This past week I’ve been up at Marywood training to be an Orientation Leader for events on Friday and Saturday. We all had an amazing time getting ready to welcome the incoming students. While we had to do training sessions, we also had some fun as well.

We  broke into Olympic Teams and at night had events like a relay and a lip sync battle.  At the end of the week the winners were announced and the team I was part of (blue) won! We also went up to Montage Mountain for a short break and I was able to ride the zip line above the park! I’m not going to lie, I was nervous at first, but once they released us it was amazing and the view was spectacular.

We also spent a large part of the week working on our theater skits that would demonstrate possible scenarios students might encounter and how to handle them. The theater group worked to pull everything together and it looked amazing from my view in the sound booth! Everyone in the audience was laughing and having a great time. Those not in theater worked hard with the Logistics team to decorate the school. Everything came out amazing! 

By Friday morning we were up before dawn ready to welcome the Freshmen (with some help from lots of coffee)! We were yelling and cheering them on as they drove up to the school. I was up in Nazareth center and was able to talk with the students as they came in. Most of them were still half asleep! After the theater skits the freshmen put on their Class of 2021 shirts and did the arch walk. I’m so happy it stopped raining so we were able to do it! 

The next day I was able to spend time with some of the incoming art students during breakfast. There were a lot more Illustration majors than last year (10 rather than 2!) and some Painting majors as well! They were all really excited to be going to Marywood and can’t wait until classes start! I even had a few of them plan to go to First Friday when school starts! They’re a great group of students and I can’t wait to see what they create. 

As the Freshmen went home, the Orientation Leaders had one last meeting to talk about our experiences this week. One thing I was told the most from parents was, “thank you.” They said that we were so welcoming and excited for the students. One mom even told me that she put two other children through college already but Marywood’s Orientation was the most welcoming one she attended. Another student told me that Marywood felt like home. Things like that make all of the early mornings and late nights worth it. I’m glad they know how excited we are to have them at Marywood and I hope to see some of them become Orientation Leaders themselves. 

Until next week! 

~Jordan

P.S. Only 40 more days until Fall Welcome!!!