Admissions Ambassadors

Thursday, September 17, marked the last info session for the Admissions Ambassadors on campus. They are one of the groups that really caught my attention at the Get Involved Fair. Maybe it was because one of the ambassadors started yelling at my friends and me to join their group and to stop walking past them and not stopping to sign up. Maybe that was why it caught my attention. All I know is that I found myself and my friend at the info session Thursday night, not knowing what we would be getting ourselves into.

We arrived ten minutes early, so the ambassadors inside of L115 had us sit outside so that they could prepare for us to come inside. A little past 8 P.M., they let us inside, where they passed out applications and an ambassador bingo sheet. As an ice breaker and to get to know the ambassadors, the head of recruitment, James, had the ambassadors spread out through the room and we, the potential future ambassadors, had to go around asking the ambassadors questions on the bingo sheet. We had to write their name on the sheet if we had that particular thing in common with the ambassador. For example, one of the boxes on the sheets told us to find an ambassador from the same part of New Jersey as ourselves. I did find an ambassador from the same part of New Jersey as myself. He also happened to be from the same city, and we happened to have a friend in common as well. Such a small world. I managed to fill in a majority of the boxes on the sheet.

The ambassadors actually appeared to be very enthusiastic people. There weren’t that many of them in the room, but they still managed to bring so much energy into the room, that when the people sitting in the audience had to try and make more noise, they still managed to beat us. There was a lot of information given about the group and I’m really looking forward to possibly becoming an ambassador in the future. If not this year, then hopefully next year.

Get Involved Fair

I opened the door leading to I Wing and was greeted by a mix of loud chatter from people and loud music. My friends and I walked through the halls, looking for what interested us among the throngs of tables and signs. Really, I was excited for the free stuff that was available for students to take, but I was also looking forward to seeing what would interest me.

I dragged my friends along, going to specific clubs that I knew that I would find interesting, but also those that I wasn’t sure whether or not they would pique my interest. I tried to walk slowly so I could really see what clubs were available, but certain clubs just grabbed my attention. I found myself gravitating towards the Newman Club and those clubs that had to do with my major. I also signed up for some clubs so that my friends wouldn’t have to join them by themselves. They all sounded pretty interesting, and I can definitely see myself going to some of these meetings with my friends. As I walked down the hall, I realized that all the clubs had their little quirks that made them interesting, and in the end, I ended up signing up for more than I probably should have. And maybe, I took one too many free pretzels and free lollipops from all the stands.

Walking through the main building and seeing all the clubs and all the people present made me realize how active this school really is. There were so many clubs and organizations present, it was probably impossible to find something that wasn’t interesting. Just the atmosphere made me want to be involved in something in the school. I’m looking forward to attending club meetings and getting to meet new people after being at the Get Involved fair.

Troy Stende: Highs, Lows, Knees, Toes

Welcome Week brought us students a variety of speakers, with the goal of getting us to branch out and meet new people and to help us transition into college life. We new freshmen would walk around with specific groups led by TALONS and travel to these events called “Passport Events” together.

Troy Stende, an international speaker, came to the university on move in day, August 28th, and I specifically went to the last session at around 7 P.M in the campus center event room. Once we swiped our ID’s, we were led into the event room and were met with other freshmen, TALONS, and RA’s dancing line dances on the dance floor. One could feel the hype building up for this speaker to come in. After a few minutes of people dancing and people talking on the sides of the event room, we were directed to have a seat on the floor, and the moans and groans of 18 year old college freshmen could be heard echoing around the room.

Once everyone got settled, Troy Stende was introduced, and his energy could really be felt. It was impossible to not be captivated by his speaking skills. He spoke about leadership and building connections with others, and to build these connections, he had us perform a few icebreakers. One of these icebreakers involved us going around to talk to people we have never met before and finding out four things we had in common. This was to be done four times, and our first partner was our high five partner, our second partner was our low five partner, our third partner was our knee to knee partner, and our fourth partner was our toe to toe partner. This was to help us build connections with others, and I still regularly speak to both my low five partner and my knee to knee partner.

We also did another icebreaker where we ended up separating into a large group of about eight to ten people and sitting in a circle and asking each other questions about our interests and how we feel about the school. I met one of my now closest friends in college through this circle icebreaker, which is great because Stende referred to the circle as our “family.” Stende had us play a game with our family to help strengthen our connection by making us work together to find various objects around the room. It really made us work together as a group and helped with leadership because there was always one specific person in charge of telling the group what the objects were and they were also in charge of bringing these objects back to the front of the room. This activity was particularly fun since one could see everyone trying to not get frustrated when they couldn’t find something.

This event with speaker Troy Stende was actually really great and helped create new friendships, which I am thankful for because I now have two good friends and one friend that I am particularly close with now. I’m sure that he will be back next year for the next class of incoming freshmen, and that new friendships and connections will be established through his event.