Five thousand incoming Iowa State students will experience their first real taste of college life this summer.

The students and their parents will visit the ISU campus during June to participate in summer orientation, a project operated by the Office of Admissions each year.

Carmen Nelson, office assistant for the orientation program, said the purpose of summer orientation is to help students make the transition from high school to college.

Newly admitted students are invited to visit the campus for an intensive two-day program of meetings, tours and a chance to experience college life firsthand.

During the visit, students and their parents stay on campus in Willow Hall and eat in the hall’s dining service. Students are grouped by the college in which they will enroll, and an important part of their visit is the first chance to meet with their academic advisers.

By the end of orientation, each student has taken placement tests, learned to use the touch-tone registration system, registered for classes and obtained an ISU I.D. card.

They will also have established an e-mail account through Project Vincent.

The Cyclone Aides, an elite group of 26 upper-class students who work for the Admissions Office as part of the orientation program, conduct many of the orientation activities.

Aides guide each group around campus and hold meetings with students and parents to provide information about virtually every aspect of college life.

Nelson said the Cyclone Aides do “a big part” of the work during orientation.

“They put on skits and lead discussions on topics like dealing with roommates, diversity, bringing a car to campus and managing money,” she said.

Parents, too, have plenty of opportunities to learn about what their children will be experiencing and how parents can best support students.

Separate sessions with parents provide information on campus life and ISU’s procedures for everything from parking to paying bills.

Another important aspect of summer orientation is the chance to look over the entire Ames community, said Chad Cardani, program manager for the Ames Chamber of Commerce.

Cardani recruited 180 volunteers from the area’s business community to work with the Cyclone Aides and lead guided tours of the city for orientation visitors.

The first evening of orientation, students and their parents can board Cy-Ride busses for a 90-minute tour of the campus and the community. The tour covers many points of interest in Ames, including downtown, the Historic Old Town district, the hospital/clinic area, North Grand Mall, the Research Park, City Hall and business districts around town. The Chamber volunteers provide information about the community and answer questions students and parents may have regarding community resources.

The summer orientation program reaches most of the incoming freshmen and provides them with a chance to learn a lot about what they will experience when they arrive in the fall, Nelson said.

Groups of new students will be coming to ISU throughout June, but Nelson said that “orientation is a year-round thing.”