An Orientation Leader’s Perspective

It all started at the basement of RCH, at our headquarters. What materials do we have to set up the rooms? What sort of decorations would be put up to match our theme? I was in Dark Brown, and as the Evil Monkeys, we piled-up, painted and decorated cardboard boxes along the side walls of the room. It resembled a skyline, like something you would see from King Kong. Out in the hallway we hung thin brown strings, attaching little cut-out monkeys to make it look like a jungle.
All of a sudden, Tuesday! Time to earn our hardhats! The first-years entered the room with banana-stencilled shirts we prepped prior to the week. As this was my final orientation week, I decided that I would experience the magic and fun that is Earn Your Hardhat along with my first-years. What better way than as a Big? As a team we taught them cheers, and eventually they started them on their own. Mighty impressed with the enthusiasm of Dark Brown! I slid down the waterside, got down in the mud, and luckily our frosh heard us say that it was a lot better to step on our butts when walking across the mud pit. Aerial photo was quite entertaining. Seeing the bear walk around and handing out their developed “Ariel Photos” to everyone sitting down. By the end of the afternoon, we were all tired, but had a lot of fun.
Thursday came along. Junkyard wars! Even after doing Orientation Week so many times, it still impresses me how much can be made by junk! From catapults and water filters, to Rube Goldberg machines and even a house for Uncle Mac, one of the Edcom’s uncles who came to visit that day. By this week, a lot of first-years got acquainted with each other, some even looking a bit purple then when I last saw them! Impressive! After Junkyard Wars, we would meet the Tool at Federation hall. It strikes everyone in awe to see the Tool make an appearance.
Friday evening came, along with Scavenger Hunt! Leading first-years around to their next events, learning acts and dances, and finding ways to impress Edcom were the main activities of the night. Even as a leader, I was very amazed with the cooperation and the efforts put on by my colour group! As the last Engineering Orientation event of the week, we concluded with a gigantic meeting to find out the winners of Scavenger Hunt. Dark Brown leaders had a final photo-op!
By Sunday, we came together at ComEng, both first years and leaders, including Bigs, Huges, Edcom, and FOC, to enjoy a comedy show and find out the winning team. Edcom looked pretty spiffy with their new haircuts! Congratulations to Team Red on saving the world! Although my team, Dark Brown, didn’t win, we still had tons of fun. This was officially the end of my last orientation week. I would definitely recommend first-years, past leaders, and upper-years who have yet to try out to sign up for Orientation next year!