By: Paul Alberici

Each year, Brandywine takes in hundreds of new students. Freshman and new students come for orientation looking for answers regarding the next step in their educational career. This is where the Orientation Leaders come into play.
This select group of students all applied for these positions. The selection process included individual and group interviews to show off their leadership abilities and passion for the school. These students were chosen to help these new students become more acclimated and comfortable
Out of a record amount of 40 applicants for this position, a total of 14 were chosen:

• Jacob Adams-Business Management
• Paul Alberici-Corporate Communications
• Noor Avi-Marketing and Management
• Gene Cabrera-Criminology
• Lazina Chowdury-Pharmacy
• Fatuomato Conteh-Biology
• Coleman Hart-Marketing
• Yaasmiyn Mapp-Psychology (Returning OL)
• Michael Mensah –Biochemistry &Molecular Biology (Returning OL of the year)
• Anant Pathak-Finance
• Allyson Pyle-Psychology
• David Spencer-Accounting
• Anna Toshtzar-Business Management
• Logan Woods-Finance

Stephanie Jones, the associate director of Student affairs and one of the people in charge of making these decisions, explained that this was not a decision done overnight.
“This was a super hard decision to make,” Jones said. “It was awesome because we had so many super-involved and so many student who wanted to get involved apply for this position. What made it so hard is that we wanted to take people from both sides of that spectrum.”
Aside from just applying and looking at involvement, there were some other key factors that went into the decision.
“One of the first factors we looked at was GPA,”Jones said. “We had a certain line set for where we wanted the students to be at and if they weren’t quite there, we felt it was more important for that student to focus on their academics.”
Another key factor in the selection process was the interview process. When Ronika Money-Adams and Jones conducted their interviews, they were looking for people that get excited about the campus or people who would represent the campus and school well. The interaction that took place in the group interviews as well was a vital piece in making the final decision.
Now, along with the orientation to show students what to do, there are also events being planned throughout the summer to get excited about coming here and getting to know each other. Some of the possible events being planned are a trip to a Phillies game, Ice cream Olympics, and the annual Grill & Chill. All of these events are not only going to be exciting for the incoming students, but also have the Orientation Leaders excited as well.
“I am hoping to make the orientation fun and exciting for upcoming freshman,” Anna Toshtzar said. “I also hope to make new friends in the process.”
Now some of these orientation leaders had different inspirations for waiting to become orientation leaders. Whether it was just a personal desire to help the new students or if it was because of a successful orientation leader they themselves had.
“I wanted to become an OL because of my OL,” Gene Cabrera said. “He was very involved with the group and that inspired me to do the same.My OL was excited to talk to us and he went up to everyone to start a conversation.”
Part of these 14 leaders, there are two returning OL’s:YaasyminMapp and Michael Mensah, who was also the Orientation Leader of the year last summer. This was an experience they both enjoyed thoroughly and were excited to have this opportunity once again. They were both also very eager to get back at it.
“Being an OL last year was so much fun! It was the highlight of my summer of 2014,” Mensah said. “I would wake up excited and ready to go to work; I’m not even a morningperson! After the experience I had last summer, there was no way I could resistcoming back.”

This experience was something that they not only enjoyed doing because it helped other people get accustomed to the school, but also because they learned valuable leadership skills as well as meeting new people, both OLs and new students. This is something they both cherish and hope the new OLs get out of it.

“I’m hoping that the new OLs will also gain more leadership skills,” Mapp said.“As well as helping out these students as if they would want to be helped out, and to have fun! I truly hope that they will gain a memorable experience that they will never forget!”

With all this excitement through the new team, it doesn’t seem like it will be a dull summer here at Brandywine. New Student Orientation Leader will team up for the first time for their training on June 4th.