Purdue Northwest Celebrates New and Returning Students with 2017 Welcome Week Rally at Westville Campus

Purdue Northwest Celebrates New and Returning Students with 2017 Welcome Week Rally at Westville Campus

Purdue Northwest (PNW) continued their Welcome Week celebration with a Welcome Rally on Wednesday at their campus in Westville, Indiana. The college offers over 70 different programs of study and serves roughly 15,000 students with an impressive 16:1 student-to-faculty ratio.

Amanda Schacht, Director of Student Life for PNW, says that the event is designed to welcome new and returning students to the campus, and to provide them with resources and information.

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“All departments and student organizations come here to present a table and show incoming students all the programs and services that are available here at Purdue Northwest,” said Schacht. “This is the second year for this event here at the Westville campus. This was a traditional event at the Hammond campus which we wanted to bring to Westville and offer to our students here as well.”

Schacht estimates that between 500-600 students will stop in at the rally.

“Our goal here at PNW is to provide all of our students with the resources they will need to be successful. We have groups here from New Student Orientation, Financial Aid, the Black Student Union, Circle K International - an offshoot of Kiwanis Clubs - and many more. We have a total of 107 tables here today, offering information to our students,” said Schacht.

“Welcome Week is how we rally all of our students to get fired up for the semester,” said Dawn Wojkovich, Alumni Affairs Coordinator. “Every organization is here today with giveaways and information about everything we have going on, and we’ll be doing it again tomorrow at the Hammond campus. It’s just a big party to kick the year off!”

Wojkovich proudly says that Purdue University Northwest has over 60,000 alumni around the world.

Kenya Hernandez, 18 from Medaryville, first-year nursing student at PNW, likes the convenient class sizes at the college.

“I really like how the classes here are small. You can get a lot of one-on-one time with your teacher. They really want you to succeed,” said Hernandez.

Hernandez was visiting the Welcome Rally with her friend and fellow Medaryville native, Hayley Smith, 21 who is studying education at the college.

“The teachers here are very energetic; they make learning fun! It’s great to come here today and see all our friends!” said Smith.

Conner Dawson, 22, from La Porte is in her fourth year of studying radiology at PNW. She loves the size and convenience of the Westville campus.

“I absolutely love it here! It’s a great campus,” said Dawson. “I didn’t want to go away to college, and this was just the greatest alternative. It’s not so big that I have to worry about getting lost, but it’s also not just one building.”

Dawson was amazed to learn new things about the university.

“I honestly didn’t even know that we had a Star Wars Club! There are a lot of things that are new this year, new things that just happened over the summer. This is a great way to welcome incoming freshman students and let them know all that PNW has to offer,” said Dawson.

Kris Falzone, Associate Vice Chancellor for Marketing and Communications at PNW was excited to see so many bright, young faces stopping by the various tables in between classes.

“The events this week are the official welcome events for our students. There is not just information, but we have free food and giveaways too! Because what’s college without a free tshirt or two?” laughed Falzone. “We have music, activities, games and ways for students to get involved with each other and with the college, and all designed to welcome our students back for another year.”

For more information about Purdue University Northwest, visit them online at: https://www.pnw.edu/