Meet the grad series continues...Meet Catrina!

Catrina is taking the campus tour to a whole new level! Take a look at what she will manage this summer and get to know her a little better.

• Ensure that students remain at evening events
• Oversee the facilitation of the campus hunt, assist as needed
• Oversee the Orientation Program Closing with Leadership Team member
• Ensure that all students have left residence halls at the end of the program
• Oversee the welcome program
• 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 Catrina!

Undergraduate Degree from: Boston College         

Current Graduate School: Rutgers University         

Favorite TV Show: Survivor

Favorite Book: Harry Potter Harry Potter Harry Potter!!

Least favorite word: oaf, loaf, anything else that rhymes with those  

Favorite Vacation:  Cancun (3 times!)

Last concert you went to: Lady Gaga!! and the Backstreet Boys right before that... no joke       

Last movie you saw: In the theater - Little Fockers, At home - Matilda :)        

Her message to our staff:

Hello NSO Staff!! I am so pumped to be working with you all this summer. I'm really looking forward to getting to know each of you and to making our summer orientation experience the best it can be. See you all very soon!

dress up, strut, win team points

Imagine for a second, a morning during training that starts with a strut your stuff fashion show for color team points. We are going to get intense for intensive training. On Tuesday June 7th and Wednesday June 8th, we will kick off our day with a "Strut your Stuff" color team challenge. There will be a unique theme for each of the days, and the staff will come to training dressed for that theme.The first theme is pictured below. This will be our theme for June 7th.

 

Judging will be based on spirit, closeness to theme and creativity. Our wonderful summer graduate staff will serve as judges for these challenges. The theme for June 8th will be posted in the upcoming weeks. Comment to leave us a song request for your team's fashion show "strut".

let's meet another grad today...meet Roderick!

Coming to us all the way from Florida International University in Miami Florida, Roderick is one of our two NODA interns. NODA is the professional association for orientation professionals, and one of their initiatives is placing graduate students with orientaiton programs for internships. Roderick will be overseeing the following this summer....

• Facilitate the Educational Sessions
• Assign students to specific educational sessions
• Manage the Program Coordinators (4 total)
• Facilitate office operations
• Manage game show logistics 
• Attend and host evaluation meeting after every orientation session
• Oversee all aspects of implementing a new multi-dimensional communications plan; includes identifying unique and innovative channels of communication and using intentional strategies that ensure all staff members are receiving accurate information and updates in a timely manner
• Co-coordinate various Orientation staff morale events
• Various other tasks as assigned by professional staff

Here is a little bit about Roderick...feel free to leave questions or comments for him :O)

Meet Roderick!

Undergraduate Degree from: Northwestern State University   

Current Graduate School: Florida International University         

Favorite TV Show: F.R.I.E.N.D.S

Favorite Book: Purpose Driven Life    

Least favorite word: supercalifragilisticexpialidocious      

Favorite Vacation: Destin Beach, FL

Last concert you went to: Hinder and Breaking Benjamin          

Last movie you saw: Madea Big Happy Family        

His message to our staff:

I am pumped to start working with the NSO staff this summer. I am all about creating positive relationships with exciting up beat people. This summer is going to be an incredible experience getting the practicum experience at a school like Rutgers. It is different from any other school I have been able to attend or visit. Also, I am ready to making a positive change in the lives of the first year students and better prepare them for an exciting fall.

meet the grads: adam carlson

 So as you may have noticed Summer Orientation is a pretty big undertaking. In an effort to handle the daily troubleshooting, supervision of such a large student staff, and manage evening programming and staying over in the halls we hire a team of graduate staff members just for the summer months. This not only benefits us, but  the graduate staff members also gain some great experiences as well. As you will soon see from their bios, this is a diverse graduate staff with varying interests, backgrounds and they come to us from all over the country.

Below is our first grad to be highlighted on the blog. His name is Adam Carlson. Adam will be managing the following aspects of the program while he is here with us for the summer...

•        Organize transfer programs
•        Collect and organize assessment data for entire Orientation Program
•        Oversee the newly created staff feedback process
•       Facilitate Life on Campus Program for each Orientation Sessions
•       Assist with Dress Rehearsals
•       Ensure that Orientation Leaders are in Multipurpose Room for opening
•       Co-coordinate various Orientation staff morale events
•       Attend and host evaluation meeting after every orientation session
•       Various other tasks as assigned by professional staff

Above is a picture of Adam, and below is a little more about him...enjoy! Feel free to leave comments or questions for Adam :)

Meet Adam!

Undergraduate Degree from: Rutgers University  

Current Graduate School: Rutgers - Graduate School of Education     

Favorite TV Show: Any UFC and Boxing matches.

Favorite Book: The Book of 5 Rings    

Least favorite word: Possum    

Favorite Vacation: Philippines Winter '09!

Last concert you went to: Casual Harmony at Rutgers     

Last movie you saw: Rocky IV - CLASSIC!      

His message to our staff:

This is going to be a great summer!  I'M SO PUMPED!

graduation....from NSO training

This year the NSO staff will come together on Thursday June 16th the final official day of training before starting the summer for a graduation dinner and premier leadership panel. As a treat to you all, we have been working to bring in leaders from a variety of industries to come and speak about their leadership experiences in a panel format. This a phenomenal opportunity for you all to network with some amazing people. Below is a sneek peek at one of our 4 panelists...

Whenever a big-name baseball player signs with a major league team, the image that makes the front page of the sports section and the top of the evening news is always the same. At a crowded press conference, engulfed by reporters and photographers, the athlete smiles through a blaze of flashbulbs and holds up—what else—his brand new jersey. Majestic Athletic Wear Limited holds the exclusive rights to supply on-field uniforms to all 30 major league baseball clubs.

Faust E. Capobianco IV is the former president and CEO of Majestic Athletic, and a member of the leadership panel for your graduation! Here is a little bit more about Faust... (pronounced fost, like cost with an f)
Faust graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1994 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. Upon graduation, he began his career with Majestic Athletic - a business then owned and operated by his family - as the company's director of licensing. In this capacity, he managed licensing agreements with professional sports leagues and major universities. His role grew to include key account sales responsibilities, including broader distribution of the company's products in the U.S. and internationally. In 1998, Faust was named senior vice president and was charged with the administration of all company operations in sales, product development, marketing and licensing. In 2001 he became president, and stayed in that role until 2007. Here are a few other fun facts about Faust...


Favorite Vacation Spot:  New Jersey Shore

Favorite Sport:  Baseball

Favorite Team:  Notre Dame

Favorite Hobby:  Golf

Favorite Quote:  "The harder you work, the luckier you get."

Your childhood dream:  To play football at Notre Dame

Biggest Accomplishment to Date:  Earning Major League Baseball's global authentic apparel licensing rights

Describe yourself in two words:  Passionate, Uncomplicated

Early mentor helpful to your career:  My father, Faust Capobianco III

People you admire the most:  My parents and my wife

Biggest life lesson:  Your relationship with family is what matters most in life. Keep that balance and everything else becomes easier.

What unique experiences?! Comment with some questions you have for Faust. I will make sure he has them ahead of time.

RU READY?! .....for intensive training

Thats right, if you thought, the class, retreat and in-services were good wait until the ultimate culmination of NSO training...INTENSIVE TRAINING! We begin in June 6th at 12pm with a little reunion lunch and brief overview of training.Following lunch and for the first week of training, we will spend time learning the parts of the two day program that require intensive training and multiple practices. On Monday afternoon, all day Tuesday and all day Wednesday the Orientation Leaders and Leadership Team will be in Life On Campus (LOC) training. Your trainers are experienced actors, and LOC training is always a lot of fun. Look for a later post on this blog highlighting the 2011 LOC Trainers, giving some fun background info about them. Thursday is a full day dedicated to learning the tour. You will be out on your campus learning all of the talking points, and practicing your "story telling". Friday June 10th and June 17th are both APA days so all staff will be working the APA day just like we do in May.

Ok, so you mentioned the OLs and OTLs...what about the PC's?! The Program Coordinators (PCs) will spend Monday-Wednesday in their very own PC training. You all will learn the ins and outs of your job for the summer, the office, and skills you'll need to be successful PCs. Look for a future post or posts highlighting some of the cool things we will be doing for PC training.

More info still to come...

What is still to come on the NSO wisdom blog:

• More information about the second week of intensive training
• Who will be on the Premiere Leadership Panel for your "training graduation dinner"?
•  Meet the LOC trainers
• Meet the graduate staff
• How your team can and will win team points
• Strut your stuff theme days- a color team challenge
• Other details and information about your arrival back into New Brunswick
• and much more...

nso takes a tour

1. What is the best tour you have ever been on? What was the worst?


2. What are you most excited about giving tours to students this summer? What are you most anxious? (try staying away from “too hot” and “being tired”, dig deeper:) )


3. Why would we even do a training that focused on how to give a good tour?


4. If you had to give a tour tomorrow what challenges would you have in terms of skills needed?


5. If we wanted to “grade” you as a tour guide this summer, what skills/characteristics do you think we would be grading you on? What would the author of this presentation want us to grade you on?


please provide one response, include a question for others in your response, and respond to someone's question