At this point, seniors Matt Longo and Tiff Seaman eat, sleep, and breathe Orientation 2012 . From endless emailing to buying prizes to sorting out last-minute details about events and schedules, the two student coordinators of Orientation are in charge of all aspects of the four-day program, which starts Thursday, Aug. 23. During a recent break, they explain why running the program for 970 new students and their families is a fun and valuable experience."When I was a freshman, Orientation was really important to me," says Longo of Howell, N.J. "It helped me to find my niche at CUA. Seeing how it's run and how much everyone appreciates it made me want to be a bigger part of it." The program will enable new students to become familiar with the campus, meet their academic advisers, and get to know their residence-hall roommates and neighbors before beginning classes on Monday, Aug. 27. As the coordinators, Longo and Seaman supervise 76 volunteer Orientation advisers, all four days of Orientation, and 198 Orientation Extended events.Orientation Extended, which runs the first six weeks of the fall semester, offers additional activities to help first-year students make a smooth transition to CUA. As part of Orientation Extended, 23 students will have the chance to win prizes. Two winners will have the opportunity to share a meal with President John Garvey and his wife, Jeanne.Seaman, who's from Indianapolis, notes "You've got this big group of Orientation advisers who are all excited about one thing. By the end, they've been singing and dancing and laughing together for four days. When Orientation is over, you have an entire new group of friends who you're excited to see around campus."
Longo and Seaman are both psychology majors who served as Orientation advisers for two years prior to taking on the roles of coordinators. They note that the added responsibility of running the program has been eye opening. "I feel like I got my foot in the door of the real world earlier than most students do," says Seaman, who hopes to go to graduate school to study speech pathology. "We've learned so much - the art of handling people and different situations, time management skills, putting out fires, prioritizing tasks, writing business-like emails," says Longo.Hired just before the end of the fall 2011 semester, the two students had their first Orientation meeting before Christmas with the 2011 student coordinators.Sitting on a desk in the Office of Campus Activities at the Edward J. Pryzbyla University Center, where the students work, is a clear plastic cup with a red CUA logo. On it are white labels with the names of this year's coordinators and those from past years.Longo notes that the cup symbolizes a tradition at the University, where students run Orientation. Kathryn Jennings, director of campus activities, says she gives them a lot of responsibility because she knows they'll do a good job. She also notes that CUA's students are the University's best ambassadors.Longo and Seaman reuse some of the procedures followed by past coordinators, but they note that every year there is room for new ideas. They're proud that, as part of this year's Orientation, they introduced an online application for Orientation advisers that replaced the old paper form. "We've saved a lot of trees," says Seaman.Longo discovered a Web app called Involvio that integrates with Facebook to track a school's orientation events and their locations. Involvio is available through the iTunes App Store for iPhones and mobile Web browsers for other smartphones. Students can also track their Orientation Extended events through the Nest , CUA's new online hub for student engagement. "It is important for new students and their families to attend everything they can throughout Orientation," says Jennings. "Orientation will help answer their questions, get them acquainted with the University, introduce them to resources and help them meet other students. I encourage the entire University community to attend Orientation events and help welcome the new students and their families into the CUA community."