The College’s EphVentures programs have seen a decrease in applications for orientation leader positions, according to their student directors. The programs faced a 15 percent budget cut and were shortened by a day in 2023, which leaders said diminished their ability to run the programs effectively.
EphVentures — a three day program — is a component of the College’s First Days orientation programming. EphVentures begin the day after first-years arrive on campus, according to its website. First-years can select one of six EphVenture programs to participate in: Exploring the Arts, Leading Minds, Where Am I? (WAI), Williams Outdoor Orientation for Living as First-Years (WOOLF), Team Eph, or Root.
Will Tinson ’27, a co-director of WOOLF, the most popular EphVenture, said that they have noticed declining student interest in leading WOOLF trips. In 2022, 125 students applied to be WOOLF leaders, but fewer than 75 applied in the initial application round this year, according to an information sheet sent to former WOOLF leaders.
After extending the application deadline to accommodate students who had reached out to the directors asking for additional time, the program received a sufficient number of applications, Tinson said. “We’ve been in a pretty fortunate position where we’re still able to be fairly selective with the process. We aren’t in desperate need of leaders, but I know that other EphVentures are in a slightly different boat.”
According to WAI Director Maile Ruiz ’26, only one student had listed WAI as their first choice of EphVenture to lead by the initial application deadline this year. Typically, the WAI team looks to recruit double or triple the number of applicants for each position available, and they have historically met these goals, she said.
The WAI team made several attempts to spark more interest in its leadership roles. “My co-director Sally [Neugarten ’26] and I put up posters, but the posters didn’t work. We also spammed the WAI Instagram for a while,” Ruiz said.
The team eventually turned to unconventional methods in order to fill the position vacancies. “I think what really changed the game for us was that I made a desperate YikYak post begging people to [sign up],” Ruiz said. “On the YikYak post, people said they wanted to do it but they couldn’t because the form was too long. So we made a shortened form and that’s when we finally started getting applicants.”
Root Director Daria Lukinova ’26 believes that the low interest in leading an EphVenture may stem from scheduling conflicts between house coordinator and EphVenture leader training that prevents students from taking on both roles. Lukinova said that, if students are made to choose between being a house coordinator and an EphVenture leader, the stipend for the former role would influence students’ choice.“Because you are compensated for being a housing coordinator and you’re not compensated for being an EphVenture leader, people will choose to be a housing coordinator over an EphVenture leader,” she said.
WOC Director Ben Oliver said that scheduling conflicts play a role in the difficulty of recruiting EphVenture leaders. “I think it’s tougher for a bunch of reasons, but I think one of them is that it’s time when a lot of people have other commitments,” he said in an interview with the Record. “I think there’s been a lot of people who would be interested, but are otherwise committed to something.”
Dean of First Year Students Christina Walsh, however, said she wouldn’t attribute the recent decline of the student interest in leading EphVentures to the roles’ lack of compensation. “You could say, ‘Oh, it’s that we’re not paying the student leaders or the directors,’ but that wasn’t the case last year or the year before,” Walsh said. “So I’m not so keen on rushing to that conclusion. I don’t think there’s evidence to really support that.”
Senior Associate Dean for Administration, Finance, and Strategy Jeff Malanson said that, while compensation for EphVenture leaders would be challenging to implement, it is not out of the question. “Nothing’s impossible, but it would require moving some significant funds around,” he said in an interview with the Record. “WOOLF alone has 70 student leaders. That’s a significant investment if you’re going to start paying [EphVenture leaders].”
Malanson said that paying stipends to EphVenture leaders, who have historically been volunteers, would also change the culture of the programs. “It represents a pretty significant cultural shift to go from these being volunteer roles of students really wanting to serve the College and serve incoming first-year students into paid positions.”
Alongside recruitment challenges, EphVentures programs have also faced a funding squeeze in recent years.
“In [Fiscal Year 2024, EphVentures] managers’ budgets — for purchasing foods, goods, supplies, transportation, and things like that — were reduced by 15 percent, partially as a response to inflationary pressures that the College was facing,” Malanson said. These reductions, according to Malanson, affected each EphVenture program equally.
Additionally, in 2023 EphVentures programming was shortened by a day after the College received feedback from students who felt that First Days was too long. Walsh said that the College is legally required to hold certain presentations for incoming students during First Days, meaning it had to shorten EphVentures to adjust the length of First Days.
Funding also played a role in the College’s decision to reduce the length of First Days. “While [student feedback] was the main motivating factor, the costs of a 10-day orientation program are no longer sustainable in this current economic landscape, and that was a factor as well,” Walsh said.
Tinson noted that funding cuts put a strain on their program. “There’s definitely a big discrepancy between the amount of funding that WOOLF gets as a program and the amount of money it actually costs to run a program like WOOLF,” they said.
“The recent budget cuts have exacerbated a problem that was already tough,” Oliver added. “Historically, WOOLF has always gone over budget just to operate at a minimum in terms of food, transportation, and wilderness medical training… We need to ask for supplemental money every spring… We’re also not really able to purchase or replace any of the equipment that WOOLF uses, because there just isn’t a budget line for that matter.”
Even with funding and recruitment troubles, Walsh remains optimistic about the success of this year’s EphVentures. “I think that the EphVenture Program is a significant part of the onboarding of our first-year students,” they said. “It is highly valued by the College, certainly championed by me and all of the faculty and staff that oversee these programs.”
However, Walsh recognizes that there is always room for improvement. “I think it’s a good time to look hard and close at the program,” they said. “How can we make adjustments and improvements that are achievable and that are in the best interest of our incoming students, the student leaders, the directors and the faculty and staff that run these programs. It’s super important. And I think the College recognizes that.”
Editor’s note: Juno Pelczar ’27, another WOOLF co-director and Executive Editor for Opinions, was not involved in the writing or editing of this article.
