McLarty - Week 3 - Mississippi University for Women, Office of Student Life

Activities

-Scored evaluations from parents and students for Transfer I Orientation and Freshman I Orientation

-Composed an executive summary from the results of the evaluations from orientation

-Continued working on the letter to community businesses asking for their participation in Involvement Palooza

-Took a campus tour to learn more about the individual building on campus and the different activities and academics offered at the MUW campus

Reflection

This week I got to help in analyzing the first two orientation sessions to determine what, if any, changes should be made to ensure that July orientation sessions would run even more smoothly than June sessions. All of the evaluations were scored by hand, then put into an Excel file on the S drive for all professional staff to see. I then worked on compiling the information into an executive summary. This was the first time I worked on an executive summary. This is basically a summary of the results I had scored from the evaluations. This made me feel like I was really making a difference in the Office of Student Life! Jess trusted me to analyze the results and give my opinions of what, if anything, should be changed or left the same. I was so excited to get to participate in this! I created a detailed summary that entailed specific numbers and generalizations regarding satisfaction of the orientations.

One thing I noticed when scoring the evaluations was the difference in needs of parents and students. Parents, in general, prefer a more structured, detailed orientation. Students enjoy the enthusiasm from Orientation Leaders and flexibility. Although both are concerned with academia, the way in which the information is presented to the separate groups may be different. This was a very interesting conceptualization I encountered when scoring and analyzing the results of the evaluations.

The campus tour was extremely beneficial, especially regarding the next orientation session I will be working. I learned so much information about the school with regard to academics, housing, student organizations, and extracurricular activities. Although I work in Campus Visits at Mississippi State, I sometimes fail to realize the importance of the tour itself. Learning this information can help determine a student’s fit at that particular institution. The history behind the institution is also extremely beneficial. I have learned that this is one of my favorite parts of giving and receiving campus tours – the history of the institution. History and traditions make you realize how the institution came to be what it is today. Not only is this a selling point in recruiting individuals to the institution, but it can also create emotional ties to the institution and promote student engagement through involvement in different organizations and campus activities.