Orientation leaders. They’re probably some of the most important students on campus. They’re the first friends you make when you get to Suffolk. They train and work for countless hours to make sure our transition into Suffolk goes smoothly. It’s a difficult, important, and extremely rewarding job.
I sat down with Joe Nordlie, Suffolk sophomore, 2014 Orientation Leader and 2015 Orientation Scholar to find out exactly what it takes to take on the job.
Instaram: What to you was most rewarding about being an Orientation Leader?
Joe: I think the thing that I loved the most about being an O.L was meeting all the students, because they all came from different backgrounds and different places and cultures. That to me was so exciting to meet a different person no matter who you interacted with because everyone was different. I had an international group and there was someone from Germany, Japan, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, like, I had the globe as my orientation group. It was really interesting.
Instaram: What do you think are some of the best qualities for an O.L to have?
Joe: Well one thing that I’ve learned is that we’re not looking for the stereotypical O.L . The thing that everyone thinks we’re looking for is the outgoing, jubilant kind of stuff but there isn’t actually one specific quality that we look for. Some things you should definitely keep in mind is coming with an open mind. That’s one of the best qualities is being open minded and ready for anything. Also I think that making sure you know how to work in a team and not just how to be a leader, because you’re going to be working in this team a lot. You need to be a leader for the freshmen but you also need to know how to work in a team and step back sometimes.
Instaram: How much of a commitment is it to be an O.L?
Joe: The orientation position in the spring is about one day of training every other week. This year we’re going to be meeting at 8:30 in the morning on Fridays but it is training for getting up early in the morning for orientation. (For orientation) We get up around 6:30 every day to be ready for our 7 am staff meetings. It’s kind of crazy during orientation so we’re preparing them for that. Not only that but preparing them for real world experience, because you’re going to have to get up that early not matter what you do. During orientation we have two weeks of May training from about May 20th to June 1st. And those two weeks are very intense and very time consuming. We go into it and we meet with all different departments on campus. We meet with diversity services, Dean Coyne to talk about campus safety, on campus housing, off campus housing to get the full scope of everything we need to know. Then we go over how to build schedules and how to make sure that students are feeling welcome and how to do Rams and all these good skills to have. Orientation itself is two days, twice a week. So the first session is Monday/Tuesday and Thursday/Friday, but we also have two early arrival days on Sunday and Wednesday. Overall it was really hectic and really busy but it was really a life changing experience.
To apply to be an orientation leader you must attend one information session. There are three left on the following dates:
Thursday, October 23 from 5:30-6:30 p.m. in Donahue Building, Room 403
– Tuesday, October 28 from 1-2 p.m. in 150 Tremont, Basement Auditorium
– Friday, October 31 from 11 a.m.-12 p.m. in Donahue Building, Room 403
Applications are due October 31st. For more information please visit http://www.suffolk.edu/campuslife/5747.php
