McLarty - Week 6 - Office of Student Life, Mississippi University for Women

Activities

-       Helped lead orientation for Freshman in all ways possible

-       Mediated the parent panel during Freshman orientation

-       Led a reflection activity for orientation leaders

-       Scored all evaluations for Transfer 2 and Freshman 2 orientations from parent/family members and students

-       Composed executive summary of evaluations from all orientation sessions

Reflection

I am amazed at how close I had gotten with the orientation leaders in such a short amount of time. I never expected to be as upset as I was that orientation had come to an end at MUW. Working with those 14 students was such a blessing and definitely confirmed my love for working with students. During the reflection activity, several of the students mentioned how they were going to miss me and that I had really stepped up to the plate and made some executive decisions during the orientation sessions. To get compliments like that from the orientation leaders was indescribable. This was such a devoted and accepting group of students that I am going to miss immensely. I honestly feel that I have found a new love within student affairs – orientation.

Mediating the parent panel was a little more difficult than I was expecting it to be. The parents had a session in which four students (orientation leaders) would honestly answer any question the parents had. With them answering honestly, my job was to ensure that the answer somehow ended on a positive note. A few of the parents were extremely bothered that the visitation hours went until 1:00 AM. While the students were trying to explain that the visitors were not allowed to spend the night, one parent snapped on her and concluded that 1:00 AM is overnight because it is into the morning hours. This was where I stepped in. I explained to the parents that MUW has a very well organized check-in policy, and the students will be removed if they try to stay after visitation hours are over. I further went on to explain that parents must talk with their children about the expectations they may have for them in college. After, the upset parent was relieved and felt better about the situation. I had to give the answer a positive spin for the parents to gain confidence in the safety of the campus. This made me realize the once again the difference in speaking with parents and family compared to speaking with students. All in all, the parent panel seemed to go smoothly. The orientation leaders all did a great job and answered the questions honestly.

Scoring the evaluations is both exciting and scary at the same time. Some parents can be very harsh on the orientation leaders, and being that I have gotten so close with this group of students, it hurts me when comments made on the evaluations hurt them. While most all of the evaluations were positive, some parents felt that more supervision of the orientation leaders is necessary and others felt that the sessions could be more time efficient. Although most comments were good, these evaluations will be used for improvement of orientation sessions next year. Mrs. Harpole will be provided a summary of all the information received from all evaluations of the orientation sessions in order to determine what, if any, changes need to be made in the future. I have truly enjoyed working in this department, and I am sad to see my time coming to an end.

Enjoy your last few weeks!

Nici McLarty