think I’d want to fill my nights with something to do,” Carrera said. “Even though class work has gotten harder, I still go out of my way to hang out with friends, go to clubs, or be social in some way.”
While the WOW events are focused on integrating new students to the university, they are open to all students and staff at SHU. This year’s WOW was the second for Jasmine Awad, a sophomore special and elementary education and speech pathology major.
Awad said she attributes the WOW events her freshman year to the start of a great first year at SHU and a domino effect of friends.
“Last year I went to all the welcome week events, so this year I was not looking for them as much,” Awad said. “But I think this year, because I knew more people, it was more enjoyable.
While the WOW events are over, SAB continues to host events open to the SHU community throughout the year, which are posted on their Instagram.
Solomon Lee is a writer for The Setonian’s Features section. He can be reached at solomon.lee@student.shu.edu.
