Dear World,
I just want to have a nice little chat about what it is really like to see and partake in the development of events. Now, I am in college and so my events are more campus wide over like city or state or nation... Much, much different.
I am now going into my third year of college and I have been to my fair share amount of events and once I joined my sorority and once I joined the student engagement office on our campus I saw so much more then just the pretty little set up that you go too for an hour or more and then leave and not realize the effort we all out into that.
Since school is starting there is one event in particular that I would love for people to understand. NEW. STUDENT. ORIENTATION.
We all have gone through it and lets be honest 9 of the 10 of us did not want to be there.I am now in my second year helping the orientation team get everything together because let me tell you the one day orientation you went too is not the only one were doing, or the three day mass orientation we are trying, it was not just all magically put together, everything did not just happen into place. The orientation does not just begin and end when with the tours, the ice breakers, the informational sessions, and the moving in. The flyers with the schedule that you do not want to carry around because you think it is pointless is way more then just a piece of paper.
For you yes, that is all. We want you all to see it run smoothly we want you all to feel welcome and excited and ready to start you collegiate career.
The side you see, the so much more I keep saying is this. You get there at 8 am, our office, our team of leaders get there at 6:30 am. We show up with coffee in hand and a dazed look and begin setting up for a good long day, everything we set up in the morning gets taken down in the evenings, we leave up what we can but for the most part; we will not finish our nights until 10 pm. While out O-Team has you out and learning the more intricate details and stories of our campus the others are trying to take down one thing while we start set up for the events that evening,
Do not mistake me either, ask anyone of the leaders or office members about their job and they will tell you they love it. We do not spend our summers at the beach or pool or where ever else you could think, maybe every now and then or a week event that has been pre-planned but the summer you are enjoying we are all sitting together in an office putting together binders for all the leaders, setting up the bags you will get. We have made numerous detailed logistic sheets for everyone just to make sure there is always something for you. We sit up until 10 pm laughing near delusional talking about stories from the past orientations, dreading the things that may not get done, and patiently awaiting all your sleepy faces and fresh minds. We cannot wait to show you how amazing this place is, we want you to love it as much as us, have the pride in our university. The months of planning, the late nights, the liters of coffee drank, the early mornings, the tedious tasks:
if you asked any orientation leader if they like their job, they will tell you it is all worth it.
Sincerely,
The One Who Finally Saw Behind The Scenes
