There is a new freshman seminar class in session this year. The College of Communications seminar introduces new students to “Happy Valley: Your New Hometown.” The seminar is designed to help incoming freshman assimilate to college life more easily.

This once-a-week class, like all other seminars, allows students to meet students outside of their dorm room floor, as outlined by the Penn State Communications blog. The most interesting thing about this seminar is that it is an outside the classroom learning environment. State College and University Park community members, elected officials, and campus leaders all meet with the class to enrich new students about what makes Penn State, well, Penn State.

Some of the aspects of the class include meetings with President Graham Spanier, State College Police Chief Tom King, and residential dining hall director Lisa Wandell. This seminar encourages those students to engage in campus life and the town as members of the community and welcomes them to Penn State in a way that not many other schools have.

The class even offers trips to local businesses on campus like Dunkin Donuts. It is about campus history and tradition while building your education of the business aspects and residential communities that surround the campus.

This seminar sounds like a great opportunity for freshmen to become better acquainted with the university.