So today as I celebrate my third day at home after a full summer of internship madness I am taking the time to look back, to use my perspective on my experience and the distance I now enjoy to solidify my experience. A wise man who wrote dialogue for a little television show called Northern Exposure once said, "it is the coming home that greatly influences the experience of being away." So using this quote as my guiding principle I will choose to dive into a few stories and observations about my experience at Pacific University and my summer internship.
Power of Real World, Acting, and Personal Injury
At Pacific the Orientation Ambassadors put on a show they call Real World. This show illustrates in a very real and powerful way the challenges that college-aged students can face. Some of the skits are funny and some are eye-opening in a kind of shocking way. This is a presentation that is student-run and the final presentation of the show during the first night of Orientation no staff members/administrators are present (I was lucky enough to be considered part of the Orientation team and therefore not seen as staff...amazing show!)
Putting on a production of this magnitude means that the Ambassadors spend a great deal of time practicing, rehearsing, memorizing lines, and sometimes writing dialogue for their own skits. Also late night rehearsal is something that all Ambassadors can look forward to during training. During one of these late night rehearsals a skit where an angry audience member (an Ambassador plant) physically confronts the person delivering the monologue. There is also an Ambassador plant to physically removes the person doing the confronting. In rehearsal this went a little awry resulting in physical injury to both the guy confronting and the guy removing when their feet got tangled up and they ran out of stage and they fell off the stage breaking the fall with one guy's head and the other's face resulting in mild whiplash and pretty extensive rug burns on the face and a hairline fracture of his nose. Both of these guys were Orientation staff and it happened the night before Orientation began, no one wants to have a hurt back or a rug burned face when new students and parents first show up on campus. In the end both guys were okay. This gave me the chance to practice my emergency response, it is good that we can all laugh about this now but at the time it was really scary for us and for these very dedicated guys. Real World went very well, Ambassadors were incredible, and the new students really enjoyed their night in the Real World.
Touching Traditions
Pacific University has a host of traditions that students and administrators have embraced. The one that I was proud to witness during Orientation this summer is called Sign, Shake, and Ring. This is where new and transfer students get a chance to sign the book of enrollment, shake the hand of the president, and ring the bell of Old College Hall officially announcing their presence on campus. When students graduate they go through the same tradition as they leave Pacific. This year during Orientation I got the chance to watch this happening and to talk with parents who were anxiously waiting for their students to complete their Sign, Shake, and Ring.
Pacific Is Personal
From everything I have seen and experienced at Pacific University I can correctly conclude that Pacific is in fact personal just like they say, just like the slogan explains. I can also conclude that the personal touch that Pacific has begins with Orientation and continues throughout the remainder of their experience at Pacific University.
Student Run Orientation Programming
It was refreshing for me to encounter a very successful Orientation program that is student-run. Of course administrators are available for all planning and executing Orientation programming. However, the spirit of the program and of the Orientation team is a spirit of teamwork and of ownership and inclusion. All students who are a part of Orientation understand the importance of their hard work and they truly know the responsibility that ownership comes with.
Welcoming Environment
From the moment I set foot onto campus way back in early June I felt welcomed and I felt that I was part of the Orientation team and part of the Pacific family. I could not have asked for a better experience. It was informative, I got a chance to learn new things and to understand how to put a great deal of transitional theory as well as retention theory into practice, I also was able to meet some wonderful students and administrators. I would like to thank Julie Murray-Jensen, Associate Dean of Students for her help, understanding, and guidance. Also I want to thank Jen Hansen, Orientation Program Manager for sharing her knowledge of Pacific and for her support and encouragement. Of course I want to thank the Orientation Team: Suzanne Mather, Rachel Kirk-Epstein, Rose Beltrone, Timberly Robinson, and Ben Griffin you all are amazing, fun, and I know will do great things at Pacific and in their future. Thanks to all.
