Sunday, August 23 : 8:30am - 5:00 pm
Trained 65 Orientation Leaders on communication, millennial students, and 2 hours of team building activities. We practiced the essentials: name games and 4 generic scenarios that could happen in their groups of 25 students. We practiced what to do when your group doesn't show up anymore, what do to when one student dominates the conversation, what to do when a student hates BSC and poisons the whole group's experience, and what to do when students just want to get drunk or know about parties. Laura Hill Rao, Susannah White, and I also gave an introduction to the Saturday of Service, where the OL's were responsible for soliciting participation and some of them were site coordinators. The Juggling team builder worked out very well.
Tuesday, August 25: 8:00am - 8:30pm
Freshman Move-in Day.
My role was trouble shooting all day, which consisted of breaking up the OL's when they were congregating to socialize rather than help families, encouraging them to carry things for students and parents, finding folders if they were not in the bins outside residence halls, etc. Beginning at 5pm I took tickets for the planetarium shows which occurred every half hour for parents and families. Biggest problem was that despite a confirmation the day before, the bus company never sent a bus for the parent trip to Niagara Falls. We issued "rain checks" to the parents and offered 2 trip times the next day (which did happen).
Wednesday, August 26th: 6:00am - 10:00pm
6:15 -7am: Commuter check-in set up and OL check in/staff meeting. Distributed "green sheets" for Saturday of Service where OL's would get an accurate number from their group of 25 students of who planned to participate.
7am-9am Commuter student check-in, and get assigned to orientation groups. OL's put group stickers on commuter name tags, and let them know the first time they will be meeting. Also breakfast and separation of commuter students from parents. Parents went into the sports arena to sit in the bleachers and await the freshmen procession. Students ate breakfast according to their school in the ice arena bleachers.
8:30am : Resident OL's bring their groups over to the Ice rink to line up for convocation.
9:00 - 10:15am First Year convocation. Every first year student was wearing a bright orange shirt that said "Buffalo State...The Right Choice"
Students dismissed by school from convocation to various quads, then broken up into individual majors from the quads to be led by OL's to "Meet your Faculty" session
10:30 - 12:00pm Meet your faculty
residual OL's went through residence halls waking up and pulling out reluctant or sleepy students. I hung and distributed flyers for Saturday of Service.
12pm-1pm Lunch with academic departments
Some departments had students pick up lunches and bring them back to classroom, other just told students when to return to their room.
1-3pm Major expectations
Students return to their rooms to meet with faculty.
3pm-5pm 411 from an upperclassman
Student meet with their orientation leader. Biggest problem was OL's not knowing enough ice breakers, or letting their group go early "because they wanted to leave." I let them know this was unacceptable, especially since we practiced that exact scenario in training.
5pm-7pm Chiavetta's Chicken BBQ dinner
BIG HIT with both students and parents.
7 - 10pm Hypnotist Tom DeLuca
The first show was for commuters and we only had about 60 students attend, however the second show (residents) had about 250 students in attendance. I supervised OL's during the show.
Thursday, August 27 7:00am - 5:30pm
7:30am - 9am Breakfast in the union
Students and OL's ate breakfast in the union lobby. We held a staff meeting in the lobby from 7:45am-8:15am, distributing a list of "updates" or schedule changes for that day. at 8:45am i cleared students and OL's out of the union to go to the next session.
"Engage in Buffalo" workshops were tremendously successful - I was stationed with Roz Park in the Library with "Engaging in Academic Success" and we filled the room for each of the 4 sessions between 9am and 11:45am
11:30 - 1pm LUNCH
1:00 - 3:15: 411 from an upperclassman and campus tours
This time, no one let their group out early.
3:30 - 4:15 Intellectual Foundations Requirements.
4:15 - 5pm CIRP freshman survey
5pm-7pm DINNER
Friday, August 28th 7:00am - 5:30pm
7:30 am - 9:00am Breakfast/staff meeting with updates
Generally for the entire day I was either in the library or at the classroom building directing lost souls or trouble shooting if faculty failed to show up.
11:30am-1pm LUNCH
1pm-2pm Schedule confirmation (students met with their academic advisor)
2:15 - 5pm 411 from an upperclassman and Acting Out: Insight into College Life
Presentation of information from theatre students was incredibly well received - nearly 700 resident students in attendance. Students receive information better when it's presented by their peers.
5:30pm celebratory dinner and drinks with Trish, Bob, Katie, and Tim Eklund.
Saturday, August 29th:9:30 am - 5:30pm
Saturday of Service
Set up from 9:30am to 10:30am.
OL's arrived at 12:30 to be trained in duties (either registration or site coordination)
1pm FY students arrive.
1:30pm last group of students leaves for site
Trouble shooting throughout the day
5pm last group of students arrived back on campus.
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