Thursday, May 31, 2012

Great Expectations

Day 3.

The first week of training is almost over and have we learned a lot! The biggest take away from today was expectations. The Orientation Leaders (OL's) and the Senior Staff (our supervisors) made two lists. One was what each group expected of themselves and the other is what they expect from the other group. These lists will help make the summer run smoothly and keep everyone on the same page. Expectations.

New students come into college with a vision in mind of what they think it will be. They have expectations. One way to help mold these expectations is by attending Summer Orientation. Seeing the school and meeting the staff can help set attainable and realistic expectations and help you the student get even more pumped up about going to school here.

When I first was accepted to JWU I had never been to the campus or really knew anything about the campus. My expectations were pretty wild and crazy. My first time going to campus and learning anything about the campus was summer orientation. My mom and I flew to Denver a few days early to get to know the area and see the campus and was I excited! Seeing how beautiful the structures were and how friendly everyone was really got me excited about the experience I was about to have. Seeing the school really set my expectations high for the year and set them straight so I was not to be let down.

Our job as an OL is to make sure you get an accurate perception of the school and get you excited about your upcoming experiences a JWU.  Even though the first orientation session is coming up soon (so stoked) we want to make sure you have all your questions answered to make sure you are all prepared. So feel free to comment on any of these posts with any questions so we can help you out and give you a shout out here on the blog.

Happy trails and until next time all,

-Sam

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Red Rocks.


Training Day 2.
We just completed our day and and boy am I tired! Our day began with meeting the new director and more team bonding (clearly our favorite thing ever!!). Once we were all connected as a team we learned some skills that we will need for the orientations (like printing ID's and working with your families.).



Summer O/L Team!!

The second part of our day was spent over lunch in Golden, Colorado and then hiking at Red Rocks. From campus it takes around 15 minutes or so to get to Golden and did we have a blast belting out every song that was played. A team that sings together stays together! :) At Red Rocks we looked around, hiked up the stairs and took a bunch of pictures. Once we were all tuckered out from climbing all 192 stairs we dined on some fro yo (frozen yogurt), chatted and headed back to campus.

Today's training reminded me of all the things there are to do around the Denver metro area!

Red Rocks.

Red Rocks is an amphitheater with amazing views, and as you can guess they put on some awesome concerts (and get your butt kicked in a work out with those 192 stairs!!).  There are tours you can take, one of my personal favorites is Celestial Seasonings where you get to see where they make the tea. You can enjoy the beauty of Colorado's nature by hiking, biking or white water rafting. There are just so many options! One of the great things about Denver is the Rocky Mountains, they are just so amazing and breath taking. The mountains host some of the most fun things to do in the state. Besides the fantastic skiing and snowboarding there are cute little towns full of unique shops and delicious restaurants that are one of a kind.

Concerts, novelty shows, great shopping, fine dining at a college student price. These are all things you can do right here in Denver within a short drive from campus! So make sure when you are here you take some time to check out what there is to do in The Mile High City!

Training day 1: Transition

Transition. That was the theme today in training. We began today with our introductions, we had to practice these since we would be doing them over 10000000 times a day during orientation (no exaggeration there!). We then went into some team building and team expectation exercises. These included some drawing, writing and a very fancy collage that we all collaborated on.

Transition. Our team will be transitioning very quickly even though we just started with the departure of our current director. Even though we are all very very very sad to see this person leave we are excited for the opportunities that are ahead. Our team will be evolving (and transitioning) throughout the summer and with the new changes we will be making the Orientation sessions even better for the students!

Transition. After our team building exercises we enjoyed a fabulous lunch which was a local pizza shop that is right next to school. (It was sooo yummy!!) Once we had devoured the pizza we began our Residential Life session with the one and only Mr. Pickett. This session was fun, very informational and concluded with a quick tour of Johnson Hall. All of us on the Orientation Team are now "experts" (so we think) of the housing on campus so please feel free to ask any questions and if we do not know the answer we can direct you to the correct people.

Transition. Our final session on the day was with SAFS (Student Academic Financial Services). This session was very interesting and we all learned a lot! We learned about loans, scholarships (which you should all apply for...), some academic stuff, loans, credits and a lot more. This will be one of the most important offices while you are a student at JWU so make sure you are always nice to the people in this office! 

Transition. Our day ended with a brief meeting with the Senior Staff members. This was an unexpected meeting and was important at the same time. We learned more about the transition that would be taking place this summer by learning about the new director we would be working with. Like mentioned earlier we are all very sad but excited for the new opportunity we have all been presented with. This summer will embody the theme of transition. with the transition our team will be making along with the transition you will all be making. Going from high school to college can be scary but with a little help and guidance your transition can be very smooth and successful.

Monday, May 28, 2012

Hakuna Matata


Journey: An act of traveling from one place to another. 


College can be the journey of a life time, but like all other journeys it is best to be prepared. You might be thinking what is the best way to prepare for college, well I have the answer for you. Summer Orientation. That is where we come in. The Orientation Leaders will be your go-to peeps for any questions about the campus, classes or any questions you may have. We will be using this blog as a way to answer some of your questions, give you updates about what's happening this summer, help prepare you for summer orientation and let you know what we are up.


Speaking of which tomorrow it all begins. When the clock hits 8:30am our summer of being an Orientation Leader begins with our first day of training! Tomorrow we begin our quest in learning how to churn our experience and campus knowledge  into useful information for you all! We will learn to be your Timon and Pumbaa for your jounrey to college. And yes we even sing and dance so get ready!


As you are preparing to embark on your collegiate journey remember Hakuna Matata (which means no worries for the rest of your days, its a problem free philosophy.... (sorry I got the song stuck in my head for a second!)) Make sure you keep reading for updates and to get to know your Summer Orientation Team!


Hakuna Matata all!