Guess I am stuck with it now !
Most people write about days as they happen, but I am going to be a little backwards, I am going to tell you about days from the past (month) that have seriously changed me ... forever! (for better.)
Orientation.
This past month I was selected to serve Mississippi State as an Orientation Leader and I had been told what a difference this would make in my life but I could have never guessed the change I would have gone through as well as the affect the other OLs as well as Lindsey (our boss) would have had on us. So here is a glimpse into a day(s) in the life of an OL.
Warning: what you are about to see may scar you. Must be 18 and older.
Prep Day
Prep day is one (or two) days prior to orientation depending on if we have a day break in between sessions. Before new students can come to campus we must set up the union , stuff name tags, stuff packets, set out t-shirts, get parents handbooks from lee hall as well as prepare all of our icebreaker activities. We are all split up into three different teams and we all must work together to get the jobs done. Kaylee, Tori, Sam, KeKe, Amanda & Katie are incharge of name tags. Everyone who signs up for Orientation must have a name tag and must have paid the fee. Without the fee paid the office of admissions & scholarships foots the bill which can become a hefty amount of money! Willie, Danisha, Daniel, Shelby & myself were in charge of setting up the union as well as getting the parent handbooks from Cat in Lee Hall. (Working the Dollies was one of the most fun parts of Orientation !)
All together prep day took about a half days time depending on how tired we were and how much we were ready to work when we arrived! our record time was probably 4 hours.
Orientation Day
It was all governed by about 6 sheets of front/back paper telling everyone (OLs & ACs) exactly where to be. These stapled sheets of paper are what we like to refer to as the Duty Roster. Dejanae (our Graduate Assistant) was lovely enough to update the roster each orientation to switch around jobs and locations to keep us from getting bored. The roster helped us to stay ahead of the guests and keep things running smoothly, which they always did. This was the greatest invention ever. and it kept us out of Lindsey's hair which she liked.
My one task each day which wasn't on the duty roster was to fix Lindsey's hair. She has to speak in front of all 1,000 + people at each Orientation and has to look good! Lindsey is very good at curling her hair but not so good at fixing , thats where I come in. They call me "Teasin' Touchstone" for a reason. I am good at what I do. I like to say it's a fall back job jokingly, but if push came to shove, it really could be a fall back job!
In the morning we would greet everyone , hand out name tags, and tshirts. I would always be on tshirt duty (4 out of the 5 freshman orientations) pretty sure this is because I can size people up. I don't know if this is a good thing??? Dej?? I LOVED tshirt duty though so no complaints here!
Next we went to Lee auditorium where we welcome everyone, did introductions, and then preformed our skit. Our skit is the bomb.com
We then had to welcome all of our students to each of their perspective groups. I was group # 16!!! Sweet 16. I always had the best group of guys and girls. They were always so interested in learned and asking questions which made my talking so much easier. Toward the end I paired up with Bryan Snow for my Dawg Talk powerpoints which made things so much easier. He knew a lot about things that I was more tentative on and visversa. It was a good fit. I also enjoyed pairing up so that our groups would be more relaxed and get to know more individuals, I feel that one of the best things I got out of Orientation was meeting the individuals more so than the Dawgtalk sessions, and if I can help some one else with that then , right on!
After lunch we would meet up and Groups 16 & 17 would go over on shuttles to the Templeton Athletic Center to visit Chef , hear about that cafeteria , see the museum as well as learn the fight song HAIL STATE! KeKe and I were like a Dynamic Duo, nothing stopping us. Then onto offically becoming students with getting ID cards. This was probably the most hectic time because all the girls are so worried about their hair and make up because of the extreme heat ( I'm not hatin' , I was the same way !!) That is why I came prepared to help my group with all the supplies! extreme Mom/ OL to the rescue with rice papers, powder, hair brush and hairspray. yes, I was a girl scout. Always be prepared!
Ice Cream Social was probably one of the times which I got to let loose the most. I would always stand with Daniel and Margaret Claire Walker and scream out flavors in the most interesting ways ever. "Get your ice cream, your hot, it's cold." Well.. you get the drill. Needless to say. The ice cream went fast. I loved this part of the day too because I got to see all of my greek friends who I have been missing oh so much! Emily, Brittany, Liz I loved all of our talks in which we had to be super careful that no one was looking because all of y'all are disaffiliated and I didn't want to get you in trouble.
Any who... housing tours! oh yay!!! fun times. On the day that I emceed with Daniel , we did a little spin off of how much I love Lady Gaga, So much that some people refer to me as Lady Lala. Well during my Housing Tours later that day some of the moms thought that was just so clever that they loved being on lady lala's tour !
The tours are pretty much the end of day one. unless they chose to stay for dinner and then the movie. The movie was always the same, The Adjustment Bureau. A pretty legit choice! I must say....
Hope you enjoyed a slight taste of OL life.
I apologize for the long winded-ness. I am rethinking the whole blogging thing.
xoxo- LC
No comments:
Post a Comment