A secret revealed!

Hey all!



I'm hanging out at the Livingston Student Center with the new NSO grads. They are super excited to meet the Leadership team and all of the OLs! You're really going to like them....



On another note, I came across a secret scroll in Courtney's office that had some important information on it. Shh! Don't tell her that I stole it! Here's what it says:

Start getting your costumes ready!

Remember Lady Gaga's motto,

"Changing the world one sequin at a time!"

Good day,

Col. Henry Rutgers

move in deets! leadership team edition

EXTRA EXTRA! Read all about your move in details right here!

Arrival at University Center

The entrance to the parking deck is at the back of University Center. If you are proceeding down Easton Avenue and across Somerset Street, you will turn right just before the train overpass onto Little Albany Street. The deck entrance will be around the corner on the right. If you are coming up Easton Avenue from Albany Street (Route 27), you cannot turn left onto Little Albany. You should turn left on Somerset Street and then left again onto Little Albany (by Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital) and left into the parking deck. On the scheduled move-in day ONLY, we will arrange for the parking attendant to allow access to the deck for move-in. After that day, the vehicle must be registered in order to enter the parking deck. The entrance to the lobby is accessible from the third level of the parking deck. Residents may be dropped off in front of the building, however please be sure to adhere to all posted signs and parking regulations. Easton Avenue and Somerset Street are not under the University’s jurisdiction and are subject to the laws of the City of New Brunswick.

This weekend...leadership team moves in!

The conference services staff will be on call from 11am-midnight so that you're able to get your keys when you arrive at UC on Saturday or Sunday. They ask that you move in on Saturday or Sunday if possible. A conference services student will be on call all day Monday if someone needs to move in on Memorial Day. 


We start training at 9am on Tuesday!!! Who is excited???

Questions, comments?! Leave a comment below.

meet the new dream team...Alyssa and Nina!

Every two years the New Student Orientation office goes through a selection process for College Student Affairs graduate students to work in assistant-ships with Kristin and Courtney. The past two years we spent with Amanda Steeber who worked on projects like coordinating educational session assignments, the January transfer program and the resource fair among many other projects. Get to know the TWO new members of the NSO office. Alyssa will be working with Kristin primarily on preparations and implementing the summer orientation program. Nina will work with Courtney on coordinating training, assessment and selection of staff. Both will begin their assistant-ship this summer to work on some special projects and learn the ins and outs of NSO.

Meet Alyssa!

Undergraduate Degree from: Rutgers University  

Current Graduate School: Graduate School of Education           

Favorite TV Show: Modern Family

Favorite Book: The Harry Potter series          

Least favorite word: Screech   

Favorite Vacation: I can't pick just one: cruise to Bermuda or trip to Jamaica

Last concert you went to: Brand New           

Last movie you saw: Insidious  

Her message to our staff:

I look forward to meeting everyone. It's going to be a great summer!

*Nina had no idea about the color teams when she picked her photo for the blog, no calling favoritism people!! She will love you all!

Meet Nina!

Undergraduate Degree from: University of North Texas 

Current Graduate School: Rutgers University         

Favorite TV Show: How I Met Your Mother

Favorite Book: The Five People You Meet in Heaven        

Least favorite word: Can't         

Favorite Vacation: Thailand/Vietnam

Last concert you went to: Brandi Carlile       

Last movie you saw: Water for Elephants    

Her message to our staff:

As a typical Texan...Howdy! I look forward to meeting y'all! :)

another grad staff member...meet Jack!

Meet another wonderful members of the NSO 2011 grad staff team. Check out a little bit about what he will be up to this summer, and more about him below.

• Assist with the implementation of the Parents Orientation program

• Manage all aspects of the Resource Fair with professional staff

• Complete assessment of Parents program

• Organize all logistics of optional campus tours

• Finalize Scarlet Knight Days publication information

• Co-coordinate various Orientation staff morale events

• Attend and host evaluation meeting after every orientation session

• Various other tasks as assigned by professional staff

 

 

Meet Jack!

Undergraduate Degree from: Rutgers University  

Current Graduate School: Rutgers University --- School of Communication & Information          

Favorite TV Show: 30 Rock (all time fave is Arrested Development)

Favorite Book: The Wayward Bus by John Steinbeck        

Least favorite word: I can't (yes it's a phrase, but you get the drift)     

Favorite Vacation: Wherever there's sand and water --- wait I'm living that now since I moved back to NJ!

Last concert you went to: The Ribeye Brothers      

Last movie you saw: The King's Speech         

His message to our staff:

Hi!

Meet the Grads: Our Second NODA Intern...Nikki Lynne!

Nikki and Roderick were both selected through the NODA internship selection and matching process. Nikki will be managing the following aspects of our program...

• Work with professional staff registration coordinator to manage all rosters and housing assignments
• Manage check in process
• Handle drop-ins/no shows
• Coordinate late check-in
• Facilitate the leave early process
• Manage the Orientation email account
• Facilitate We Are Rutgers program
• Assist professional staff with school based academic components
• Co-coordinate various Orientation staff morale events
• Attend and host evaluation meeting after every orientation session
• Various other tasks as assigned by professional staff

Looks like Nikki is our 79th staff member that loves Harry Potter...I think she'll find a few others that do too. Don't you? Find out a little more about Nikki below.

Meet Nikki Lynne!

Undergraduate Degree from: The Catholic University of America        

Current Graduate School: University of Maine       

Favorite TV Show: Dawson's Creek, Sex and the City, Glee, Downtown Abbey, & Gossip Girl

Favorite Book: Harry Potter Series, Gone with the Wind     

Favorite Vacation: Anywhere with a beach and warm weather!

Last concert you went to: Lady Gaga Monster Ball           

Last movie you saw: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 1          

Her message to our staff:

Hi Everyone, I am very excited to be working at Rutgers this summer and getting to know each of you! I hope your finals finished well and you are going to take the next couple weeks to relax and get ready for NSO! One fun fact about me: I am a HUGE Philadelphia Phillies Phan! See you all soon, Nikki

what do hip hop, Broadway and the Heldrich all have in common?

What do hip hop, Broadway and the Heldrich all have in common? Well in some way shape or form they have found their way into our unique intensive training weeks for the different parts of our staff. We know what the OLs will be up to, but what about grads, leadership team and PCs? Find out with a look at some highlights below.

• Grad training is very much an orientation to the department of student life and a lot of networking and meeting the people that make orientation happen. Our grads will essentially learn the orientation program through interviewing the partners that contribute to it. They will also do a true colors workshop to get them up to speed with the rest of the staff that had true colors at retreat. Lastly they doing two pretty cool trainings that essentially "fell into our lap" as they were scheduled during grad training week. They will attend a social justice workshop called "hip hop pedagogy" with a well known author and speaker on social justice and the hip hop culture/community. In addition, they will attend a "presenting with video/multimedia" presentation through our HR department at RU.

• Leadership team comes the following week to join up with the graduate staff. This week is very much about building a cohesive leadership unit to lead our staff through the summer. Their training week will include a lot of projects they will work on to prep for the OL intensive training week. In addition they have two special experiential trainings. Since NSO is a lot like putting on a Broadway show, and they are a lot like the stage crew and directors of the Broadway show…we’re heading to Broadway! Our leadership team and grads will go to the Wicked rehearsal space to spend some time with stage crew and actors from the show. They will learn the ins and outs of logistically putting on a Broadway show. There next stop in NYC is a backstage tour of radio city music hall. Then (thanks to our friends at RU-TV) we were able to set up a back stage tour of NBC studios and Q&A with some crew members with NBC. We’ll finish the day with a “Top of the Rock” tour, which is a tour of the top of the Rockefeller center observatory. In addition to our stint in the big apple, this team will head to St. Peters Hospital for a half day behind the scenes look at the ER. This will give some perspective to making quick decisions under pressure and how to manage crisis.

· PC Training is probably one of the most unique types of trainings we do. The PC’s also have one of the most unique jobs with us for the summer. Not many other orientation offices at other universities hire student team members to manage the office and logistics like our PCs. This week will be chalked full of learning all the different rosters, checklists and name tag protocol that we have to prep for each session. In addition, it is important to equip our PCs with an extra dose of “customer service” training so they are comfortable handling just about any phone call they get. We have a special guest, the current front office manager at the Heldrich, which will be coming in to do a customer service/phone etiquette training with our PCs.



training...to be the best!

The concept of training can take many forms. Marathon runners do cross training, running and weight training to prepare for their 26 mile marathon run. They practice running in a variety of different conditions, use different trails, and change their workout as they get closer to the race. When new employees start in just about any job there is an "orientation" to building they work in, tools they use and people they work with. Orientation intensive training is kind of like this as well. For example, we teach the staff Team Meeting one and then throw new scenarios in the practice runs of it and give feedback on practice runs. So by the time you have to do Team Meeting one you are prepared for just about anything. 

OL intensive training will use varying forms of facilitation and presentation methods to teach the OLs each and every part of the two day program. Some parts of the program will be taught in 4 part rotations where the staff will rotate from location to location to learn a different part of the program. We call these “round-a-bouts”. Some other parts of the program are taught with simulations of the actual program component. The gameshow training will be a simulation of the actual gameshow. There are a few other topics that need more time than just a class in the spring, or need a facilitator that was unable to present in the spring. And so there are a few topics spliced into intensive, like sensitivity training, protocol and problem solving, as well as disability training.