I’ve spent a lot of time over the past few days working on the Orientation Assistant and Leader training before Orientation in August. This project has been sped up a bit due to the Director of Orientation hitting full term in her pregnancy this week and a slight scare last week of the baby arriving early. After a long meeting with everyone involved in any sort of Orientation prep role, we are all pushing ahead with that work to try and ease the Director when she does have to leave us.
Here at Dickinson they do Orientation on campus right as freshmen arrive to move in. It is the overwhelming; “Welcome to campus, here is your schedule, here is where you are living, and let’s start orientation!” This concept is apparently very familiar with smaller schools in the Northeast. After learning about the process, I can clearly see why it would never work at a larger institution like State, but it works to perfection here at Dickinson. Freshmen do not have the opportunity to opt out of Orientation like some could at schools where it is spread out for the summer. And this also leaves every freshman on the same page once they arrive. When learning about the student culture at Dickinson, I’ve been told they run into a real problem with separation of social classes among students. By bringing students in the exact same way at the same time, they hope to minimize that as much as possible as soon as they arrive. Because I’m leaving at the beginning of August and classes start towards the very end of August at Dickinson, I won’t be able to see my training happen in addition to witnessing move-in and Orientation. Thankfully I’ve already been promised updates along the way after my departure!
Carrie
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