Erica Siaulnski, Staff Writer
Each semester new orientation groups experience for the first time all that college has to offer them. And with that, each semester different organizations on campus try to encourage students to participate and learn new skills that they can use both on and off campus.
One of these organizations would be the Dragon Guides. Dragon Guides are very present during orientation. Dragon Guides are also students themselves, allowing for helpful advice and first hand experiences for freshmen coming into the college scene. Teaching freshmen everything that they need to know, informing them about what resources are on campus, helping them find their way around campus and building groups to complete tasks.
Following orientation, Dragon Guides are still very present on campus. Each semester Dragon Guides host four events on campus. These events typically involve team work, communication and community engagement.
One of these events being the “Teamwork in a Minute” event held in Fitz. This event was held in the Fitz lobby and like the title suggests, took a minute! By spinning a wheel, you were given a numbered prompt to answer either alone or as a group. Ones such as “What can your group agree is an important contribution to team work”. These sorts of activities try to encourage students to continue exercising skills that they learned during orientation.
Sophomore student and Dragon Guide Isabella Iovieno, has been a Dragon Guide for 2 semesters. She spoke a little about what it was like to be a Dragon Guide at the event, and why she decided to become one. “I wanted to be involved on campus, I wanted to represent Oneonta positively.”
She also talked a little about what it’s like to be the first people on campus to have a connection with the new freshman students. “We try to be a friendly face to freshmen, and we kind of are the people students come to that orientation week.” She explained that even after orientation is done, students still remember their Dragon Guides, and make an effort to say hello. “Even now, I’ll be in town and students will come up to me, and tell me that I was their Dragon Guide. They always remember us.”
Students interested in becoming Dragon Guides are able to do so by applying on handshake. A 2.5 GPA is required, followed by an interview.
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