Pre-Orientation Programs

At Washington University in St. Louis, we have a pre-orientation program
called Leadership Through Service (LTS), which typically enrolls 60
"pre-freshmen" (the maximum allowed).  The students come to campus about 4.5
days before orientation begins, along with pre-freshmen participating in 5-6
other pre-orientation programs.  The program is advised by myself and
another colleague in the Office of Student Activities, but fortunately we
have a strong tradition of student leadership.  The coordinators are usually
juniors or seniors (1-3) who were participants as freshmen and counselors as
sophomores.  The counselors are all sophmores (14-16) who participated as
freshmen.  Nobody gets paid but they are well-fed, well-trained, get to move
in early, and they love the program.  During LTS, students participate in
two large group (all 60 + counselors) service projects, two small-group
(issue-based, 10-15 per group) service projects, diversity training,
Myers-Briggs, social programs, reflection activities/discussions,
discussions about St. Louis regional issues, etc.  It's a packed time but
the students really love the program and they enjoy the small-group
experience with 60 peers before the other 1400 arrive on campus.  We don't
have formal or comprehensive data, but these students definitely go on into
leadership and service roles on campus.

I'd be glad to chat more with anybody interested in specifics -- my address
is kurtzman@dosa.wustl.edu.

Best regards,

Stephanie Kurtzman
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Stephanie N. Kurtzman
Coordinator for Women's Programs and Community Service
Washington University
Office of Student Activities, Campus Box 1068
St. Louis, MO 63130
phone: (314) 935-5994   fax: (314) 935-8516
http://www.getinvolved.wustl.edu
kurtzman@dosa.wustl.edu or community_service@wustl.edu
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