Student Orientation Analysis

When I was coming up for the different elements of the strategic plan I used the theme of consistency throughout. I used this theme because I believe this is one very important part of orientation that sometimes gets overlooked. Consistency brings result whether they be good or bad. My overall goal was to create a program or tasks throughout the summer that will make orientation as a whole to run smoothly and allow students to feel as if they belong at the university.
Based off my self-awareness results that I received during class I picked my goals the way I would approach any problem. One of my highest results for the SLP was challenged the process and I used that quite a bit when doing this assignment. I based my results off one question,
The four goals are; Create an open dialogue with past OL about the pros and cons of their orientation experience, prepare incoming D-Staff with the necessary tools to prepare them for the role of a mentor, establish the pros and cons of orientation early on in the summer and address those issues as they come up, and get feedback from students and guest that attended orientation. I chose these specific goals because when I approach orientation I like to look at the different factors that are involved. Being in the ELPS 350 class and working as a D-Staff allowed me to do that. There is never a moment when I am not thinking about what I could have done better or how things could have changed for the better and I used that tactic to come up with my strategic plan. The hardest part was thinking about the needs of other. As an orientation leader, we are programmed to tell students information we think they need rather than thinking about what they actually need. For this assignment, I had to take on several roles, Pro-Staff, D-Staff, OL, Parent, Guest, and First-Year Student. This allowed me to think differently and fully understand the needs of those different groups of people during orientation. Because I am not a parent or pro-staff it was hard thinking about the needs of these people; however, I have set goals to get feedback from
This first starts with my creating an open and honest dialogue among the staff and the Ols. By creating this space to freely talk about the ends and outs of orientation we can get see what worked and what didn’t work throughout the years. With the comments gained then, we go through the orientation program with a fine tooth comb to really take out what doesn’t work and understand why it does not work. Next, a mentorship program needs to be in place for D-Staff members to they can fully understand what it takes to be a mentor to the new OLs. Personally coming into this position I thought I knew what it took to be a mentor; however, outside of class, I feel as if I am slacking. By creating this program before the class starts this will allow D-Staff to understand the needs of the new OLs, develop plans and activities to keep them accountable as mentors and allow the new OLs to foster those mentor/mentee bonds. Lastly, it is important that as student leaders we make sure that all voices are heard over the summer. Students and Families and guest show up to orientation with several questions, but they may not feel comfortable expressing those questions. Through proper training, we can create environments that ensure the comfortability of all attendees, but most importantly follow up with those concerns and questions that they might