Orientation

Orientation Highlights

Click on each day's purple button for full schedule details. The full schedule is also described in a downloadable program.

Saturday, August 20

9 a.m. - 1 p.m. Orientation and housing check-in, Lowry Center. You may check in at the Lowry Center any time between 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. and then move into your residence hall. Lunch is provided for students and family members in Peirce Dining Hall.
2 p.m. Opening session for students and families on Samuel Mather Lawn.
3 - 9 p.m. Orientation programming for students.
3 - 5 p.m. Orientation programming for families.
6:30 - 8 p.m. Family dessert reception on Peirce Hall Lawn.

Saturday Schedule

Sunday, August 21

8:30 - 10:15 a.m. Breakfast for students and families in Peirce Dining Hall.
10:30 a.m. Opening Convocation: Students are formally welcomed to the Kenyon community during during a ceremony on Samuel Mather Lawn (rain site: Lowry Center). Families are warmly invited to attend, and the ceremony will be livestreamed.
11:30 a.m. Families depart campus.
1 p.m. Orientation group meetings

Sunday schedule

Monday, August 22 - Wednesday, August 24

Orientation programming for students.

Monday schedule Tuesday schedule Wednesday schedule

Thursday, August 25

Classes begin.

Saturday, August 27

10:45 a.m. Pre-fair meet-up on Peirce Hall Lawn.
11 a.m. - 1 p.m. Student Involvement Fair — meet representatives from student organizations, campus offices and community partners — and lunch at the Lowry Center.

Save the Date for Family Weekend

We hope you will join us October 14 - 16 for Family Weekend. Events will include student performances, athletic competitions, panel discussions and more! Registration will open in early fall.

First-Year Traditions

Opening Convocation

This is your first official march down Middle Path, between rows of gown-clad professors. Four years later, you do it again at Commencement.
First-Year Sing

It sounds hokey, but it’s a great bonding experience. It’s also an initiation into Kenyon vocabulary, where you discover words like ‘Kokosing’ and ‘asphodel.’
The Matriculation Book

Future novelist John Green signed it. So did future film star Allison Janney. Every October, after the Founders’ Day ceremony, the newly settled first years page through this remarkable book, then add their own names.