The Baker University Orientation Leader program started in 2009 with the Wildcat Welcome Week to help incoming students, parents and family get to know Baker University.
Being named an orientation leader has become a prestigious honor on the Baldwin City campus.
“The reason so many students want to be orientation leaders is because of the example set before them by past leaders,” Brett Bruner, director of student life, said.
The 2011 orientation team will be led by the Baker University Orientation Executive Team, made up of sophomores Vance Beiser, Lauren Breithaupt, Beth Hopkins and Milan Piva. The orientation executive team is looking to hire around 50 students for the positions, and around 95 students applied to be orientation leaders.
Breithaupt, who serves as the Orientation Student Director, said advertising for the open positions had a big impact on the amount of applications received.
Students who are hired as orientation leaders will be focused into four different groups, Wildcat Welcome Week leaders, summer orientation and enrollment leaders, transfer student program leaders and leaders that focus on family and friends of incoming students.
“The positions and responsibilities of the orientations have definitely changed from years past,” Bruner said.
The applicants will go through a selection process that will start next week. The process consists of a group interview and other group activities.
The main purpose of the orientation leaders is to show incoming Baker students what it’s like to be a part of the BU community.
Milan Piva, who is the student coordinator for the parent and family programs, said all orientation leaders will receive a free t-shirt, meals during the orientation program and a $100 stipend.
Along with the new orientation leaders, all the orientation days are being revamped. The sessions that parents and family members attend during the orientation program is one of the biggest changes being implemented.
“Statistics show that parents and family are the most influential people for a student when deciding on a college, so the orientation sessions have been changed to better a parent’s and family’s understanding of Baker,” Bruner said.
Bruner attended the National Orientation Directors Association conference Friday, Saturday and Sunday with Breithaupt, Piva and Hopkins. At the conference, the executive team learned about what they could do to have a great orientation week.
Bruner said this year’s orientation days will have some minor tweaking with a solid foundation from years in the past.
