University of Dayton - MyLife

Orientation Madness

The past seven days I've been eating, breathing, and sleeping freshmen orientation...excuse me, "first-year," orientation. "First-years" is the politically correct term we use here at UD to refer to the incoming students. It's also not the "ghetto" or the "darkside," but the "north and south student neighborhoods."

Aside from making an extra effort to watch my language during this weekend, Orientation Weekend is by far my favorite thing about the new school year at UD. I'm involved in the "Blue Crew" which is the orientation staff here at UD. We get our name because we all wear matching blue shirts for the entire weekend and pins that say "Ask Me" so that the first-years know who they can find if they have questions. There are about 140 people in the Blue Crew and almost 20 of us are known as Team Leaders or Center Staff while the rest are broken into teams of about 9 or 10 people each. Last year I played the normal part of a regular orientation staff member on a team but this year I got the privilege of being one of the four center staff members.

The Orientation Members and Team Leaders are mainly responsible for helping the first-years move into their dorms (also known as "residence halls" if we are being politically correct again), which includes driving golf carts to and from the students' cars, physically moving the boxes up the stairs of the dorm, or passing out the students' packet of important information they need for orientation weekend. They also help run the rest of the programs that occur during the weekend. It's a great job and a wonderful opportunity to be able to have an awesome impact on the beginning of an incoming student's college experience.

As a part of Center Staff this year, my job description was a little different. Instead of moving in the students or actually running the programs, me and four other girls on staff were more on the administrative side of it all. This means that as soon as the first-years arrived, we were the ones all the questions were directed to. We were either in the Orientation Office or the student union all weekend so that we could help people who needed directions, get them their orientation information if they lost it, and answer any other questions parents or students had about this very busy weekend.

As much as I loved physically moving in the students last year, I really liked the position as Center Staff as well. It was nice to be able to have that one-on-one interaction with many different parents and students, and I loved knowing that I was able to really help so many people who weren't sure what to do or where to go. Move-in day is definitely one of the most hectic days of the year here at UD and I really liked knowing that I played a part in helping it run smoothly.

So, I haven't really had much of a chance to do anything else but orientation since I've been back, but it's been great living in my house. My six other housemates and I are still getting along great (granted, it's only been a week), but we've even had a couple house meetings to discuss many different issues. Open communication is the most important thing when living with a lot of other people, and I think we have been pretty good about that so far, so hopefully we won't run into too many problems along the way this year.

In addition to Orientation here at UD, my next favorite thing about coming back for a new school year is seeing everyone again, after it's been a few months. It's so much fun to constantly run into friends of mine that I haven't seen in awhile and catch each other up on our lives. I think the most overused phrase for the next week or two will definitely be, "Hey, how was your summer?!" but that's how the beginning of the year always is of course.

It's even great to come back and see the people who work in the dining halls. My favorite cashiers in the KU cafeteria still remember my name and that just makes me smile and realize how much I love this school. I was talking to some friends during Blue Crew the other day and we were discussing what it's like to spend time with our friends from home during the summer. We both agreed that all of our friends that don't go to UD don't understand why we were so obsessed with our school. There are two things I think almost every UD student can agree on and I think it is that

1) The community here is what makes this place so special and
2) We have more than school pride; we are obsessed with everything UD.

It's more than just a place we go to school, it is a part of us. We are UD and that's why I couldn't be more excited to be back.

Aug 21, 2007 5:11 PM Permalink