Donya Albert
Staff Writer

Every year, new groups and organizations pop up on Marywood’s campus. This year is no different, but the group itself has a different angle. New Student Crews, better known among its members as the Crews program, is a program created this past year and geared specifically towards newcomers to Marywood University. According to both Father Brian and Victoria Clarizio, the concept came
from Campus Ministry, but the actual planning and the establishment of the program was done by Victoria and fellow student Colleen Dunn.

The main goal of New Student Crews is to provide a community for new students on campus, giving them support centered around Christian faith. It allows these students to rely on that support even in their own residence halls. Presently, the group has four different female crews which were all created using the new students’ schedules. This adds to the concept of convenience, so there is no need to add stress about making a meeting to the other one thousand things new students are already battling. Each group meets once a week to discuss a range of topics with the knowledge that they have a safe place to voice any problems or concerns.

The crews themselves are led by one or two upperclassmen, whose roles are to act as mentors for the New Students. Again, according to Victoria Clarizio, “One of the great aspects of this particular program is that the upperclassmen leaders also meet once a week to discuss what is happening in their crews and more importantly, to grow in their own faith.”

The group is growing and developing, much like any other new group on campus and this semester they concentrated on creating a separate Crew especially for the leaders. Freshmen year of college can be downright scary. There are new schedules thrown at students and a different level of independence and responsibility as well. The first semester, if not the first year, is a period of transition and adjustment. The New Student Crews are there to make that transition a little bit easier and to provide their students with support through all of their changes and new experiences. The members feel that the program has been a success and that the freshmen are benefiting from this particular experience.