June 11, 2002
The First Day One...
...went extremely well. I keep telling myself that I shouldn't be surprised: we were well trained, the organization was well laid, and precedent from past years said that it would be an excellent day. It wasn't until after the wrap-up meeting, around 4:30, that the feeling of how AWESOME it had gone set into me.
There was no question we couldn't handle: the tough ones were handled with tact and finesse. I had two major points of nervousness going in: academic advising and the cheers.
Academic advising worried me because it was changed from last year: rather than giving the students a schedule completely filled out when they come in, the students were allowed to go through a shortened roster (all the closed classes and upper level courses removed) and allowed to pick classes. Cool idea: letting the student take ownership in their education. (when I came in, my classes were picked for me, and we just talked for a few minutes about them in the academic advising session.) The students had about fifty minutes to go through it, and 99.9% of it was taken care of. This bodes well for the rest of the summer; there are questions that remain about what happens to students doing late Day Ones in July, when FRESHMAN courses are closing.
Last year it was decided that every day would end with the groups competing on stage by doing La Salle cheers: providing a high-energy end for the day. Of course, everyone arrives at Day One by 9am, so people are tired, and most don't completely want to be there: giving up a summer day for COLLEGE. What I found was that once the freshmen realized that they had to do the cheer, they put some effort into it and did a great job. We didn't win, but definitely came a close second.
My group was fantastic; group 2, you rocked the house today. Thanks for such a pleasant experience.
50 down, 850 to go.
Currently Listening to: "Birdhouse in Your Soul," They Might Be Giants.
Posted by Matthew at June 11, 2002 12:52 AM