Athletes use O-Week to connect with greater student body

By Reed Myers     8/23/22 11:31pm

Orientation Week marks the annual introduction to Rice for the incoming freshman class. For student-athletes, it can be difficult to enjoy all O-Week it has to offer, as it often overlaps with their athletic seasons. 

According to senior soccer forward Shelby DesRoches, it was challenging to balance being an O-Week advisor this year at Sid Richardson College with her soccer schedule, but she could not pass down the opportunity to welcome the Class of 2026. 

“The two weeks that I spent doing advisor training and advising while simultaneously playing soccer was an extremely exhausting experience at times,” DesRoches said. “However, it was an experience that allowed me to branch out of my comfort zone, mentor new students, which was extremely rewarding, and more heavily immerse myself in my residential college culture. I certainly have no regrets choosing to advise despite my busy schedule.”

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Finding student-athlete advisors is challenging as many are unable to participate in O-Week because of their athletic responsibilities. According to Jose Acuna, a junior runner on the men’s cross country team, he was only able to advise at Hanszen College this year because of an injury.

“Advising is very time-consuming, making it very difficult to uphold your athletic commitments,” Acuna said. “When the time to apply for advising came around, I was nursing a fractured femur, so I knew I would have a lot of free time on my hands early in the semester. Knowing it would be my only chance at advising without it interfering with my cross country training, I decided to advise at Hanszen.”

According to DesRoches, it is important for athletes to participate in O-Week because their current relationship with the broader student body is disjointed.

“I view the relationship between student-athletes and students in general as very separate and divided on campus,” DesRoches said. “Individually, these relationships exist; however, I find that most students stick together, and most student-athletes stick together.” 

According to junior swimmer Lauren Hurt, who also advised at Sid Richardson College, student-athletes are much more approachable than many students think.

“I think students might think of student-athletes as unapproachable, but we are just as friendly as everyone else,” Hurt said. “I love having relationships with students, and in turn, it boosts the students’ impressions of the swim team.”

However, DesRoches said that having athletes participate in O-Week can go a long way to helping bridge this divide.

“Another reason that I decided to advise despite my busy schedule is that I wanted to be both an example and representation for student-athletes, particularly fall student-athletes, who have struggled to get involved in residential college culture,” DesRoches said. “I think it is important to have student-athlete representation in O-Week because it highlights integration between student-athletes and non-student-athletes, which is a very important relationship.”

While advising is optional for returning student-athletes, incoming student-athlete freshmen are required to participate in O-Week, at their coach’s discretion. Andrew Akuchie, a freshman forward on the men’s basketball team, said that his reception at Baker College during O-Week made for a smoother transition to college.

“O-Week helped ease my transition from high school to college,” Akuchie said. “I feel like the student body accepted me as an athlete and really brought me in, and I was able to learn more about Rice and my college’s tradition.”

With O-Week being one of Rice’s trademark events, student-athletes, like Ashlyn Zhang, a freshman guard on the women’s basketball team from Hanszen College, hear all about it. According to Zhang, she wanted to take advantage of opportunities like O-Week to meet other students.

“I feel like O-Week makes Rice stand apart from other institutions and shows how much the people here support you and care about you,” Zhang said. “I definitely want to be intentional with getting to know people from all different backgrounds and fields of study, so I’m glad O-Week gave me the opportunity to do that.”

Rice students have coined the phrase, “O-Week is forever,” which also applies to student-athletes following their introduction to Rice. According to Hurt, the connections she has made at her residential college has provided support while she’s competing in her sport.

“I have made lots of great connections with the people from my college, and I am proud to be a Sidizen,” Hurt said. “My friends from Sid come to all my swim meets, so it feels so great to have a support system in my residential college.”

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