By Miles South

K Week kicked off the fall semester with strong participation in the many events and activities, coordinators said.

The weeklong program aims to welcome new students into the UK family and incorporates a wide variety of events, activities and meetings designed to introduce new students to the UK way of life.

The program also attempts to include the parents of new students so they can  become familiarized with UK.

The New Student Induction Ceremony on Saturday was one of the first and most important events during K Week. Students and their families were encouraged to join President Dr. Eli Capilouto in Memorial Coliseum to be officially inducted into the university community.

Several K Week events involve performing service for the community.

UK FUSION is an organization that provides students with opportunities to volunteer around Lexington.  On Monday, UK FUSION hosted various community service projects to engage new students.

Emily Greene, a biology freshman, participated in one of the UK FUSION projects with her sorority, Pi Beta Phi.  They painted a fence at a local horse farm.

“I had a lot of fun doing the project and there were free snow cones and T-shirts for everyone that participated,” Greene said.

Many of the K Week events are sponsored by various organizations involved with UK.

The Christian Student Fellowship hosted a late-night luau Friday. They roasted a pig and provided students with food and drinks.

Jordyn Ethington, a secondary education freshman, attended the luau and said she had fun.

“There was lots of free food and tons of people dancing,” Ethington said.

Cameron Hamilton, a K Crew Coordinator, was optimistic about the turnout this year.

“This has been the best K Week I have ever seen. Participation is through the roof,” he said.

Hamilton attributed the rise in participation to an increase in enthusiasm by both new students and upperclassmen involved with K Week.

He said one of the most popular events of this year’s K Week was a new event called the T-shirt swap.

Students were encouraged to bring old high school T-shirts and swap them at no charge for brand new UK shirts. The high school T-shirts were then donated to charity organizations.

K Week ends Saturday, Aug. 27.  For a full schedule of upcoming events, visit http://www.uky.edu/StudentAffairs/KWeek/index.html and see page 12.