I'm a busy guy, so I apologize for the lateness of this update and leaving you all hanging. I have two jobs, for those who don't know, and they have been keeping me very occupied. Oh, and 15 credit hours. So you can understand why these posts aren't as frequent as we'd like. Anywho, I recently received an e-mail inquiring about my recent escapade with the Freshman Foothold retreat. So for all of those who wish to know, here are a few points:
A few questions to consider might be:
-How exactly are you involved in Freshman Foothold? (Or how did you get involved?)I got involved in Freshman Foothold originally as a freshman when I was invited by the MSS office to go on the retreat. I had such a great time and learned such useful things that I have always remembered that experience throughout my university career. Because of these fond memories, when I received an e-mail calling for volunteers and mentors for this years FF Retreat, I was only too happy to sign up. Apparently there were a lot of others who answered the e-mail to be a mentor, but I was lucky enough to be chosen and was glad for the chance. Something interesting is that I was the oldest mentor and the only one married. I don't know why, but it was interesting. As a mentor I drove a group of Freshman up to Springhaven in Hobble Creek Canyon in a BYU van and directed my group of 12 freshman during the course of the overnight trip. I also organized our dance number which was, well, pretty awesome.
-What are the main purposes of the Freshman Retreat? Do you think these purposes were accomplished?The main purpose for Freshman Retreat is to aide students in making the transition from high school to university life, and to really let them understand that the MSS office is there for them whenever they need as a counsel and support. Also, to have a TON of fun. I am not sure if the students had as good a time as I did, but I suspect that they did have a great experience and I'm sure that the goals of the MSS office were met and exceeded with this activity.
-How do you think the program helps new freshman adjust from high school to college?I think the most important thing for any student who has recently left home of the first time is to learn how to wisely manage time and relationships. There were workshops about those topics and inspired devotionals that I know helped me become better educated about important facets of university life.
-What kinds of other activities are planned for Freshman Foothold throughout the year?I am not sure what other activities are planned, but I am sure they will all be both fun and educational and I hope I can get involved in them in someway as well.
So there you go. In addition to these good times, I made some new friends, played some Phase 10 and got into a battle royale (a good kind) with Melba the coordinator in charge.
The activity was great fun, a shout out to my group: Heaven, Mika, Rachael, Michelle, Giselle (yeah, there were hard to keep straight name-wise), Sheldon, Phoebe, Maria, Jenae, Miriam, and Brenda. They are a good bunch. We called ourselves the Kool-aides and our cheer was high on the awesome scale. I do love Kool-Aide. We were almost the ‘Slurpies’, but even my dedicated freshman wouldn’t go for that.
There will be more things posted later.
