During the academic year, Olivet Nazarene University provides residential housing for more than 3,000 traditional undergraduate students as they work on their college degrees. During the summer months, most students move out as they graduate or head off to complete internships, jobs or off-campus academic experiences. However, that doesn’t mean that Olivet’s campus is empty or quiet.
This summer, the University expects to host 22,000 visitors over the course of 39 conferences, workshops, camps and private group tours throughout May, June and July. That does not include the hundreds of weekly visitors who come through the Office of Admissions for tours, but it does factor in more than 1000 people who will be on campus for new student Orientation later this month.
For years, Olivet has made its campus available over summer months to house, feed, entertain and educate varying groups of visitors. While most academic buildings aren’t full of students and faculty in the classrooms throughout the summer, Benner Library is open most weekdays, and Strickler Planetarium hosts periodic programs and shows.
Over the summer, visitors come to campus for a wide variety of reasons. Some, like the recent group of 19 people from Colégio Shalom in Fortaleza, Brazil, who stayed on campus for an English camp, come to Bourbonnais for academic purposes. At the end of May, a group of architectural students from Guatemala also stayed at Olivet so they could tour iconic sites in Chicago. Other groups are here for personal development purposes. In early June, pastors and church leaders within the Church of the Nazarene gathered on campus for the biannual Pastors and Leaders Conference. Plenty of groups come to campus for celebratory occasions, such as local junior high promotion and high school graduation ceremonies, alumni events and even a few weddings.
Additionally, Olivet hosts its own set of annual camps for children and teens over the summer including various athletic trainings (men’s & women’s basketball and soccer, softball, volleyball and baseball) and the School of Music Camp. Find registration information at Olivet.edu/Camps.
If you’re coming to campus this summer, be sure to tag @olivetnazarene in your photos on Instagram, and Olivet Nazarene University on Facebook.
For more information about happenings on campus, visit Olivet.edu/Events.
