Friday, June 22, 2012

June Orientation Recap

Time must fly when you're having fun, because we can't believe we already have two Summer Orientation programs under our belt and haven't managed a post update! 

Let's take a look at June 7, 2012 Orientation. Ahh, the first orientation of the summer. We love the first orientation and it seems like the energy is always the highest. The Orientation Leaders are pumped, the new students coming in are pumped - Here are the smiling faces new students saw as they approached the Wilks Conference Center for Orientation:

Ashley, Jess & Nick: part of our "Welcome Door" crew!
These students, who worked the Welcome Door, showed students where to go to check in for Orientation and reminded them to bring info they need for their parking pass application (among other things). 

Don't forget to SMILE!
Our group from June 7 got pretty into our EXTREME Rock, Paper, Scissors game, here they are cheering their faces off:

And here are some group shots from the day. 

The SPACELY SPROCKETS, with Lance & Jeff
TEAM WOOKIE with Aimee and Jeff
The MIAMI MARTIANS with Brook & Ashley

The SHOOTING STARS with Jess Beck & Desiree
MIB with Chuck & Mike (MIB = Men In Black)
TEAM ROCKET with Dan and Logan
INFINITY AND BEYOND with Ashley & Nick
GALAXY DEFENDERS with Stephanie and Rashad

After each orientation, we try to get a group picture of the Orientation Leaders as well. Here they are after June 7's program finished: 


We find that our first orientation is always the highest-energy orientation and this time was no exception. Though it was a little smaller-than-usual group, students seemed to be in high spirits and the Orientation Leaders did a great job! 

Our second Orientation of the summer was held on June 21 and it was another success, despite some last minute panicking on the part of the staff. We found out THE DAY BEFORE ORIENTATION that  the freezer we use for our popsicles had broken a few days before and every. single. popsicle. had melted. And the freezer was still broken. And also, that an outside group had drank ALL of our soda for our June 21 Orientation, despite the fact that it had all been clearly labeled in the catering fridge with the word "ORIENTATION" all over it. 

So there was definitely some last minute problem solving going on. For the popsicles, we managed to move the popsicles to another freezer on campus - one on wheels - although it had been completely defrosted and not plugged in for the summer, so the popsicles were only MOSTLY frozen by the time Orientation came around. But it worked just fine. Students were none-the-wiser. As for the stolen soda, we bought a few more packs from the store and then actually found that a staff member had actually rescued our soda from the outside group before they could consume all of it, and she had hidden the drinks in a closet. So we skated by with enough water and pop for everyone, phew!

So let's take a look at June 21 Orientation in pictures. 

Here is some members of Campus Activities Committee, reading and raring to go for some new student recruitment during the Resource Fair:

Here come the students!

Our newest addition to Orientation this year is the "Miami M" pennants. Students get about 10-15 minutes during Orientation to personalize the pennants and take one home to keep and cherish forever. 
And some group shots, of course: 








Orientation has been a blast so far and we're hoping our next one (on July 13) is just as fun. We'll see you then!