In celebration of the start of the new semester and academic year, here is a poem selected by the Publications Board. For more examples of student poetry, visit the page for the Black & White literary journal. To submit your own poems, or any other literary work, contact pubs@wcsu.edu

Orientation Day
By Campbell Mitchell

“Cast open the metal gate
And suffer us no more to wait
Anxiously to start the year
The new semester now is here”

So spake our college president
As every campus resident
Retired to unpack their dorms
And submit their last minute forms

For now creeps in anxiety
(Encouraged by society)
To make each student second guess
Their academic prowess

From each professor comes the email:
Syllabi, which in great detail
Tell you all the ways you’ll fail
Listing your last chance to bail

Newspapers which print the headlines
“How to never miss your deadlines”
(For, if you’re ever late on one
Surely, after that you’re done)

Remember that your grades reflect
If you’re worthy of respect
Or ought be cast aside to rot
Your name stricken; soon forgot

For here in university
What matters is what others see
Summarized by GPA
(You’re nothing if you aren’t straight-A)

And if you don’t feel nervous yet
We promise we won’t let you forget
How much harder things will be
If you leave for industry!

So wave goodbye to kith and kin,
Push down the nausea deep within,
And wipe away that nervous tear.
It’s time to start your freshman year!