So basically as a GO Leader you recieve a list of students at the begining of the summer, and are asked to write a hand written letters to them introducing yourself and telling them you will be their leader for orientation. You explain to them they can ask you any questions they have about starting college. Then you arrive on campus, early in August, before anyone else, and go through a four day traning to prepare for orientation. You learn what you will be doing, and how to handle different types of students and parents. Then the real hard work begins when the new students arrive and they are divided into groups and given to the different leaders. For the next four days, you lead group icebreakers, discussions and help make them feel welcome. For those eight days you get very little sleep because you are up at seven in the morning and finally leaving for the night at ten o'clock. But they are the most fun. You make the worlds best friends, and realize exactly why you picked Westminster to attend. You are so tired but you don't care. You drink coffee like its your job, and run around in the 90 degree heat. And you love it. You don't do it to put on your resume, or to get paid (because you don't). You do it because you love making the freshman feel at home. It is scary leaving home and heading to a brand new place. We have all been there. And so being there to help others feel as though Westminster is their second home is important. Your are the first person they meet when they step on campus. You can either give the school a good impression or a bad one. It is said that the first three weeks of college decide if a student will stay there or not. And so being that person to set the stone is quite an incredible feeling. It gives you joy and makes you feel absolutely blessed.
My freshman year of college I knew I wanted to get involved on campus, but wasn't exactly sure how. I had been approached about being an Residential Advisor, but I knew I didn't want to do that because it takes up a lot of time, and you have to be able to discipline freshman which I am not good at. I could join a few clubs, whichI figured would be good, but wouldn't really get me involved as much as I wanted to be. So in September of my freshman year, I decided to attend a leadership confrence they were holding on campus. They had different sessions throughout the day you could attend for various leadership positions on campus. They had one for GO Leaders. GO leaders are Griffin Oreintation Leaders, who help welcome the new students at the begining of the year, and run orientation which helps them ease into college. I went through oreintation when I started, and my GO leader had told me about the position. So I went to the session to see what it was about. They explained what the leadership position was, and how much fun it was. I walked out of that session so excited to apply to be a GO leader. I figured this was just the way I was looking to get involved on campus. So I called my mom that day and told her what I was going to do, and she was so thrilled. I applied, interviewed and was selected.
So basically as a GO Leader you recieve a list of students at the begining of the summer, and are asked to write a hand written letters to them introducing yourself and telling them you will be their leader for orientation. You explain to them they can ask you any questions they have about starting college. Then you arrive on campus, early in August, before anyone else, and go through a four day traning to prepare for orientation. You learn what you will be doing, and how to handle different types of students and parents. Then the real hard work begins when the new students arrive and they are divided into groups and given to the different leaders. For the next four days, you lead group icebreakers, discussions and help make them feel welcome. For those eight days you get very little sleep because you are up at seven in the morning and finally leaving for the night at ten o'clock. But they are the most fun. You make the worlds best friends, and realize exactly why you picked Westminster to attend. You are so tired but you don't care. You drink coffee like its your job, and run around in the 90 degree heat. And you love it. You don't do it to put on your resume, or to get paid (because you don't). You do it because you love making the freshman feel at home. It is scary leaving home and heading to a brand new place. We have all been there. And so being there to help others feel as though Westminster is their second home is important. Your are the first person they meet when they step on campus. You can either give the school a good impression or a bad one. It is said that the first three weeks of college decide if a student will stay there or not. And so being that person to set the stone is quite an incredible feeling. It gives you joy and makes you feel absolutely blessed.
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AuthorMy name is Alex. I am senior in college majoring in elementary education and minoring in teaching English as a second language. I enjoy doing many crafts such as scrap-booking, card making and jewelry making in my free time. I also love to write, cook, bake and spend time in the outdoors camping and fishing. I am a few months away from becoming a certified elementary school teacher. I am open to teaching any grade. I also hope to one day become a published author. Archives
July 2017
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