During the summer, I was an Orientation Leader for incoming students at Central. Considering how many applications were sent in, I was lucky to have the summer job of everyone’s dreams. As fun as it was, I would consider it one of the most physically and mentally demanding jobs that I’ve ever worked, and wouldn’t consider it a job for everyone.
I have worked a few other jobs; renovating apartments, cleaning houses, and even the on-campus café, but nothing compared to the work I had to do this past summer. You go through fun training sessions and learn about team-building exercises while also living in residence halls during the summer. But nothing prepared me for having to be up from 7 a.m. until 11 p.m. or the mental strain of having students disrespect me and talk badly about me.
Going in, I believed this was going to be the summer of my life, and it was, but not in the typical, “this is life a movie,” type of way. Rather I found myself surrounded by people who were also trying to have fun but also feeling the mental and physical strains that I did. Many first-year students were placed into the wrong classes or missing critical FYE courses. This included the shifted blame onto us OLs, as we were put into a position where we had to help guide the students alongside a few academic advisors. What many don’t understand is that we were learning alongside the students, using a new system different than what we were used to for registering for classes.
Every session we had was filled with hundreds of students, some orientation groups having almost thirty students with only two OLs. Even though we had this mental strain, we had to remain energetic and active. On many occasions, I turned to my partner and told him I needed a few minutes to myself. I would come back to help him while also trying my best to make sure the students weren’t able to tell how exhausted I was and how much I wanted to go back to sleep.
While the summer was fun and a great learning experience, it was nothing like I expected. It was hard and it was sad at times, but it taught me a lot along the way. It taught me amazing skills in talking to people and making hard situations better.
I will miss everyone, as they have become my family and I always greet my orientation students as I pass them. But I hope to push forward in my career and I will be taking the lessons I learned along the way.
