Photos: UH Hilo Spring 2026 New Student Orientation is underway!

Posted on January 9, 2026January 21, 2026 by Staff

Starting yesterday through next week’s Vulcan ʻOhana Week of Welcome (the first week of instruction), orientation leaders are welcoming the university’s newcomers, showing them around campus and town.

Group walks along Hilo storefronts, eating ice cream and laughing. — Student Orientation Leaders get a taste of Hilo in preparation for New Student Orientation activities.

Photos by Vanessa Carlson and Darrin “DC” Carlson.

Group in red shirts pose, shakas. — Student Orientation Leaders.

University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo Spring 2026 New Student Orientation is underway! Starting yesterday through next week’s Vulcan ʻOhana Week of Welcome (the first week of instruction), orientation leaders are welcoming the university’s newcomers, showing them around campus and town.

New Student Orientation is filled with fun activities designed to create connections with other new students, UH Hilo faculty, and with numerous campus resources and staff that run them. Starting yesterday with a Kīpaepae and Convocation, the group also visited ʻImiloa Astronomy Center. Today there was huakaʻi (field trip) to Queen Liliʻuokalani Gardens, and then back to UH Hilo for library and campus tours.

The activities create opportunities for new students to immerse themselves in the aloha spirit of the universityʻs culture and traditions. It’s the beginning steps of cultivating a strong sense of belonging and place, and forging lasting bonds with fellows students, faculty, and staff that will last the entire journey at UH Hilo.

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