“And may YOU have a great first year seminar!” called out an enthusiastic Brown ’17, to a stranger she mistakenly assumed was a freshman.

The school’s efforts to improve the orientation experience finally paid off when MiddView leader Michelle Brown ’17 enthusiastically and spontaneously announced, “Orientation was a blast!” to an empty room.

Although Middlebury had hoped to make orientation fun more for the incoming students than the leaders, Brown’s experience proved that it was possible for at least one person to go through orientation without wanting to rip their hair out and sob under their bed.

Her experience suggests a 230% increase from last year’s orientation, during which only one person enjoyed anything about orientation even remotely, and that had only been for a two hour period post ice cream social.