When asked where I went to school, I am very proud to say to people, I graduated from Beaver College. I will always refer to my school as Beaver College, or The Beav, even though it has taken on the name of Arcadia University – to each his own.
Why do I bring up The Beav? I recently visited the campus and met up with Jeff Ewing, Dean of Students. Jeff and I go way back. He was an amazing inspiration to those of us involved in New Student Orientation. I was so impressed and enthusiastic about orientation when I was an incoming freshman that I knew I wanted to partake in that group and help the new kids coming in feel welcomed.
Though the orientation team met with new students in small groups throughout the summer, we all worked for and looked forward to the new student pep rally which was held their first night on campus. This was where we all met in the gym and the orientation team basically went nuts to try and get the college spirit going. This was an amazing evening and I’m not sure in the three years I did orientation that I had a voice at the end. The new students really warmed up to this and it made them feel like this is where they wanted to be.
After experiencing the orientation process as a freshman, first time away from home, in a school where I knew no one, I really wanted to do something special when I returned as a sophomore and an Orientation Leader (OL). While I was at home one summer afternoon, going through old boxes of toys and crap, I came across an old Washington Redskins toy helmet – and it was maroon – the new chosen color of orientation. It's important to know that orientation is planned so far in advance, that I applied as a freshman to be an OL as a sophomore – and the meetings started in the second semester of my freshman year. The Orientation Planning Executive Committee (OPEC) is the group of students, hand picked after a lengthy and multiple interview process by Student Affairs faculty, this included Jeff and Jan Walbert. Jan is currently the Vice President of Student Affairs and the key person who has kept my legacy alive. One of the first orders of business for OPEC is to choose a color theme and a logo for the orientation that year. All the OLs wear a t-shirt of that color and with that logo – and OPEC members wear their own variation of that t-shirt. This is so we stick out amongst the thousands of new students – and so OPEC members stick out even more. This is very key because it was long before we all had cell phones attached to us and when someone has a question you need to get an answer quickly. Trust me, the t-shirt recognition system worked.
My sophomore year – the color was maroon, same as my helmet. So me being the creative, but not so talented artist type, I peeled the Redskins stickers off of the helmet, grabbed some paint and painted the orientation logo on the sides of the helmet.
On the night of the pep rally – I presented it to Jan as a token of appreciation for the time and dedication she gives to orientation. I have never met two more energetic people than Jan and Jeff when it came to making the new students a community at The Beav.
Jan was very gracious at the gesture. She grabbed the helmet, gave me a big hug, and with the roaring applause that started from the OLs, she ran laps around the gym with the helmet on. The OLs then followed and grabbed new students along the way.
It became an amazing tunnel of energy – people were slapping Jan’s helmet as she passed – and we all took turns making our lap in the helmet. It became a symbol of what amazing things were to come in the new year. A symbol of new friendships to be made and milestones to be marked. It became the symbol of orientation.
Ah yes, one year does not a legacy make. Tis true my friends. So the next year – when the color was orange, I purchased a toy helmet – that had to be spray painted orange – because I don’t live in Cleveland – and yet again pushed my not so artistic painter in me to paint the logo of that year on the helmet.
And by my senior year – I was now a PROUD member of OPEC, and with the color being green – I found another toy green helmet at a yard sale and passed on the symbol for one last time.
Back to my recent visit a couple weeks ago. Jan was not around, but as I was chatting with Jeff, he mentioned that I am still there every orientation, and he took me into Jan’s office. I was amazed and touched and overwhelmed with a feeling of accomplishment when I looked up on Jan’s shelf and saw my three helmets, along with a painted safari hat, hockey mask, more football helmets, and various other forms of hats with logos and signatures. After I left, the legacy of the helmet was passed on by other OLs, other students. People I have never met and probably never will. People who never knew how that first lap with the first helmet felt. The energy and pride it brought to the orientation staff that night. They will never know how that felt, yet they felt so strongly about what the symbol meant to orientation and to Jan, that they left a piece of themselves on Jan’s shelf forever.
Jeff also mentioned that Jan gives a former student by the name of Butz a little shout out during orientation, so they all knew the reason why they want to wear that colored shirt. The reason why they want to lose their voices. They knew the true importance of being the first name known to a student who otherwise felt overwhelmed and scared by the new college experience. And whether or not your degree has Beaver or Arcadia written on it in the end doesn’t matter. It’s about finding yourself, finding something to believe in and devote your power and energy to. Its about hope and pride.
So my legacy lives on. And when I think of what I created – I smile and I believe in myself all over again.
We all touch people in many ways, and we should have small reminders of the difference we make. I made a difference as an OL – and I carry that hope and seeing things with new eyes with me everyday!!
Long live the helmet!!
