By Sasha Moedt (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: March 14, 2012
Student Life is currently looking for UFV students to volunteer to be Orientation leaders this September. O-leaders, after being trained, help new students find their way around campus. The role may be best suited to students with an interest in volunteer opportunities on campus, as well as those who enjoy leading activities. It may also suit those interested in a free shirt.
Tim Rempel, a programmer at Student Life, said they are looking for students that are interested in getting involved in the UFV community.
“This is an opportunity to develop leadership skills, learn more about UFV, and get involved and networked with other students and staff. It is a chance to enhance skills you already have and learn new skills.”
The volunteer job isn’t a heavy workload, Rempel explained. It involves a couple full day training sessions.
Students will be volunteering throughout Orientation days, the Welcome Back week, and then in the various events the week after.
“Orientation days [are] the week before Labour Day, [and the] Welcome Back events the first week of classes. [The students will] then help out with various Orientation events over the following four weeks,” he said.
“O-Leaders work with various departments around campus to provide programming, information and opportunities for students to become engaged on campus,” he said. “We have a lot of fun and work hard to make people feel welcome. The hope is that students are able to find their place here at UFV.”
UFV Orientation programs are intended to introduce new students and their families to the UFV community, the campus, and the various programs, departments and services. It creates a friendly and comfortable atmosphere for new students and lessens the overwhelming experience of being a first year student by preparing them with the knowledge and tools to find resources, classes and services at UFV.
UFV students volunteering have the opportunity to learn more about their UFV community in depth. They have the chance to take on a leadership role, and make connections with other students.
Tim Rempel thinks that being engaged within the school is key to opening doors of opportunity.
“Not only do you directly develop skills, but you also begin to meet people outside your normal sphere of influence,” Rempel remarked. “By getting outside your usual group of friends you meet students, staff and faculty who are able to show you opportunities you would never have thought about before. I have seen many students create connections through leadership settings that become jobs, references, and life-long friends. If you’re willing to step into the role of an O-leader, the experience can be a gateway into a whole field of opportunities at UFV that you may not have known even exists.”
Besides this, and a few weeks of fun, students who volunteer to become Orientation leaders also get their hands on those snazzy O-leader shirts.
The next information meeting is drop-in, a quick half an hour of your time. To see what it takes to be an Orientation leader at UFV, go to the U-house on the Abbotsford campus March 14. The information sessions runs from 12:00 to 12:30 p.m., in room F110.
