Northeastern’s Oakland students join clubs, taste food from the best restaurants and cut flowers at the campus community farm
Students at Northeastern’s Oakland campus settle in and embrace activities during Weeks of Welcome.
OAKLAND, Calif. — When Dylan Farrell arrived on Northeastern University’s Oakland campus from his home in New Hampshire, he came prepared to pursue one of his favorite hobbies.
“I’m signing up for the photography club,” Farrell said, sitting outside on Adams Plaza with some new friends on Tuesday. “I brought my camera, so that’d be perfect.”
Almost 800 new Huskies moved into housing on the Oakland campus over the weekend. Now that they’re settling into campus life, they have an abundance of activities to choose from during Weeks of Welcome, which is underway through the middle of the month.
On Tuesday, students were treated to some of the best food Oakland restaurants have to offer, from the convenience of campus. Vendors set up on Holmgren Meadow to offer food and drinks as part of the Taste of Oakland event.
Students were also set to meet with academic advisers to start planning their first semester class schedule.
“I’m excited to take classes for my major, which is communications and media studies,” said Jules Jaffe of Boston. “I’m taking Intro to Communications and an intercultural communications class. I’m excited for the second semester too, when I can dig in further.”
Students interested in learning about leadership roles on campus filed Tuesday morning into Lisser Hall, where staff gave a presentation about clubs, associations and other organizations that offer opportunities for students to lead.
Misini Iroka of New Jersey was happy to hear that the Black Student Collective is one of the dozens of clubs that are already up and running on campus. He is also interested in opportunities to be creative with other students.
“I don’t have any experience, but photography sounds nice,” he says. “Also something related to fashion or design.”
Later this week, students will get a chance to tour the Haas Pavilion sports facility, go to a workshop in the makerspace and attend a Golden State Valkyries basketball game.
Plus, just hang out in the sunshine and make new friends.
Editor’s Picks
“I’m excited to meet a lot of new people,” says Patrick Dugan of New York City. “I’m excited to see what a good college curriculum looks like. We have students coming from everywhere. I want to see what everyone else is up to.”
On Wednesday, students took a morning hike through the wooded campus to the 2.5-acre community farm, where they helped cut flowers and make bouquets for the farm’s Community Supported Agriculture program. The program provides boxes of produce and flowers to subscribers.
“I applied to work at the farm and I invited them to come along with me,” says Vincent LaLonze of Los Angeles. “I’ve always loved nature and I thought it’d be nice to get out of class and have a job outside.”
Vincent’s friends Ashakiran Hira and Mattie Sullivan enjoyed being outdoors and discovering the farm on campus.
“I’m glad we took the walk,” says Sullivan, a psychology major from Utah. “My mom’s a crazy gardener, so I’m used to being in gardens.”
Sullivan and Hira toured the campus makerspace this week and decided to apply for jobs.
“I worked at an art studio in high school,” says Hira, a life sciences major from San Francisco. “Art is a big part of who I am.”
But spending the morning at the farm was a satisfying way to start the day, Sullivan says.
“I always have to do one thing a day to help people,” she says. “So my day is made.”
