Annalise Bandel Bridget Wesley UNIV 392 Orientation Experience Analysis #1 Only a month into being an orientation leader

and I am surprised at how much I have already learned. Not only have I discovered more about myself, but also about my peers, coworkers and supervisors. The experiences from these orientations have given me valuable insight into what my role entails and what I can learn to do better in the future. During my first orientation I quickly learned that everything does not go according to plan. Half way through the first day I felt what it was like to lose a student. I felt the panic of possibly being reprimanded by my supervisors, and the lose of respect I might receive from my students. In the matter of a few seconds I had to decide how I was going to act on this situation. I asked myself what I needed to do to overcome this and how I was going to do it. I calmly asked another OL to watch over my group while I went to look for my student and get ahold of a supervisor. After not being able to find him, and I realized I could not do anything about it and I had to continue on with my group. In an odd way though, this experience bonded myself with my group. I saw that these were not kids, but my peers, and I think because I was able to remain composed throughout this situation they saw that they could respect me as their leader. I found out the next day that the student who disappeared got sick, called his parents and was too embarrassed to come and tell me. He was very sincere in his apology, and I felt that I had assumed the worst in him, instead of thinking about all other possibilities that could

explain his disappearance. In the future, I cannot always assume the worst in people, but think about all routes of possibilities. The experiences that I have already encountered have shaped me in many ways, even noticeable ways that my roommates have pointed out. This experience has not only affected me, but also my roommates. They have noticed that I talk constantly about the orientations and I tend to talk really fast when I do since I have so much say. They have realized that I have become more secure in my personality traits, and that I have accepted who I am as a person. They agree that this experience has made me stronger and a better leader, which I could not be more proud of. I feel accomplished that it shows how much I am growing from this experience. When it comes to the articles that we have read, there has been one particular aspect that has stood out to me. I was unaware of the fact that the core basis of the Jesuits is self-awareness. I am drawn to it this mostly because I consider myself self-aware. I still have a long ways to go, and I have not gone through everything the Jesuits go through in order to become self-aware but this is where I disagree with Loyola. I think that you do not necessarily have to go on a 30 day hiatus to become self-aware. I think a portion of becoming self-aware has to do with the people that surround you. I became more selfaware because of an experience through my third orientation. I learned that you need to be self-aware in order to adapt yourself to your student group. Not every student is going to respond the same way to you, so I think that a strength I possessed going into these orientations was self-awareness. I was with a fellow OL on our traditions and noticed that they were very energetic towards my group which was not how I had been acting with them. They were very turned off by it. I could sense

that they were not responding well to the other OL so I had to intervene and talk to my group. I wanted to students to be able to comfortable towards me and all the other OLs. I had to be self-aware and be able to sense how I needed to react towards my group in order so they could get the best out of their orientation. To sum everything up, I have already been challenged in ways I thought not possible. I have reinforced one of my strengths; self-awareness and being able to sense others feelings. I have found that I already relate to the Jesuit basis which surprised me but makes me feel that I am doing something right. I hope that throughout this summer I continue to capitalize on this strength and improve on other ones I may not know exist as well.