I REMEMBER watching parents teach other kids how to swim. Some parents stuck to the "sink-or-swim" philosophy. The idea is, you just throw the kid into the water and let him thrash around for a bit, and hope he figures things out for himself.
I was never a big fan of this. I think you need to give someone at least basic lessons before you toss them into the deep water and expect them to swim. Thankfully for first years, so does the administration.
The Office of Orientation and New Student Programs has improved the Summer Orientation program, now in its second year, to be able to prepare students in advance for the demands of college. They're teaching first years how to keep their heads above water before August, when they'll be expected to swim with the rest of us.
Many of the things students do during Orientation will happen regardless of whether the program is held in the summer or not. The "what" of Orientation hasn't changed much since it was held in the fall. But the "when" and "how" have changed -- for the better.
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Summer Orientation gets a lot of the annoying introductory speeches and logistical details out of the way, which frees up valuable time in the days before school starts in August for preparing for classes, getting information about organizations, and getting settled -- both physically and socially -- in a dorm. That time was extraordinarily stressful before Summer Orientation was in place. With it, it's less so.
The "how" of Orientation has benefited considerably from the group of Orientation Leaders, who coordinate and facilitate the program.
One of the most important things Orientation Leaders do is simply answer questions. Student staff members work especially well for exactly this reason. Incoming first years have no shortage of questions, and fellow students -- who have been in their shoes -- know better than administrators or faculty how to answer them.
When you have questions, you don't want to ask someone who's wearing a tie and has letters after his name. You just want to talk to someone like you, someone who's experienced the same things you're going through. Student Orientation Leaders are approachable and have perspective.
Because of this role, one of the most important thing Orientation Leaders bring to their job is their collective experiences. That's why it's so important that these students be a diverse, involved group. And they certainly are.
The Office of Orientation and New Student Programs has done an excellent job selecting a group of 28 Orientation Leaders whose backgrounds and experiences run the gamut. Every class year is well represented. There are younger students who aren't too far removed from the "First Year Experience" to identify with the new first years, and there are older ones who have been here longer and have more experience to draw on.
Half are from the College of Arts and Sciences; the other 14 come from five of the six other schools of the University -- all are represented except the Nursing School. The group is racially and geographically diverse and has a good balance of Greek and non-Greek students. Together, they represent several dozen different student organizations.
This level of diversity and involvement allows Orientation Leaders to handle the questions and concerns of an entire class of students during their transition to the University.
This task of making the move to college less stressful and more comfortable is further aided by the social component of Orientation. The program is kept informal, and first years spend much of their two days talking to and getting to know each other. Steph Wilson, a rising third-year Commerce School student and Summer Orientation Leader, said, "It's really interesting to watch the progression of their interaction over the two days. At first, they're with their parents and are uneasy talking to us. But by even the first night, they're really comfortable talking to each other. Most end up making new friends."
Getting to know classmates helps provide comfort -- you identify with people who are going through the same thing you are. And more than that, making friends during Orientation has the potential to help break up some of the exclusivity of dorm social life. Students are intentionally grouped at random during Orientation. Hopefully, knowing people from the summer will help widen social circles in the early fall, instead of each dorm keeping to itself for the first weeks of school.
Improvements to the program will continue to be made as time passes and the Orientation Leaders and administrators learn from experience. Feedback from students will help them identify areas they can make better. But for only its second year, the program is in great shape. The Class of 2004 is in good hands.
(Bryan Maxwell is the Cavalier Daily Opinion editor.)
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