As I
studied in the Student Center before meeting up with Luis for breakfast, I
smiled when I got a text message that read “I’m like, formal casual, should I
be dressed up more?” To Luis, the word “interview” called immediately for a
sports jacket, despite that it was 9AM and we were probably two of twenty
people in the Livingston Dining Commons. Earlier this year, I began forming a
great friendship with Luis Fernandez, a first-year student who works with me
in the Residence Hall Association. A
self-described “emergent leader,” I watched in awe as he came into the
University and hit the ground running, as if making an adjustment to college simply took
too much time out of his already busy schedule.
He lives in a discovery house, is president of Quad Two’s Hall Government, and has taken a position (possibly through some influence from yours truly) as a
Captain on Dance Marathon’s Finance team. He participates in the Rising
Leaders Institute, and will be attending the Leadership '66 conference this year. It is only February,
but he has big plans for next year, expressing his intention of applying for an
Assistant Director position for DM 2013, and currently running for Advocacy
Director of RHA. He doesn’t find this
all startling either, he says simply, “I’m just social, and I learned to use it
to my advantage.”
Luis's enthusiasm for his involvement is incredible for being only a semester and a half into school. I watched as in his Intro to Organizational Leadership class, he set up the powerpoint he had created for his group's presentation. After the title slide were about 15 slides with pictures of Dance Marathon, and he clicked through them saying "Oh, that's strange, how did these get into the presentation?...You should do Dance Marathon. Oh, and that's a flyer reminding you to vote for me for RHA Advocacy Director...how did that get in there!" and I couldn't help but just throw my head back and laugh. I
remind myself constantly that he’s not what one would call an “ordinary”
first-year. He’s eager to consistently put
his best foot forward, but the most striking characteristic of Luis is his
intuition of simply how things work
around the University. He grasps group
and organizational dynamics quickly, even stating to me that if he cannot
understand the dynamic of a group almost instantly, he feels unsettled. This trait has served him well as he immerses
himself in different aspects of Rutgers student life. It has also given him an interesting perspective on his orientation, and an understanding of the difficulties the orientation program can face.
When
speaking with Luis about his first year and orientation experience, I began to
understand that it was much different than my own. I had gone through Leadership Quest first,
and then one week later I participated in the traditional two-day New Student
Orientation. I made an effort to be engaged and definitely took away
relationships and information, but in hindsight I believe I spent most of my
mental energy missing my LQ friends and feeling as though much of what NSO
could teach me, I had already learned. Luis
on the other hand went through a much different experience than I had. He’s a part of the Educational Opportunity
Fund, and previously, I thought I had a basic understanding of what that
meant. Over our breakfast sandwiches and eggs he explained what his experience in EOF entailed, and I understood
there was much more behind EOF than I thought I knew, and his orientation
experience was not at all what the traditional student would typically go
through. His NSO experience was only one
day long, and in that he found what he believes to be what is troublesome about
the EOF-tailored orientation. In
describing it in one word, the prevalent word was “rushed.” He expressed, with a patient understanding of
the time constraint, that he simply “didn’t feel [he] understood what Rutgers
was about.” He spoke about how the OL’s
made a strong effort to mask it, but it was clear to him that the whole day was
stressful for them. When asked more
specific questions about his particular orientation group, I was startled when
Luis delayed in remembering his OL’s name, and remarked that he didn’t really
remember anyone in his group either. I have
watched Luis time and time again come into a new group and soak up information
like it’s his lifeline. He’s quick with
names and even quicker with how those individuals can fit together, but he
described the day as a “whirlwind,” with so much being presented, that not all
of it was able to stick.
Coming
out of this past week’s presentation on the Thriving Quotient, I explained to Luis
this idea of surviving versus thriving and how we can look at the information
that was presented at his orientation session through this frame. We discussed how with a time constraint, his orientation experience gave him the information needed to get by at the time, but not necessarily thrive, which is
understandable given that EOF’s program is tailored with workshops and
counselors that help promote thriving. But
Luis still felt strongly that one thing in particular needed to have been
better incorporated into his orientation: getting involved. He feels this is particularly so with
EOF students, as many are in work study programs and feel as though getting
involved will take up too much time, which as Luis stated, leads to a “work,
study, party” mentality. Luis remarked
that one person standing in front of a room saying “you can get involved” is
about as productive as a celebrity saying “I appreciate my fans.” A person’s
first instinct is, “well that’s nice, but that’s a generalization and it probably
does not apply to me.” However, if someone speaks to you individually about what
you’re interested in, what opportunities Rutgers has, and why you should get
involved (or if a celebrity says “I appreciate you” to a single fan) it makes
much more of an impact on that person. He encouraged me to speak with every
student I could this summer, share my experiences, and let them know how
getting involved has so positively impacted my time here at Rutgers. He also encouraged me to let them know that they
can find the time, they can find the right organization, and it can make them a
better student, leader, and overall person.
He felt that it was skipped over in his orientation experience in the
commotion of fitting two days into one, and OL’s could be more of a resource to
encourage involvement in EOF students.
I
was curious as to where this engagement and enthusiasm Luis seemed to always
possess, rather than develop, came from. Part of it, I believe, is simply his
personality. The other part of it is gratitude that he has no reserves about
expressing. He summed up the obligation he feels to Rutgers and the EOF program when he said “Free
money, but I’m still indebted,” and elaborated on this need to give back to the Rutgers community by stating, “EOF and Rutgers gave me an
opportunity. Who am I to waste this? Who am I to be that selfish?” Rutgers has
found a huge asset to our community in Luis, and I hope that I can help orientation
foster a similar spirit in the incoming new students while remembering Luis’s
feedback on his EOF orientation experience.
