You know what they say, if you love what you do you will never work a day in your life. Well, I love what I am doing, and it is weird when I tell people that my job is being an orientation leader because it doesn't feel like a job. I wake up excited to go to work and am bummed on days when we don't work. Here are just a few of the reasons why I love what I do.
1. I get to wear a fanny pack.
Yes, I have gotten weird looks. Yes, I rock my fanny pack. Our fanny packs are supplied by orientation and they come in a wide variety of colors. We customize them with buttons and put all of our necessities in them. We fill them with pens, pencils, food, keys, phones, and post it notes.
2. I made amazing friendships that will last beyond the walls of orientation.
We all got pretty close. I guess working together everyday for a month and a half will do that. We learned a lot about each other and we enjoy each other's company.
3. My bosses are pretty cool.
How can you work with orientation for over five years and not be cool? They are innovative, helpful, and awesome. They know orientation like the back of their hands and have it planned so it runs like a well-oiled machine.
4. I get to meet people from all over the place.
Not only are the orientation leaders from all over, but the students are as well. I've met people from California, Ohio, Florida, Texas, and India.
5. I get to help people.
My biggest goal in life is to help people. At orientation I get to help people through a very stressful time: registration. I help put schedules together, find classes that fit with their practice schedule, help them find an honors section, and help ease the registration process. The best thing is that look of accomplishment when someone's schedule is finally finished and they thank you for helping them. You can see the worry go from their eyes and the excitement fill their body. They are officially a college student.
6. The backstage shenanigans.
As orientation leaders, part of the responsibility is speaking on stage in front of roughly 250 students plus their parents. We ease some of the nerves by making faces at each other backstage, getting in trouble because we are whispering, and playing on our phones hoping that they don't make any noise!
7. The training was super fun.
Of course their were some boring days where we sat in a chair for four hours and learned about placement testing, but we pushed through it. That led us to participate in fun team building activities!
8. We are all pretty cool.
Again, how can you work in orientation and not be cool.
9. It's Fun!!!
This job is a blast. From hanging with 25 of your closest friends all day, to dancing the night away (until 11 p.m.). You get to make a fool out of yourself on the dance floor, play dodgeball and give students prizes if they hit you, make someone's day by giving them a prize, and you get to call numbers for bingo. I highly recommend being an orientation leader; it might just change your life.
