Murray State University - Shield Yearbook (Murray, KY)

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easoned MSU students roll out ie red carpet for newcomers the counselors kept smil- Lancaster said. One thing ak for when I select them is ability to laugh at your- Rhonda Simmons, who 'ked as coordinator of the ent's program, said that one the things that kept the lnselors going was their own :itement about the program. She was especially excited en the quality of MSLl's Ori- ation was confirmed by its tors, she said. 'One of the highs I get is en someone tells me they've en to a bigger school and ir program wasn't as good ours. .eCompte said that one of the most appealing features of Murray's program was its infor- mality. He said this informality was presented at the beginning of each session. For example, he said, At the last session, we all bought cheap sunglasses. There we were, making idiots of ourselves. In spite of occasional lunacy, the counselors were respected by the incoming students, Lan- caster said. Because of their ability, the counselors' service to their Uni- versity is invaluable, Lancaster said. They don't get paid near as much as they're worth, he said. Q 0 Tim Bland much money Dodd He was 5 ,,, if L15 S .1 fs. , kt K W K Exhaustion takes its toll on one Sum- mer Orientation participant, Kathy Spears. Spears took advantage of a break in the schedule to collapse on a couch in the University Center. fs Summer Orientation I9

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The Welcome Wager Last summer, 1,349 incom- ing freshmen and transfer stu- dents were welcomed to Mur- ray State in four sessions of the 8-year-old Summer Orientation program, according to Pete Lancaster, director. But, al- though he coordinated the pro- gram, he attributed most of its success to the students who work as Summer Orientation counselors. I don't run the program, they do, he said. Lancaster said that a major characteristic of the 1981 ses- sions was that they were done professionally. He also said that using the centralized, air- conditioned facilities of the Uni- versity Center improved the The pain of planning his schedule is morefrustating than an injured leg for freshman Tim Shannon. He studied the list of fall classes during the Summer Orientation cookout. Working out a class schedule per- plexes Summer Orientation counselor Sara Hooker as much as it does the incoming freshmen who request her help. The chance to pre-register for the fall semester is one advantage of at- tending Orientation. Photos By Valerie Allison 18 Student Life program. Furthermore, he said that Summer Orientation secre- tary Dot McCann, who handled the nuts and bolts, kept the sessions running smoothly. But it was the hard work and dedication of the counselors that made the Orientation guests feel welcome, Lancaster said. l've never had a kid that l hired as a counselor who has not performed well, he said. This is partially because of the intricate process used in se- lecting counselors. Lancaster said that a student who applies for the position of Summer Ori- entation counselor is required to have a grade-point average of at least 2.5, but added that he rarely selects anyone with a GPA of below 2.8. The applicant must also sub- mit a paragraph on why he ap- plied for the job. Lancaster then interviews the applicant, and if he is still unsure whether the student would be a good counselor, Lancaster checks with the applicant's references. After the counselors were se- lected this summer, the suc- cess of the program rested on them, said Sara Hooker, who worked as a counselor for the first time in 1981. What we made of it was what it was, she said. Hooker said the counselors were rewarded for their work by the attitudes of the students they guided. They treated me as equal, she said, but alsc somebody who knew a more. Another counselor, Tom Compte, said the incorr stuents generally liked Oriel tion, although there were, na rally, some gripes. The one thing they ct plained about most was that kept them going, he said. But the constant activity the two-day Orientation : sions was also grueling for counselors. Hooker said t during each session, I physically, mentally, emot ally tired. But, despite the rigors of ltt Qi. ....

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Ch nge Pla ce A new location for registration had a debatable influence I had nothing to offer anybody except my own confusion. - Jack Kerouac, On the Road lt was the same story in a new setting. When the University Center opened in 1981, one of the ac- tivities affected was registra- tion. The process would, theo- retically, be less of a pain in the new facility. ln the fall, Llniversity Center- style registration made its de- but. Whether it was actually simpler than registration in the former location depended on who was asked. Bill Adams, registration su- pervisor, said the two-day affair ran smoothly, partially because of the addition of new equip- ment. Two computer terminals and one printer were added. But the new location also had quite an effect, he said. Everything was centralized in the University Center, Ad- ams explained. Before, stu- dents had to go to too many different places to complete the process. lf things ran smoothly, they did not do so immediately, Ad- ams admitted. There were a few bugs in the system during 20 Student Life 'Qt H ,H :wit W4 ,ww x nil the first half-hour, but there were no big problems after that, he said. Wilson Gantt, dean of admis- sions and registrar, also said he considered the change success- ful. He said one complication was a rush for financial aid the first morning. But Gantt, like Adams, set the financial aid section of the system apart from registration itself. In registration, Gantt said, We didn't have any lines. But several students noticed an overbundance of lines in the process. One, senior Larry Hol- land, after standing in the pay- ment line for W2 hours, said, This is the biggest line I've ever seen. Another senior, Karen Shi- pley, called the lines phenom- enaI. Some unfortunate students Philip K even waited to get in line. had to wait two hours just get a schedule, said stude Dianne Littlefield. And then there were s dents like James McHugh McHughes, a freshman who not know the ways of regist tion, arrived at 8:30 the fir morning. At 3:30 that afta noon, he was still in line. lt could be run a little better, an exhaust