“You’ve got this, bro! We’ve got you!”
Incoming Pomona College students cheered as classmates prepared to take a “Leap of Faith” off the high ropes course at Pali Retreat in the San Bernardino mountains an hour from the Claremont campus they would soon be calling home.
“Three. Two. One!” Those watching from below shouted as each new classmate stood in a climbing harness ready to jump off a 45-foot-high platform.
When a student leapt, the security ropes held tight, and for a few seconds the student was suspended in mid-air before touching the ground, elated.
Guadalupe Sierra ’29, from Lynn, Massachusetts, admits to being petrified. “But I ended up doing the ‘Leap of Faith,’” she exults. “I had faith in myself.”
The approximately 100 students at Pali Retreat were among the 453 new first-year or transfer students participating in Orientation Adventure (OA) before starting at Pomona in the fall. Each newcomer could “choose their own adventure,” says organizer Connor Bigenho, manager of the College’s Outdoor Education Center.
OA opportunities ranged from “Quintessential L. A.,” which included taking in the Hollywood sign, Grand Central Market and an Angels baseball game, to “San Onofre State Beach,” where students surfed and camped.
In addition to the “Leap of Faith,” the Pali Retreat group did tomahawk throws, archery and three ropes courses. They also played pickleball and set aside their phones to talk with each other—and not via text.
“There’s no need to be on our phones,” says Nathan Xu ’29, a Seattle native and member of the swim team. “Everyone is just having fun.”
Unlike schools where orientation trips are optional, new Pomona students all participate in a three-day experience the week before classes begin, at no extra cost. The tradition has continued for more than 25 years, says Josh Eisenberg, associate dean of students and dean of campus life.
Whether students want to be outside under the big sky, hiking or backpacking, are anxious to explore the culture of Los Angeles or are excited about learning to surf, “There’s pretty much something for everyone,” says Pomona President G. Gabrielle Starr. “There’s no one right way to come into our community.”
“At Pomona, everyone gets to find a route that works for them.”
This year Starr joined students in the “Community Partnerships and Service” group that spent a morning with the Claremont-based Prison Library Project, which matches books with incarcerated people’s own interests and passions.
“When our students were there reading the letters that the folks had written about the books that they wanted, they were able to engage with them as human beings who were on their own educational and learning journey,” says Starr.
Pomona attracts gifted students from around the globe, ready to take on challenging classes and an active campus life. But first, OA brings them together in a relaxed environment where they can try new things and make friends before the intensity of the academic year begins.
Lily Moshirfar ’28, from Salt Lake City, took part in the OA at San Onofre State Beach her first year and says she returned this year as a leader “so I could relive the experience and also be a mentor and friend to the incoming class.” The conversations and laughs made her first-year OA “probably one of the best times of my life.”
Nico Nedialkov ’29, a member of the football team from Seattle, was part of the “Museum and the Arts” group. He called his OA “awesome,” saying, “I’ve been able to meet a lot of new people and get an experience that otherwise I wouldn’t have in any other situation.” His favorite activity—“step by step painting a landscape.”
MaKiyah Turner-Hicks ’29, from Queens, New York, describes herself as “a big theater kid.” She signed up for the “KSPC Multimedia” group to go backstage at the campus radio station where she dreams of someday having her own show.
When the group headed into Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo midway through their OA experience, “It was super-cool to see a part of LA for the first time,” she says. They even paired up to make short films.
Audie O’Neal ’29 participated in the “Farm and Fish” OA, which took students to an urban farm in Pasadena and the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach.
They also spent five hours aboard a fishing boat. “I caught seven fish!” O’Neal exclaims.
Back at Pomona, the San Diego native discovered his new favorite spot on campus: the Farm. “It was really cool to learn how every single food scrap in the dining hall is recycled into the fertilizers we use at our farm,” he says.
Four years from now, friends made at OA will cheer for each other again. Only this time, they won’t be 45 feet overhead, getting ready to leap.
They’ll be walking across the stage at Commencement.