Bryan Kelley: Cullis Wade Depot and Welcome Center - Week Two

Activity

• Met with Site Supervisor
• Welcomed visiting parents and students
• Organized visitors for Bulldog for a Day into tour groups and gave critical information concerning the day
• Began Brainstorming ideas for Maroon VIP Handbook revisions
• Led campus wide tours to visiting groups

Experience

My second week at the Welcome Center certainly turned out to be a busy one. Being in the middle of summer, the University is hosting two events every week called Bulldog for a Day, which typically only occur once a week during the school year. These events are essentially prospective students who are still in high school, coming to take a tour of the campus while also having the opportunity to speak to Admissions Counselors about the possibility of enrollment. The first point of contact for these groups is the Welcome Center while have the pleasure of being the first person from the university to greet and assist the visitors. Getting to work Bulldog for a Day allows me to provide visitors with critical information concerning their day in addition to being able to get some logistic work in by dividing the visitors into tour groups, making sure groups are ready at the appropriate times and that the group sizes are roughly equal. Despite space getting tight and the difficulty of keeping up with whom I spoke to and who I have yet to speak to, I am quickly coming to realize that I am continuing to enjoy my experience at the Welcome Center. I love talking to all the visitors, answering questions, and more importantly getting to share my passion for Mississippi State University with them. This has been a great opportunity for me! 

In addition to Bulldog for a Day, the University is also in the middle of hosting Orientation sessions for incoming students in the fall. Many of these incoming students stop by the Welcome Center to get directions, instructions, or help in general. This is a neat opportunity as well because the students are typically very excited to experience orientation and everything Mississippi State University has to offer. 

I also had the wonderful opportunity to have a meeting with the professional staff in the office to sit down to discuss the revisions I am considering for the Maroon VIP Handbook. This meeting allowed us to bounce ideas off one another to consider what would be most beneficial to change in the handbook as well as things that should absolutely remain the same. This is a really engaging and important process. It is interesting to think that whatever revisions I make to the handbook will ultimately be the information that visitors to the university receive on tours of the university until the next revision to the handbook down the road. This process carries a large sense of responsibility, but also a wonderful excitement all at the same time. 

I also had the opportunity to give a campus tour this past week. These are enjoyable because the tours seemingly rekindle my passion for Mississippi State University as I have the pleasure of watching awe cross the visitors faces as I explain the history and current information about some of the most notable locations on campus. Needless to say, it was a busy but wonderfully productive week in the Welcome Center.