Transfer Student Orientation (TSO) is the orientation session for students that have already been enrolled in college and are transferring from another university. As student orientation leaders, we help the guarantee the orientation sessions run smoothly by leading groups of students on tours, answering any questions they might have and participating in presentations.
The first TSO session was less than a week after the orientation leader retreat and I was actually pretty nervous. I knew that we went through everything that we needed to know to be good orientation leaders, but I still didn’t REALLY know what to expect for the first session.
Even though the official orientation check-in was at 8 a.m., all the orientation leaders had to show up at 6:30 a.m. to set up. Everyone showed up bright and early (and groggy) and was ready to start.
The orientation leaders Angie Montelongo and Tyler Hall quickly ran through the schedule with us, and we each got our individualized duty sheets for the day. These sheets provided a detailed summary of the tasks that each orientation leader had to do at certain times during the day.
The orientation group leaders were the ones who had tasks that focused on leading groups and helping students get to their destinations in a timely manner without getting lost.
The orientation crew leaders were the ones who had tasks that primarily involved them setting up things behind the scenes and making sure that every presentation ran seamlessly and had no technical errors.
As orientation check-in was approaching, we quickly ran into a problem. Only one out of four of the laptops we used to check in incoming students with their name tags was actually logging in. This delayed our set up a little bit, so we really had to work together to get back on schedule for the rest of the day.
Everything else ran efficiently and the transitions from the Bayou Theater to the individual colleges were excellent because all the orientation leaders were on the same page and picked up the slack when it was needed. The whole session ran so smoothly that I was able to staff the Student Government Association table at the resource fair without anybody missing me.
Although we ran into the laptop hiccup at the start, the first orientation session was a success. Everybody fell into their roles without a problem and everything came naturally. In the words of Diveanne Martinez, “Orientation is definitely starting off strong!”
For more information on becoming an Orientation Leader, contact Director of Orientation and New Student Programs Angie Montelongo at montelongo@uhcl.edu.
Hi Dan, my name is Colden and I work for the Office of Orientation and New Student Programs at UHCL. Previously, Transfer Student Orientation (TSO) was called New Student Orientation (NSO) so there is no difference just a new name. TSO is required for all undergraduate degree seeking transfer students and must be completed before the fall 2017 semester. Please feel free to contact our office by phone at (281) 283-2420 or by email at Orientation@uhcl.edu. We would be happy to help and answer any other questions you may have.
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What’s different between the Transfer Orientation and the standard New Student Orientation? I’m attending classes this summer and never heard about when the orientations would be. I happened to be on campus picking up my books when I saw the sea of students. I pulled aside someone outside of the theater to ask them about it, who told me to go to the orientation office to inquire. The only session that doesn’t coincide with one of my classes is the final one in August. I’m not sure what I’ll get out of it since I will have already gone to classes for several weeks.