<p>Is the New Student Convocation REALLY mandatory?</p>
<p>Reading the e-mail, it didnt sound too urgent, but even if it is, my parents can't afford to take a day off of work to drive me up there for this 2 hour meeting.</p>
<p>So,</p>
<p>1) Is it REALLY mandatory?
2) What happens at it that's so important that it can't be missed?</p>
<p>A friend that is sophomore told me that they say is mandatory but really isn’t, he said that they even don’t take attendance. I am not going, It’s pure bull *****!</p>
<p>for people who should be so excited about going off to school, some of you sure act too kool for school.</p>
<p>a) its not that bad
b) they pass out stuff
c) you really have better things to do?</p>
<p>YEAH! we have a lot of better things to do than just looking someone who invented a windmill! duhh!</p>
<p>I’d never actually heard of convocation except on here, I wonder if it’s new or what.</p>
<p>What exactly can they do to you if you miss it? I’m kinda confused as to how they can enforce the “mandatory” tag.</p>
<p>aforautumn, I’m not super excited to go to UF.</p>
<p>Maybe if I could’ve gone up north to my preferred schools I’d be excited for those colleges.</p>
<p>Plus, I’d rather read War And Peace three times than that Harnessing the Wind book.</p>
<p>lr2010, haha</p>
<p>and Zaersz, i don’t understand how something with 6000 students can be checked for attendance.</p>
<p>I’ll probably go fishing instead.</p>
<p>That’s a great attitude heading into college. The whole “I don’t want to be here vibe” is going to help you make a lot of friends.</p>
<p>I see no reason not to go. There are really not that many things happening at 9:30 am and I bet it is a good way to meet new people. </p>
<p>Still, if you don’t show up, I doubt anyone would notice.</p>
<p>That guy had very little resources and was able to make a windmill in sub-saharan Africa. There is no reason to mock him.</p>
<p>He didn’t invent the windmill. He learned to build it on his own, with no education, reading from english textbooks (not knowing english either). At 15, he learned how to build one to bring electricity to his village while battling hunger and other diseases. What have you done, lr2010, at the age of 15? Certainly something more outstanding than him, considering you had an education right?</p>
<p>Does anybody know if transfer students are supposed to go or just freshman?</p>
<p>Last year when I went to Convocation, we broke into groups according to our college. From there we broke into smaller discussion groups to discuss the book. Each group had a supervisor who took attendance. Consequences differed by college, but I think for the College of Fine Arts you’d have a hold placed on your record during Drop/Add week unless you wrote a long essay about the freshmen book. Plus, it’s not the best first impression to give to your College.</p>
<p>College is what you make it. It’s going to be awful if you have no ethusiasm about it.</p>
<p>Thank you, SwellGator.</p>
<p>If they make you write an essay I’m even more puzzled. Without it being a grade for anything, how can they enforce keeping you from just BSing the whole thing summarizing the wikipedia article?</p>
<p>Seems odd to me that this stuff is required.</p>
<p>Can anyone else who has gone to convocation describe what happens (meaning is it really mandatory? what will happen if one does not go?)</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>lol did anyone actually even read the book? Why would I read a book during my summer break thats not even worth a grade or anything…?</p>
<p>Certain colleges have consequences for not attending, but last year the college of engineering didn’t, and this was even mentioned in an email they sent out a few days prior to convocation.</p>
<p>It is cool to see your entire class at once (especially since that’s the only time you’ll all be together), but for the most part it was a cheesy ceremony similar to graduation (there were even tassles!) with guest speakers and lots of boring, though enthusiastic speeches. Everyone leaves the O’Dome and individual colleges have their own little sessions, and then you break up into smaller groups to discuss the book. I believe there was an attendance sheet – for what purpose, I don’t know. I only read about half of The Devil’s Highway and few people in my group read the whole thing so the book really wasn’t that big of a deal.</p>
<p>They stress that it’s mandatory, but no one is going to hunt you down specifically and in the end you really only have to worry about your college’s requirements.</p>
<p>I went last year. I’m in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and our group had a Q&A with the author. It was super boring. Apparently you had to turn in these things and that’s what “proved” that you were there. I never turned mine in, so technically no one had any idea that I showed up. I wasn’t penalized at all. I also took ENC 1101 fall semester and the book was not mentioned once.</p>
<p>I read it. I would suggest others do too if they are interested in reading a good book. I am going to convocation and if I have to sit there and listen to an author talk about his book or his life I would like to be able to make some sense of what he is saying.</p>
<p>Yeah, I read it. I wasn’t going to because I don’t have to have any comp classes due to AP’s but I had some time and I figured why not. The beginning started off a little slow but it picks up and I ended up reading a majority of the book in a day because I thought it was really interesting. Haha, then again I’m a history and anthropology major is this book is right up my alley.</p>
<p>Great.</p>
<p>Now my dad has to take a day off of work, spend $100 dollars for a hotel room, and spend $100 dollars on gas for a 3 hour ceremony.</p>
<p>Can’t wait!!</p>