Being an OL

Most of you know that I'm going to be working this summer as an Orientation Leader... right? If not.. pay attention! :-) I thought I'd kinda explain what that means.. and what my responsibilities are going to be.

Basically, I work 13 New Student/Transfer Student Orientations between July 1st and September 30th. We are in the middle of training for this right now.. and we'll kick it off at the beginning of summer. We are in charge of conducting campus tours, understanding and explaining all about graduation requirements, majors, and university resources/services. For example, we are learning all about the campus recreation department, advising center, disability resource center, child care, women's resources, tuition, parking... you get the point. We are given a group of about 15-30 each Orientation who we guide around campus the whole day (peer advising, academic advising, registration, etc). Basically... we learn ALL about everything Portland State related... and then convey it to the students and their families.

We also have to put together events during New Student Week (the week before classes start). I'll post more about that when I figure out what I'm doing. Stay tuned.....

Orientation Retreat

Ok, so as an Orientation team... they take us on a weekend retreat. We went to this great YMCA campsite out in Gresham called Camp Collins. Reminded me of 6th grade camp... and was nothing like girls camp (there were cabins, indoor plumbing, tiled bathrooms, bunkbeds, and indoor dining hall. It would have been a lot of fun had it been with my ward, or friends... or family, but this group... not as fun. Don't get me wrong, this group is a great group of people, but I don't know them. Kind of the whole point was this was communication and team building. We did lots of team building events that were a lot of fun:
1. Jumping rope: we had to get the entire group of 35 through the rope (one per rotation) including the two turning the rope.
2. Pipes: we each got a piece of PVC pipe or connector (cut in half lengthwise). We had to hold them together and roll a marble from one end to the next without it stopping or falling through.
3. There was one activity where we split into 4 groups (1 per corner of roped off square on the ground). There were randomly placed dots in the center that were the stepping stones to the other corner. We had to help each other get from one side to the next... and if any of the dots went untouched, it was taken away. The tricky part was that the key rule was that at one time, everyone had to be inside the square before anyone could exit.
4. There was a metal ring with 12 thin ropes stemming out from it (kind of like sunrays). We placed a tennis ball on the ring, and had to balance the ball on the ring while walking around the outside of the building, through the dining hall and around corners... without dropping the ball.

We also did 2 ropes courses.. one low to the ground.. and one 50 feet up. The 50 ft high one... was.... HORRIBLE!!!!!! It was made up of 5 "legs". I made it through 3 out the five without much stress. Leg 1 was a single wire with double guide wires along the side; Leg 2 was a single wire with hanging ropes to guide us across; Leg 3 was a single wire with a single guide rope on one side.. then came Leg 4!!!!! Leg 4 was wooden swings (see the picture). The girl in front of me sat down on them and flew across... so I thought nothing of it. After a few swings, I began having a hard time sitting down on them (cause I was dangling a few inches from the swing). When I got to #7... I couldn't get to it without pulling it under me while I was also on #6. After a major panic attack (that lasted close to 20 minutes), spending time laying upside down facing the ravine (50 feet below) and trying very hard to contain the tears... I finally got the adrenalin to stand up. Long story short, I got tied up with swings 6, 7, 8, and 9. They were tangled around me, and I was facing the wrong direction. After a few more minutes, more tears, and more panic moments when we realized how tangled I truely was, I finally asked for some help from the person behind me on the course. The types of tips and advice I got from everyone were things like "Do you feel that swing behind your right knee.... you need to swing that around in front of you, and throw it over your left shoulder?" No one should EVER hear those words while hanging on for dear life while dangling 50 feet above the ground!!!!! Well, I finally got turned around and was standing on the 9th swing (see the picture). Someone came up behind me and pushed me toward the tree and I reached out and grabbed the tree for dear life (see the other picture... and NO that is NOT a smile... it's shear terror!!!!!) Our program director was in the tower telling me what I needed to do next. After all that, he told me I had to climb the tree, unhook myself, and hook myself to the wire of the last leg.... HE WANTED ME TO DO WHAT????? No way!!! I no longer had any stength in my arms or my legs.. and especially not enough to hold myself to a tree. I told him I couldnt' do it... and that was that! This was the first time the tears came freely, and I was officially shaking! He asked what I thought my options were.... I told him I could stay out there; He could come out and get me; or I could ask for help. So... I asked for help. The person behind me climbed up unhooked, and rehooked me... and got me all ready to go. After maneuvering across the last 10 feet to the tower... I was on semi-solid ground (a large wooden tower still 50 feet in the air). I paced around, trying to get my legs to stop shaking, and trying to keep from crying. The program director took me for a little walk on the way to the dining hall and helped me figure out why I felt the way I did, how I could have prevented it (or allowed it if I chose), and why I became light headed and couldn't think. I got kinda babied through lunch cause everyone had either witnessed it, or heard about it second hand. I took the rest of the day kinda slowly... but eventually recooped... and learned many things throughout the weekend... one being I WILL NEVER DO A ROPES COURSE AGAIN!!!!

Spring Term 2007

Well... here’s my schedule!!!! 19 credits...Let the pity begin....... NOW!

Monday:
11:30 - 12:20 Beginning Piano
12:45 - 3:05 Math Fundamentals
4:00 - 5:50 Orientation Leadership Training

Tuesday:
10:00 - 10:50 OL small group session
4:00 - 6:30 Computer Applications in the Classroom

Wednesday:
11:30 - 12:20 Beginning Piano
12:45 - 3:05 Math Fundamentals
4:00 - 5:50 Orientation Leadership Training

Thursday:
4:00 - 6:30 Introduction to Education

Friday:
11:30 - 12:20 Beginning Piano


Here’s an idea of what these classes are....

Piano: Ok, duh.. this is group piano lessons. I needed an elective, and since I took the class on how to teach music to students, I figured I already had the basics down... so I could put them into perspective.

Math: The class that I took last term of how to teach math to students is one of a series. This term I’m taking the second in the series. Last term we went over basic math, and algebra; this term we’re working on geometry.

Orientation Leader Training: An element of my being an Orientation Leader beginning in Summer 07, they require us to take a training course. Every class, 1-3 departments/services come into class and tell us all about their services, and what information they feel is important for us to pass on to new students. If you want to read more about this... check out the blog called “Orientation Leader”

OL Small Group: In my Orientation training class, we were split into small groups (4-5 people) and we meet once a week to talk about the readings that we were assigned, and to have more group discussions.

Computer Applications in the Classroom: In this class, we work with all sorts of computer software programs and figure out how to use those programs in the classroom. A lot of these programs are the typical Microsoft programs (although we’re using more than just the word processing feature), and some of them are more “kid friendly” programs (Kidspiration, KidPix, etc). We’re even learning about other types of technology, and how to use them in the classroom (video, digital images, slideshows, movies, music, etc).

Introduction to Education: This class isn’t a prerequisite for grad school, but they do recommend it. But, when I went to this class last week, I learned something about it. That something... was DEJA VU!!! I took a class almost EXACTLY to this class back at LMC in 2002. I’m meeting with my academic advisor next week to see about waiving this class (or applying my former classes credit toward this class instead of its current location on my transcript as an elective).

So.. pretty crazy... don’tcha think!?!?!?!?