NTU President Pan-Chyr Yang presided over the opening ceremony of the 7thNTU Orientation Camp for first-year students at the NTU Sports Center on August 19. During the ceremony, President Yang and a team of faculty members joined nearly 3,300 newly-arrived first-year students in donning white NTU polo shirts and playing icebreaker games as they sang the NTU University Song.

After welcoming the students as new members of the NTU family, President Yang called on them to take full advantage of the university's extensive resources, determine their future goals, make close friends, and build healthy psychological lives and value systems. He also revealed that the polo shirts they were all wearing had been presented by the university as an expression of good fortune. Featuring an infinity symbol paired with the slogan "NTU Infinite You," the shirts were designed to encourage the students to explore their limitless potential.

The university first introduced the NTU Orientation Camp as a way to welcome first-year students in 2008. Stressing the concept of substituting learning in place of play, the event includes a range of activities that express the university's concern for and openness to the new students and offers practical courses that help the new students adapt smoothly to life at NTU. Since 2012, the camp has included overnight stays and night classes; through the experience of studying and rooming together, the new students come to form deeper emotional connections.

During this year's camp, the university presented each student with a first-year student handbook and provided assistance in seslecting courses. Among the fun courses offered this year were one that introduced NTU Library's abundant resources, another on study skills and campus resources, and one, called "Let's Talk about Love and Romance," an activity that sought to reinforce the most important values for healthy interpersonal relationships. Moreover, it was also the first time that Parents Day for freshman students was incorporated into the event. Parents Day included department briefings, meetings with faculty advisors, and department welcoming ceremonies.

Meanwhile, in honor of former NTU President Ssu-Nien Fu's profound influence on NTU, plastic eggs filled with rolls of tape bearing his sayings were dispensed through gumball vending machines. Adding to the fun, an art installation bearing Fu's maxim,"There are only twenty-one hours in one day, the remaining three hours are left for contemplation," was erected during the camp as a colorful backdrop for student photographs.

Students of the Colleges of Science, Bioresources and Agriculture, Management, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Law, and Life Science attended the camp from August 19 to 23, while students of the Colleges of Liberal Arts, Social Sciences, Engineering, Medicine, and Public Health, as well as international students attended from August 26-30.