This summer I worked as a Student Orientation Leader (SOL) for the incoming freshman class of the University of Cincinnati. Being a SOL was one of the most difficult and rewarding experiences of my life. This experience started out the day after exams finished in the spring. With 34 of my fellow SOLs in training, I went through a month of team bonding, learning about the university, training for the job, and preparing for orientation. We had presenters from many offices around campus, including a talk with the President of the University, Neville Pinto. We learned about different services offered to students and much about the university itself. I learned more about UC in my month of SOL training than in three years attending UC full time. This training culminated in a four day retreat to the Linsley Outdoor Center in Pennsylvania. This was a five day long retreat in a remote location with no phones or access to the outside world. We participated in activities that helped us learn more about our team and ourselves. We did small team building exercises at the center, and travelled to a nearby state park to climb and repel down cliffs, enjoy nature, and learn to depend on our time. I exceeded my own expectations for myself by repelling down the side of a massive cliff, something I never thought I would do. Through this experience, I learned to depend on my team for physical and emotional support. This also helped me to trust myself and others.
After a month of training, we began our orientation sessions. I worked with students, parents, professors, advisors, staff from around the university, and every member of my team on a daily basis. Putting together and running orientation for almost 6,000 new students was exhausting. We woke up every day around 5:00 AM, and sometimes didn’t finish until 9:00 at night. The work was sometimes physical, and often emotional. We often dealt with students and parents that were very upset and sometimes just flat out mean. I learned throughout this summer to always take into account what someone else might be feeling when they treat you poorly. Even though I went through orientation in 2014 and forgot much of what it is like to be starting college, I had to put myself back in that mindset. I recalled being anxious about moving away, and absolutely panicked when I saw my schedule for the first time. After putting myself back in that mindset, it was much easier to work with people who were probably feeling the same way that I was just a few years ago. My ability to turn on a dime also increased a lot this summer. With so many people coming to orientation sessions and so many things happening simultaneously, I had to learn to be flexible, and calm when things didn’t go the way I, or anyone else, had planned. One night when I had jst clocked out of my very long shift, a mom of an incoming student asked me to show her where we would meet the next morning, which turned into me giving her an hour long tour of campus. Another time, a family showed up halfway into the first day, about five hour late, and I had to make it work for them so their student could continue on schedule. i also learned a lot about working as a team. With long hours, high expectations, and emotions running high, sometimes working as a team was difficult. As a rule, SOLs also tend to be a very outspoken bunch, the type of group that can be hard for me to find my place in. I learned how to pick my battles- when to just let things go and when to stand up for myself.
The small moment of this summer made it all worth it. A few weeks ago, I received a card from a grandmother I had met at her grandson’s orientation thanking me for how hard I had been working and how kind I was to her and her family. I had several mothers cry with relief when I could find them an answer to a problem they were anxious about, and several students reach out to thank me for being their small group leader and telling me they had a great time at orientation.
I will take the skills I learned from this job to everything I do in the future. It has made me better able to deal with stress, be on time, and work with a complex group. I found a new group of lifelong friends through SOL. I'm so glad I had to experience to meet and impact the futures of almost 6,000 new Bearcats, and am even more proud than i was before to call UC my home.
After a month of training, we began our orientation sessions. I worked with students, parents, professors, advisors, staff from around the university, and every member of my team on a daily basis. Putting together and running orientation for almost 6,000 new students was exhausting. We woke up every day around 5:00 AM, and sometimes didn’t finish until 9:00 at night. The work was sometimes physical, and often emotional. We often dealt with students and parents that were very upset and sometimes just flat out mean. I learned throughout this summer to always take into account what someone else might be feeling when they treat you poorly. Even though I went through orientation in 2014 and forgot much of what it is like to be starting college, I had to put myself back in that mindset. I recalled being anxious about moving away, and absolutely panicked when I saw my schedule for the first time. After putting myself back in that mindset, it was much easier to work with people who were probably feeling the same way that I was just a few years ago. My ability to turn on a dime also increased a lot this summer. With so many people coming to orientation sessions and so many things happening simultaneously, I had to learn to be flexible, and calm when things didn’t go the way I, or anyone else, had planned. One night when I had jst clocked out of my very long shift, a mom of an incoming student asked me to show her where we would meet the next morning, which turned into me giving her an hour long tour of campus. Another time, a family showed up halfway into the first day, about five hour late, and I had to make it work for them so their student could continue on schedule. i also learned a lot about working as a team. With long hours, high expectations, and emotions running high, sometimes working as a team was difficult. As a rule, SOLs also tend to be a very outspoken bunch, the type of group that can be hard for me to find my place in. I learned how to pick my battles- when to just let things go and when to stand up for myself.
The small moment of this summer made it all worth it. A few weeks ago, I received a card from a grandmother I had met at her grandson’s orientation thanking me for how hard I had been working and how kind I was to her and her family. I had several mothers cry with relief when I could find them an answer to a problem they were anxious about, and several students reach out to thank me for being their small group leader and telling me they had a great time at orientation.
I will take the skills I learned from this job to everything I do in the future. It has made me better able to deal with stress, be on time, and work with a complex group. I found a new group of lifelong friends through SOL. I'm so glad I had to experience to meet and impact the futures of almost 6,000 new Bearcats, and am even more proud than i was before to call UC my home.