Welcome Weekend activities orient new students to community, campus
Over the past three days, Notre Dame welcomed first year and transfer students to the University over its annual Welcome Weekend. The weekend, which includes both University-wide events and dorm-specific programming, offers new students a chance to get oriented and acclimated to life at Notre Dame.Maggie O’Connor, a first year in Pasquerilla West Hall, said she enjoyed meeting people during Welcome Weekend, including people in both her dorm and her classes. Photo courtesy of Chris Hayden Dunne Hall residents pose with candles before the Class of 2022 visited the Grotto for the first time. The Grotto visit concluded Welcome Weekend, when first year and transfer students are welcomed to campus.“I’d feel lost if I didn’t know anyone in my classes because that’s what I was worried about,” she said.As part of the Pasquerilla West Welcome Weekend activities, O’Connor said she participated in a pancake breakfast, crafts and ice skating with other dorms. Her favorite activity was karaoke with Keenan Hall, and she also enjoyed serenading other dorms.“I really liked all the activities, especially learning all the songs and traditions,” she said. “I think it’s really fun to serenade people.”Keegan O’Toole, a sophomore transfer student, hasn’t been assigned a dorm yet but still enjoyed participating in the welcome activities.“I didn’t do anything dorm-related, but it was still good in terms of knowing the traditions of Notre Dame,” she said.Some of the activities O’Toole participated in included DomerFest, a stadium tour, registering for classes, a bonfire, a scavenger hunt and an engineering information session.“For transfers, we do pretty much every event the freshmen do,” she said.O’Toole said her favorite part of Welcome Weekend was meeting people, but she would want to be able to participate more with something dorm-related, even though she does not currently live on-campus.“I know dorm life is a really big thing here, and I know I’m not on campus, but I’d like to do more associated with that,” she said.For the Welcome Weekend captains and ambassadors, the three days present an opportunity to start to form the first-year community, sophomore and Howard Hall Welcome Weekend ambassador Mary Lynn Dekold said.“When I was a first year, I loved Welcome Weekend,” she said. “I thought it was a great way to introduce me to the Notre Dame community, get me acclimated to campus — I met tons of good people. Now working it, you see if from a whole different perspective.”Dekold said planning for Welcome Weekend started during spring semester last year.“It takes a lot of work, but it’s totally worth it,” she said.Howard Hall‘s programming included events with other dorms, such as a cookout with Sorin College, Siegfried Hall and Farley Hall and a scavenger hunt with Carroll Hall. The ambassadors also hosted small group discussion time.Junior Chris Hayden, a captain from Dunne Hall, said his planning involved coordinating with other dorms as well as general brainstorming. He said Dunne used lots of small groups so students could get to know each other.“We were trying to really think about how we could create an experience for freshmen to interact with one another in a comfortable, non-awkward way,” he said.Hayden said the Dunne Welcome Weekend team was very enthusiastic and wanted to make sure the first-year students felt at home, even when moving in.“Whenever a new car would pull up, we had guys banging on the moving bins, we had yelling, and whenever the first years came out we would have guys go up and introduce themselves,” he said. “They really took the words to heart that we were told in our training. They said, ‘it’s not about you, it’s about the first years.’”Tags: Transfer welcome weekend, Welcome Weekend, Welcome Weekend 2018, Welcome Weekend activities
Group buying has become the 21st century answer to rising costs across services like electricity, gas, solar panels, health insurance, internet costs and home loans, says mortgage aggregator site HashChing chief executive Mandeep Sodhi.“It will become a big norm,” he says.“People are already used to group buys like The Big Switch and Groupon. They get the concept. This could be a market disrupter but it’s also giving the power back to the consumer.”Video Player is loading.Play VideoPlayNext playlist itemMuteCurrent Time 0:00/Duration 1:35Loaded: 0%Stream Type LIVESeek to live, currently playing liveLIVERemaining Time -1:35 Playback Rate1xChaptersChaptersDescriptionsdescriptions off, selectedCaptionscaptions settings, opens captions settings dialogcaptions off, selectedQuality Levels720p720pHD540p540p360p360p270p270pAutoA, selectedAudio Trackdefault, selectedFullscreenThis is a modal window.Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window.TextColorWhiteBlackRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyOpaqueSemi-TransparentBackgroundColorBlackWhiteRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyOpaqueSemi-TransparentTransparentWindowColorBlackWhiteRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyTransparentSemi-TransparentOpaqueFont Size50%75%100%125%150%175%200%300%400%Text Edge StyleNoneRaisedDepressedUniformDropshadowFont FamilyProportional Sans-SerifMonospace Sans-SerifProportional SerifMonospace SerifCasualScriptSmall CapsReset restore all settings to the default valuesDoneClose Modal DialogEnd of dialog window.This is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or activating the close button.Close Modal DialogThis is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or activating the close button.PlayMuteCurrent Time 0:00/Duration 0:00Loaded: 0%Stream Type LIVESeek to live, currently playing liveLIVERemaining Time -0:00 Playback Rate1xFullscreenHousing affordability 01:35 Related videos 01:35Housing affordability 01:15Property Investment Explained00:51Household Debt01:13Affordability Stamp Duty Changes02:00How leverage works02:09Rental AffordabilityHashChing’s deal involves the creation of $5m loan books — made up of a maximum of 10 salaried owner occupiers on $500,000 minimum mortgages.Lenders have five days to bid on the book, after which time borrowers choose which deal they like best.“We can’t say how low it could go but what I can say is we have 3.56 per cent as the lowest rate on our platform now. So any lender will have to beat that rate otherwise the borrower will ask what’s the point of joining a group.”More from newsMould, age, not enough to stop 17 bidders fighting for this homeless than 1 hour agoBuyers ‘crazy’ not to take govt freebies, says 28-yr-old investorless than 1 hour agoHashChing gets paid a fee of 0.4 per cent of the settlement figure by the lender.“We are seeing a lot of interest from smaller lenders and even international lenders. Obviously they will be more aggressive. There is some pressure on these lenders.”Patrick Tyro, pictured with son Cal at their Cashmere home, was looking to save several hundred dollars a month by switching to a lower group interest rate. Picture: AAP/Josh WoningBrisbane father-of-three Patrick Tyro-Burns hoped people power would cut several hundred dollars off his monthly mortgage costs.His Cashmere home was currently on a variable rate of 5.25 per cent with St George and he’s hoping to slash up to 2 percentage points off that rate. A fresh push to force lenders to slash interest rates to as low as 3 per cent could be a gamechanger for Queensland families.With the lowest individual refinancing rate already 3.49 per cent, there’s growing hope that group buying could drive down costs further, becoming as commonplace as lotto syndicates.Group buying is becoming more and more popular. 
Nissan Auto Parts has signed on as one of the sponsors for the biggest sailing events in the country- the Ada Sailing Race.The exciting event which has been going for over a decade, is mainly organised by the Ada Sailing Club for its members.Though not a traditional sporting activity in Ghana, organisers are hoping the sailing race will become one of the most popular sporting activites in the country.This year’s event is slated for the 10th and 11th October, 2015.The chosen dates for this prestigious sporting event targeted at wealthy merchants and business owners who take sailing as their past time is usually determined by the vagaries of the weather and it is best scheduled for off raining seasons, due to the possibility of thunder storms and boisterous winds. Tough winds are part of the fun especially for very adventurous sailors but could also take off part of the fun if it continues for very long hours. It has the propensity of delaying sailing unnecessarily and marring the beauty of the event. Nissan Auto Parts’ sponsorship of the event comes at a time many lesser known sports are lamenting about the lack of support from corporate Ghana. “We see our sponsorship as a way of giving back to the community and also leading the way for corporate organisations to invest a bit more in promoting other sporting disciplines,” Marketing Manager for Nissan Auto Parts Chris Tsegah said.
DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — Authorities are investigating an eastern Iowa arrest after video posted on social media showed a handcuffed Black man having a seizure and apparently struggling to breathe after officers used pepper spray on him. Dubuque officials say an internal investigation will review the Friday night arrest of Yoosuf Moment. Police say Moment resisted officers before pepper spray was used. Moment was treated at a local hospital and released after he was ticketed on suspicion of driving without a valid license and interfering with police. City Manager Mike Van Milligen said in a statement that officials are aware of concerns about the incident and a thorough investigation will be conducted.