UTC’s orientation leaders help with welcoming new students and their family to campus and assist with summer programming. Photo by Angela Foster.
Volleys of foam-tipped arrows soared over the gym floor as some of the most spirited students at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga ran around the court.
It was one facet of the training new orientation leaders received. Also known as OLs, the orientation leaders are the smiling faces welcoming incoming freshmen and their families to UTC.
This summer, New Student and Family Programs is hosting multiple orientation sessions for all new students entering UTC during the fall semester. On average, more than 6,000 new students and their guests come to campus for orientation.
Before the start of orientation, a new batch of student leaders learned about the various departments at UTC and prepared for a hectic summer.
Katelynn Buchanan oversaw the training, and there was a lot to cover.
“We had over 15 departments speak with our OLs to educate them on each department’s role on campus,” said Buchanan, an admissions counselor and transfer recruiter at UTC. “Our OLs interact with the thousands of new students and guests at orientation, so it’s important for them to be as informed as possible about different departments at UTC.”
Most of the training was spent listening to lectures and taking notes, but one training day stood out from the rest. Instead of lecturing, Craig Gosnell, the Campus Recreation assistant director of programs and engagement, gave the orientation leaders a more hands-on experience with what the Aquatic Recreation Center offers.
“The climbing and archery tag in the ARC was a nice break from sitting in the room and listening to a speaker,” said Buchanan. “Instead of someone from the ARC simply telling the OLs about the exciting things in the ARC, the OLs get to experience it themselves.”
Archery tag is essentially dodgeball with bows and arrows. The orientation leaders wore full facemasks, and the arrows had oversized marshmallow-looking tips. Some students took cover behind inflatable pyramids; others sprinted through enemy fire to collect more ammunition.
The ARC boasts a three-story climbing tower. For some orientation leaders, this was their first rock-climbing experience. Though there were shaky knees at times, the students encouraged each other to face their fears and experience something new.
After a game of archery tag, orientation leader Ava Bailey referenced a protagonist from The Hunger Games in sharing her excitement about participating in the activity.
“Now, I’m basically the next Katniss Everdeen,” she said. “I dominated archery tag and I’m so proud of my team.”
Bailey is a rising junior from Chattanooga with a business management major and a pre-law minor. She started college during the pandemic and didn’t experience an in-person orientation.
But even during her virtual orientation, she connected with her orientation leader.
“I had a virtual orientation, and Isaiah (Owens) was actually one of my OLs,” she said. “He inspired me to apply.
“I’m so glad I did. It has, by far, been my favorite thing I’ve done in college.”
Owens, an orientation leader for the past four years, is an Innovations in Honors student from Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The senior is majoring in theatre with minors in communication and Africana studies.
Owens said he recognized the importance of a solid orientation experience his freshman year, and that the experience led him to become an orientation leader and guide the next generation.
“I decided to become an orientation leader my freshman year because my orientation had such a profound effect on me. It is where I made lifelong friends and built state-of-the-art connections,” he said.
Owens was involved in training this year’s crop of new orientation leaders. Although this is his final chapter as an OL, he is overwhelmingly positive about the future of UTC orientation.
“I’m leaving behind folks who are already leaders and very capable of leading orientation into a new era—an era where incoming students get the ‘blue-and-gold truth,’” said Owens.
An orientation leader’s job doesn’t end after orientation sessions. They are a point of contact for the first-year class all year long.
“These [freshman] see us in their future element,” Owens said, “so it’s our job on campus to continue being a familiar face, someone they can talk to about anything. Leaving campus this year, I’m leaving behind years of students who have realized what they are capable of and that has made all the difference.”
Orientation leader climbing and archery tag photo gallery (by Angela Foster)
