Orientation 2012 at Stonehill!

The Training:

This was my very first orientation experience as a peer mentor. All I can say is, love it, love it, loooveed it! The training itself was over all an entirely different experience of its own. I walked in late to the first meeting due to my Stats class and was put on a complete blast. My brother from another mother Johnny Jo figured it would be amusing to get all 60 people to clap for me the second I arrived. I have to admit I did feel a little embarrassed but at the same time I felt honored. That moment was really the beginning of a great week to come. Favorite memories, I would have to say are all of the night time activities. From salad bowl to capture the flag, to where the wind blows, to sardines in the  Creepy Sem, and my personal favorite, touch someone who. Salad bowl was just hilarious as hell. That’s about the right way to sum it up. Capture the flag was fun and all but it was not in comparison to the intensity of RBTV’s old school capture the flag. The RBTV’s old school capture the flag course consists of giant cinder blocks that can be used as shields. It makes the game twice as intense but also forces you to be more alert when running. Then there is of course the newer version, on an open field, much like the capture the flag played at orientation. Where the wind blows is basically the best way to expose a person’s privacy. You could walk in with your deepest and darkest secrets and by the end of the night pretty much everyone will most likely know your business. It’s also a way to call out a friend or to be called out. In the words of the great Paul Burton, “busted and disgusted”. God knows I’ve been victimized many times. The worst call outs are those indirect ones where it’s not directly targeting you but yet you were somehow involved in the act. Somehow it is the group’s favorite activity. You just got to love it!  Touch someone who is my personal favorite because it’s really a way of recognizing who has had a positive impact on your life.  For example, “touch someone who made you smile, or touch someone who you admire.” Aside from the recognition aspect, it is nice to know that there is someone one out there who appreciates you for just for being you, making a difference in someone else’s life. Personally for me, I get pleasure out of doing good deeds for people, or just making someone smile.  There’s really no better feeling than that. I heard the values game was pretty intense as well but I unfortunately wasn’t able to participate. I was too busy studying for my stats exam back at home. The info sessions were most definitely my least favorite. It really wasn’t that bad, I’m just not a fan of listening to long conversations in a million degree weather. My concentration goes from 100% to 0%. I‘m actually surprise I stayed up in almost all of the sessions. The small groups in the form of speed dating really did the work, or else I would have been dozing off in every session. It truly was a learning experience, although it was mostly information for the mentees. I feel as if I know more about all the opportunities offered at Stonehill more now than ever.  My overall personal favorite part of the orientation training process? The FOOD! What else can it be? The food really wasn’t all that great but it was all free! I really can’t complain and no other PM should either because it was all given.  Besides, all it really takes to make this man a happy camper is food.

Orientation, The Stress!

First day of orientation was quite a mess thanks to someone who I thought I could depend on. Well, it really all started the Sunday before the first orientation and my stats final. I left earlier that morning to go home and prep for my final; which I did, all hours of the day until 3am. Rewinding a week before, I had asked a friend of mine to give me a ride back to school ASAP after my Stats final. He texted me saying “blah blah blah… I’m not working on Monday I got you with a ride.” He’s always been loyal to me about rides, about everything, so I had no reason not to trust him. The week had flown by, it’s the day before my Stats final and the first day of Orientation, my very first Orientation, the day I had trained hours and hours for. I texted him, “hey buddy you still got me tomorrow?” No response. Called, no response. “Hey is everything alright? Can you still take me tomorrow?” Zero response. At this point I want to get nervous but I don’t have the time to get nervous because I needed all the concentration on my study. It’s now 10pm and I’ve gotten no response so I thought I would send him a quick message on Facebook. “Hey buddy I’m not sure what’s up with your phone but I hope you can still scoop me tomorrow. I really need to be there...blahh blahh pick me up at FSU at blah time and I’ll be ready to go blahhh blah blahh.” I went back to my studies until 3am. Exhausted and brain dead, I decided to check my Facebook for the last time, hoping I finally got a reply. Well, I did get a reply, it was more like “blah blah my phone broke, blah blah I’m going to try and get a new one tomorrow, blah blah sorry I can’t give you a ride, blah blah blah.” Holy crap if I wasn’t stressed enough before for my exam, imagine how I was feeling now at that moment. My emotions? Angry, betrayed, angry, confused, anxious, more angry, angry and very furious! It’s 3:00am, who in the world can I call or text at this moment that’s actually going to pick up? The most I could do was text a couple dependable friends, hoping one of them would come through for me. 7:30am and I still haven’t heard from anyone. Then all of a sudden, almost back to back, I get a text from 2 people stating that I was basically out of luck. I dressed up, went to my exam, hoping I would get lucky with the last guy. I most definitely felt like the luckiest man alive because I received a text on my way to FSU saying, “don’t worry Tom, I got you”. My very last hope of making it to Orientation. Everything I’ve worked for, the interviewing process, the essays, the evaluations, and the hours and hours of training. Everything I worked for since January was almost taken away from me only because of one person’s selfish, unprofessional act. Basically who knows what could have happened if I chose to assume I still had a ride and hadn’t Facebook messaged this individual? That would have been the end of it for me. But hey, I recently read a scripture; “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” Ephesians 4:31-32 This scripture definitely made me realize that I do have forgiving problems. I mean I think I am pretty forgiving but I really don’t forget. So basically what I am saying is that I no longer have any anger against this individual, but I am also no longer willing to trust this individual.  At this point there are really only a few people outside of Stonehill and the Ron Burton Training Village, that I can call trust worthy friends.  It doesn’t bother me much because that’s just the many Realities of life.

Orientation, The Fun Begins!

Though it was such a hectic process to get there, I did make it, and yes it was hands down my best experience at Stonehill by far. I don’t think I have ever been so consistently enthusiastic about anything. I didn’t know what to really expect of the kids arriving so late, but I couldn’t wait to get to finally meet them. I got there, introduced myself and all I really did from there was be myself and kept it real.  Within a short period of being there I noticed how fast they were coming around. I was no longer the random new guy in the group. Well never mind the fact that my lovely partners surprisingly made a flat head of me on a stick to pass around to the kids until I got there. I came and they all already knew what I looked like, the most hysterical occurring of the week. While at the store trying to figure out how we can bring MTKC alive, we came across a slap on bracelet that said “Be your-self”. The “Be Yourself” Bracelet was to be passed onto a group number who was being themselves at any point during the orientation. Being yourself could mean stepping out of your comfort zone and getting to know someone you wouldn’t normally talk to. This idea was inspired by one of the many silly PM activities called the “Awkward project”. The mentees really grasp the idea of the bracelet which made Mama Kristen aka KK very proud! I say this because I was surprisingly given the bracelet by one of the girls. I was in complete shock but yet it was a special moment. Her reason for giving me the bracelet? According to her I came as the new guy in the group and didn’t really act much like the new guy. In other words, she appreciated my personality and me being myself in order for them to have a great time at orientation. We really lucked out with both orientation groups! We had awesome group of kids in both groups; they were motivated and excited for the overall orientation experience as well as the full experience at Stonehill. Of course there’s always that awkward elephant in the room at first but the awkward barrier was broken soon enough. It was really cool to see how they all transformed from awkward little turtles into their true personalities. What I found the most interesting about orientation was getting to see and experience the differences; differences as in orientation as a mentee, and orientation as a Peer Mentor. Being a Peer Mentor really is a piece of work, work that is completely under-rated. So much time, planning and excitement goes into it that you don’t normally see as a mentee. I mean, the excitement by itself can be exhausting. I have so much more respect and appreciation for it now that I’ve personally experienced it.     

Group Name/ Partners

Hands down the classiest group name of the year! The name MTK was created the first day we were introduced to our partners. Yes it only took us one time and maybe five minutes of knowing we were going to be working together. Now that’s connection and team bonding. The meaning of MTK is as obvious as it gets. M as in Mallory, T as in Thomas and K as in Kristen. As simple as it is, we take a lot of pride in our group names and slogan. MTK was later expanded to MTKC when the mentees became involved. Well towards the end of training, using the lottery method, we were told to pick from a list of words that could potentially be our group names. Being a first year Mentor, my partners chose me to do them the honors of choosing a word out of a brown paper bag. The word was “Classy”!  “Oh we classy huh?” This phrase later became the group’s slogan, slightly stolen from the original song “oh you fancy huh”? The group then became MTKC, with a twist on the “classy”. The word “classy” was replaced with “Crew”, Mallory, Thomas, Kristen and Crew! Pretty creative group of classy leaders aren’t we? Well the creativity didn’t exactly end there because Mal and KK decided to come up with another meaning for MTKC, Mighty Tighty Kids with Class! Yes, lots of thoughts and creativity when into the full group names. Why, cause we keep it classy! I personally emphasized the word class to the mentees because I really wanted them going into the their first semester at Stonehill being smart and thinking twice about their decision making. Not being the typical freshmen and get transported or documented for dumb things but having a good time with class; and if they do choose to drink, drink with class.  

As for my partners? I honestly could not ask for better people to be pared with for my first Peer Mentor experience. The both of them are so special in their own way it’s difficult to explain in words. KK aka Kristen Kennedy, hilarious! So relaxed and just a ball of energy. So many times during orientation I found myself being more and more like KK. So responsible, so real but most of all, she just goes with the flow. If something doesn’t work out, Oh well, things happen; let’s make the best of it and move on. No one is perfect. I love that mentality! Well, mostly because that’s exactly how I am.  A then there’s Mal Mal!  Coming into the group I had no idea who Mal Mal was nor did know what to expect of her. Now I literally cannot come up with the right words to describe Mal’s personality. I guess the best word for it is beautiful! Just always calm, peaceful, so organized, so relaxed, so mother like. Let’s just say if it wasn’t for Mal being there to keep everything under control, who knows what would have happened? Guess we will never know! Why? Because Mal was right there leading us as the most experienced in the group, keeping everything under control at all times.  In terms of leadership, we are all so unique and so creative in our own ways. At the end of the day, end of orientation, our individual personalities and creativity came together as one, MTK, which later became MTKC (Mighty Tighty Kids with Class).  "Oh We Classy HuH?!"