On Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2022, Lake Land College (LLC) held its annually scheduled Welcome Day event for incoming and returning students. The event was held in the Fieldhouse Building on LLC’s campus from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and featured over 26 clubs and organizations serving several hundred students with various free goods and services. These services included school supplies, candy, and activities. Popcorn, lemon shake-ups and cotton candy were also available directly outside the Fieldhouse free of charge for all students and staff in attendance.

The event for this year was primarily hosted by the college’s Student Activity Board (SAB), with support and help from various people and departments, including members of the Student Life Office. Director of Student Life, Lisa Shumard-Shelton, was another influential driving force behind the event, as planning is typically slated to begin in the Spring of the same year. For this year’s event, 200 plush stuffed animals and 350 sack lunches were ordered as items to hand out to students at the event. However, by noon, both tables containing the items were cleared entirely off, suggesting a much higher attendance than was expected.

Various participants were also interviewed during the event for a highly responsive and positive experience across the board. Lisa, in particular, noted the effect of the much larger audience right away, mentioning that one of the biggest challenges for the past few years had been the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) COVID-19 masking guidelines as well as Governor Pritzker’s Executive Orders affecting the level of contact in public spaces for the last several years, resulting in significant reductions in attendance and engagement overall.

Gabe Kihne, one of the individuals attending the event, is a student hailing from various locations in his academic journey, including Detroit, New York, and Effingham. He is majoring in Engineering Science at LLC and plans to transfer to the Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. When asked if he was having fun, he responded with “Ooooh, yeah!” and a hang loose hand movement.

Overall, the event successfully celebrated new and returning students to LLC’s campus for the Fall 2022 semester.