Schreiner was founded educating males to serve their duties to the Nation by shaping them into leaders of action. You might be asking yourself, what does this have to do with Schreiner's orientation? Well, it's simple. Schreiner educates and transforms its students into not only professionals in their chosen career, but as leaders. These students tend to actively participate along with professors that by the time future freshmen come into the door, they feel right at home.
So what makes Schreiner's Orientation so special?
When I went through orientation two years ago, I remember my the overwhelming attention I felt from the faculty. It was a non stop, "Hey! How have you been? I remember you came on a tour!" or "Hey! Does your mom still want you to be a dentist?" Don't worry, Ms. Bannister (our registrar will fix it). It was a constant, "Don't worry, we will help you out" from my mentors, always with a smile on their faces. I remember how scared I was to be with a group of people who did not know my name and would judge me for things I liked or believed in. But it was never like that. It was always accepting. It was always be you.
After being positively impacted by my mentors, I decided to apply to be one, too. And as orientation just passed, I decided to ask my mentees what they felt was so special about Schreiner and the impact it had on them. All in short, it was the mentors. Their answers were:
"The fact that I went into orientation with zero friends and left with sixteen of them."
"The family like atmosphere that all the mentors and students put off. I never felt like I had to act a certain way in order to make friends."
"What made Schreiner Orientation special for me was having team leaders that are really cool and would actually listen to what you had to say."
"Oh, and the games."
Orientation is about becoming that family away from home. It is about playing life size Hungry Hungry Hippo, Paw Claw Captain (which is the equivalent to Rock Paper Scissors, Schreiner style), winning and losing together, but staying positive and bringing each other up. It is about bringing everyone's ideas together to make a chant for the traditional chant off during lunch. It is about being respectful towards our differences and still being able to become a family in one weekend.
This all goes back to Schreiner educating its students to become leaders. If we want to be successful, we must learn to lead, we must learn to follow. It is easy to lead and follow when your class supports you and encourages you to be the best you can be. This is Schreiner, and that is why it has become our home since day one.
