Becoming an Orientation Leader (OL) at a small school is highly competitive and involves a lengthy application process that often discourages many from even trying. With 50 positions from a pool of about 200 applicants, it's a daunting task to assemble a group of the most eclectic and outgoing but responsible and accomplished students. Being a member of a Division I team that consumes most of my time during the school year, I found it hard to become involved with anything outside of athletics. After spending a week and half with people who are so different from each other but somehow totally similar, you’ve become some of the best of friends and can’t imagine how you made it this far in college without this intensely rewarding experience.
1. Looking ridiculous is nearly a part of the job description.
You strangely take pride in and accept how ridiculous you’ll look at orientation because if you can’t laugh at yourself, who can you laugh at? You’re totally okay with self-embarrassment because welcome dances and name games are totally normal this week and if you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen.
2. You dread and love training week at the same time.
Willingly, you surrender your mind, body, and soul to tireless hours spent at training sessions, dance practices, and play rehearsals. Staying up until at least midnight and somehow only manage to get four hours of sleep, you can somehow push yourself beyond means you never thought you could. Through all of this, training week is a blur because truly time flies when you’re having fun.
3. You have a tight bond with fellow Orientation Leaders that other students notice and think is super weird.
I would never have met even half of the people I now call friends if I hadn’t become an OL. Across the sophomore, junior, and senior classes, our paths would never have crossed; whether that be because we were involved in different things on campus, they were a completely different major then I am, or a combination of other factors, we would not be brought together if it weren’t for this *~magical~* week.
4. You experience Post-Orientation Week Depression (POWD).
After a week spent with high-energy, bouncing off the walls-type of people, you’re immediately thrown back into real life (aka school) and have to deal with things including but not limited to: buying books, HOMEWORK, adding and dropping classes, HOMEWORK, professors, clubs and activities, and HOMEWORK (ew). Integrating back into real life and catching up with old friends is hard.
In the words of a fellow OL, you might ask yourself: “Why is everyone else so bland?”
5. You develop a close relationship with your orientees that carry far beyond the days of orientation.
You’re actually hanging out with your orientation group of first-year students nearly 24/7 for a couple days, so you’re bound to create close relationships with them. When orientation is over and they’re thrown forcefully to the world that is college, it’s natural that they’ll reach out to you with questions because, even though you certainly don’t have it all figured out, they think you do.
If you’re thinking about becoming an Orientation Leader, do it. It is easily the most rewarding thing I have done throughout my college years thus far and resulted in some of the greatest memories and new friends that I could ask for (sorry for getting really cliché and sappy, but it's too fitting).
