Dear OL,

I have just completed my first semester of college, and it wouldn’t have been possible without you.

It is slightly hard to believe that it has been three months since we first met and were still trying to navigate our roles: me as a college student, and you as an orientation leader. You were some of the first faces I saw at Brandeis, and were surely two of the faces I saw the most throughout orientation week.

My pre-orientation group. Photo by Mia Edelstein.

Thank you for welcoming me to Brandeis with open arms, for getting me excited for activities and classes (and of course, your own clubs) and for answering all the questions I had about college. Thank you for showing me everything there was to know about campus (even the buildings you didn’t know existed), but more importantly, for showing me the shortcut up the Rabb steps, because, quite frankly, I did not want to walk up and down those stairs four days a week for the rest of my time at Brandeis (German minor problems).

Thank you for all the hard work you put into planning and training both before and after we arrived, and for sacrificing parts of your summers and numerous hours of sleep. I don’t remember all the awkward icebreakers we did, but I remember you waking up for 7 a.m. breakfast in Sherman after four hours of sleep (and I'm sorry I slept through that). Thank you for continuously trying to hype us up for events even when you were severely sleep-deprived and were basically running off coffee.

Chris and I at the Social Justice event. Photo by Brandeis University.

Thank you for being both a role model and a friend, and for being there for me. You never fail to put a smile on my face when you wave from afar, ask me to take pictures of a microwave or text me about the weirdest things at the most obscure hours. I wouldn’t want to stay late and work on The Hoot at 2 a.m. with anyone else.

Mia's article and my picture on the 09/09/16 edition of The Brandeis Hoot.

And finally, thank you for continuing to be a part of my Brandeis family long after orientation ended; you will always be my favorite OLs. I truly hope I will be able to make someone else’s Brandeis experience the way you made mine so great one day.

Loves,

Your (favorite) grouplet