Amber Norwood: Orientation and Events - Week 3

Activities:

• Met with supervisor
• Assisted with Orientation Housing Check-in
• Worked an orientation sessions from beginning (Thursday morning) to finish (Friday afternoon)

Experience:

      The past weekend at practicum was a whirlwind, but a great one! I did the usual things that I've been blogging about for the past couple of weeks, but I also got to assist with orientation housing check-in. I was really excited for this opportunity since housing is a functional area that is somewhat foreign to me. I was able to check families in for the orientation portion and then learn about the process of checking students into a residence hall. Eventually, I was confident enough in my (very limited) knowledge of the process to answer some questions about the housing process or refer the family to another worker. 

      I also finally got to assist with an orientation session in its entirety. My job usually prevents me from experiencing the full event because I have to hold office hours. However, this past week I took Thursday and Friday off. It was really fun to get to participate in all aspects of the event. I can tell that the trust between the staff and I are increasing because this week I was put on the duty roster to work parts of the event without any supervisions as if I was a professional staff member and not a summer intern. 

     As usual, I met with Kylie several times throughout the week to discuss how things were going and I always appreciate her being very intentional about giving me an "inside look" at orientation. Since she went through the program herself, she knows how important it is for me to learn all that I can.

This is what our Orientation Leaders look like by the end of the week! Don't worry, orientation was already over :)