By MARIA VALLES, Staff Reporter |
Amarillo students are here to welcome the new freshies for New Student Orientations (NSO).
“The orientation leaders are a group of students that will help us out during our Badger Beginnings this summer. Those are our large new student orientations where we have about 200 students at each session. The orientation leaders serve as the face of the college and they lead smaller groups of students throughout the day,” Jenna Welch, a student life specialist, said.
Welch said students had to apply for this position to be considered. “This is a paid position. There is five different Badger Beginning sessions during the summer so they have five days that they can work and it’s from 7 a.m to 5 p.m. It’s a lot of work but it is very rewarding,” she said.
Cecilia Almanza, the student government association president, said she enjoyed working as an orientation leader last year.
“I applied last year because they were asking for energetic people and I said, ‘I’m energetic so why not?’ It was fun and I met a lot of new people and I got to teach new students on campus about what we do here. It was my bragging moment to tell them about how cool AC is,” she said.
Hector Casanova, an orientation leader this year, said he is ready to take on this role.
“I personally am excited to begin the NSOs. I see it as not only an opportunity to help incoming students grow into more knowledgeable, wiser, social, and welcomed students, but also as an opportunity to grow myself as a leader and student,” Casanova said.
Casanova said he is prepared to make the next students feel welcomed but also give them knowledge of what college is about.
“My role in being an orientation leader is to make the students feel welcomed and encouraged to pursue their goals. As an orientation leader, it’s important to keep the students engaged but also aware of the resources at AC to help them in their journey here,” he said.
Casanova plans to go out of his way to succeed in this position. “I’d feel happy if I can be an encouraging friendly face to the new students. I plan on meeting with as many of the incoming students as I can individually to get to know their interests and questions about AC at some point during the NSO to help them get a leg-up and feel ready to start. If I can do that for some, I believe that is a successful NSO,” Casanova said.
Almanza said the new orientation leaders should send out a good vibe but to also have fun.
Below are the new orientation leaders for this year:
Jasmine Bernal
Hector Casanova
Trang Doan
Mackenzie Farmer
Brylee Gray
Kimberly Guerrero
Belle Hayhurst
Sandi Koehn
Daniela Macias
Katie Milburn
Jimmy Nye
Jordan Robertson
Jackson Ruiz
Mikayla Skinman
Nathaniel Solis
Xbox Strong
Lauren Tanner
Karalee Tiller
Mallery Warden
Charlotte Wills
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