Orientation leaders guide new Febs

During February break, a new group of students was moving in. The class of 2014.5 began orientation on Feb. 2 and to help with their transitions, a group of older Febs worked as their orientation leaders.
Planning the week’s activities began early.

“[Everyone] had weekly two-hour-long training sessions during J-term that involved leadership-building activities, games and snacks,” said Hanna Mahon ’13, a Feb leader this year.

“There is a ton of behind the scenes preparation involved in Feb orientation,” said Jake Springer, another Feb orientation leader. “All of the Feb leaders were on subcommittees to deal with a specific portion of orientation. Planning orientation required contact with all different parts of campus and coordination with Res Life staff, dining staff, CCAL, Public Safety and the Commons.”

Feb leaders also underwent extensive training to help prepare them to serve as mentors to the new students.

“As Feb leaders we were trained to help new Febs deal with a variety of problems, like how to facilitate new friendships and make their experience a positive one,” Springer said.

Although being an orientation leader represented a big time commitment, leaders felt that the experience was worth giving up their breaks. For Febs, arriving at Middlebury can be even more stressful than arrival for regular admission students, and Feb leaders value the ability to ease the transition as much as their own Feb leaders eased theirs.

“I chose to become a Feb leader partially because my Feb class is wonderful and spending more time with them seemed great, but more so because I remember how stressful and difficult orientation was for me and how wonderful all of my Feb leaders were,” Mahon said. “Being able to help all of the incoming stressed out, overzealous, exhausted, fantastic Febs just seemed like the absolute best way to spend my Feb break.”

After weeks of preparation, days of planning and hours spent in committees, leaders finally had a chance to see their plans put into action. Overall, they were pleased with the results.

“It was very successful,” said Springer. “Our goal is to make people feel at home and this requires them to make new friends and be comfortable with the campus. I think that over the course of these days those things happened. And the Febs are all excited to begin their new lives here.”

Orientation was full of events designed to bring the new students closer. Mahon found the Night at the Grille event particularly successful.

“It was excellent,” said Mahon. “These new Febs have a lot of talent, but more than that they have a lot of guts. Where else will you find people who feel comfortable getting up in front of their peers after three days of knowing them to play “Yellow Submarine” on the kazoo or wear grillz made out of tin foil or down an entire bottle of maple syrup? Only at Feb Orientation.”

After days of bonding together in the cold, sharing common experiences and building new friendships, the orientation leaders were without complaints.

“The only thing I would do to change this orientation would be to make it longer,” Springer said. “This is the most fun I’ve had in a long time, and I would give anything to extend it and spend more time in this little bubble meeting amazing new people.”