SO Part 4: Sessions 3 & 4

Rain. It poured for SO3. The day began with a light drizzle, but at the height of check-in the buckets came pouring down. Being a resilient team, we adapted to meet the new conditions of our surroundings and coped well. Transit between buildings was easily achieved with minimal drenching somehow, and being a group leader I was incredibly surprised. My group was quiet in the morning. I attributed it mostly to the weather, though it obviously was very early. I set out to lighten their spirits, even going as far as memorizing all of their names right in front of them.

I spent the next few hours between Help Desk and the Union shuttling various materials before I settled into the McNeil room for family lunch. I collected meal tickets from the parents with a smile and then jetted off to Commons for some student interaction.

The rain gave up halfway through the day as I treked back to man Help Desk for a few hours. I was incredibly surprised with the efficiency and organization of the tours during SO3. I watched from the desk as people were lead out to Freshmen Hill in the pouring rain without chaos or confusion of any kind. I actually felt helpful there for once. I left there early to get a bite with parents before panel. I must say, the McNeil room has excellent tortellini. Parent panel went exceptionally well, catering to a much smaller group than my first experience. I received many more ‘thank yous’ than I ever had during any other time.

My evening meeting was easily the best meeting out of the four I ran. My group was nearly all talkative and open, a welcome change from the morning’s quiet. The New Student Celebration was not quite as good as SO2, but the adventure there in heavy pouring rain was exciting. Upon arrival, my group was one of the first and there was nobody out on the dance floor. Not to be outdone by the weather, a bunch of us advisors began to dance by ourselves on the floor. We eventually attracted a good sized crowd in there and the rest of the party went off without incident. The scheduling afterwards was extremely enjoyable despite the late night. I got to know several of my students well and I hope I get to see them more during the school year.

Thursday I ran Help Desk. Nothing much to say here. As a group leader, I enjoyed check-out more than I ever had; I really had a blast with my group and I’m glad I was their advisor. Thursday night was some of the most fun I’ve had all orientation: somebody kidnapped our mascot potato Darryl JoNathan Po-Tato and held him for ransom. We spent hours discussing possible suspects, searching through campus and just attempting to be smart. Things happened, but we haven’t solved the crime to this day.

SO4. B-e-a-utiful day. I got to stand out in front of the Union greeting parents as they came in. I’m not that outgoing, but a few fellow advisors got me in the right mindset for the job. They were incredible this morning. However, I was thrust into unfamiliar territory. I had to do Academic Escorts, meaning I’d take students to see their academic advisor for the day. I led a group to the Civil and Environmental Engineering session as well as to Undeclared. I sat in on CEE because UGS was pretty well staffed. The advisor covered hundreds of key points, but he did it in a way that almost put me to sleep. I don’t understand how the kids would pick up on these without my experience, but I hope to help them tonight.

Lunch was okay, but after eating the food for the fourth time, I felt pretty crappy. I also developed a headache somewhere before my second advising session. I took the parents of those Civil, Environmental and Undeclared students to the same rooms that their kids were in and sat in on an identical presentation as the first. I got to take Undeclared parents whose kids decided on a major to their proper advising rooms, but with everyone running late, it was a pretty stressful experience.

Upon returning to the Great Hall I was treated to several bad stories about parents among other things. It seemed like a great number of advisors were having just a really crappy day. My day wasn’t that great, even being on student panel for the first time, but I’m hoping that NSC tonight will change that. I’m just too tired to deal with the students anymore. I’m going to write a final overview of SO after it’s all done; I just hope that I can do it before I crash on Sunday.

Addendum: NSC4 is definitely 2nd to NSC2. Better music, better dances, I finally know most of the moves to everything, we got everyone to do the lollipop dance, Beat It was sick, and the students were all really into it. Okay day, awesome night. I love these people.

Addendum 2: Day 2 was pretty easy for me. I actually got to escort people to registration and then help them get their schedules. I wasn’t faced with any questions I didn’t know and I was thanked by nearly everyone there. It was a good morning.

~ by Jake on 25 July 2008.