Big thanks to Nick Furgason of Phi Sigma Kappa for kicking off Spring 2018 guest blogging!
In my opinion, being an Orientation Leader is the single
best way to get the absolute most out of one’s time at Lehigh. The friendships
we all made, the skills we learned, and the new perspectives we gained in such
a short span of time is so unique and this experience extends to all types of
Lehigh student. No matter how different someone’s path at Lehigh may be, one
thing every student who comes to this university has in common is they go
through orientation. As an Orientation Leader, it was up to all 80+ of us to
put down our baggage so to say and realize that being an Orientation Leader is
about one thing— being there for the First-Years.
During our staff trainings it didn’t matter that I was a
member of Phi Sigma Kappa, or that I was from Colorado, or that I didn’t have a
major, or I spent most of my time working on Dance Marathon; all that mattered
was that I was there for the same reason as everyone else and I wanted to be a
positive influence on someone and help new students find their way here at
Lehigh. The same went for everyone else that sacrificed 10 days of their summer
break to come back to school early, train from what seemed to be sun up to sun
down, and carry box after box up the stairs of Dravo. What chapter we were or
were not in, or where we fell on the social hierarchy didn’t matter. We were
all OLs.
This sense of unity is so unique and so freeing in an
environment that seems so stuck in its rigid tradition of Greek hierarchy. This
experience allowed me to see outside of my social bubble and meet new and
amazing people from so many different fraternity and sorority chapter and
people who weren’t in chapters at all. It gave me a hope and yearning for
everyone else to look beyond their bubbles too.