A Series of Firsts: Loyola Weekend Spring ’19

Hey everybody! Welcome back to “A Series of Firsts,” where I tell you about my many first experiences navigating the resources that Loyola offers its students! Today it’s all about Loyola Weekend, and how it was working for UAO during the busiest time for the office, and Loyola itself.

A little about Loyola Weekend: every Spring Semester, admitted students and their families have the opportunity to visit campus and experience first hand what Loyola has to offer its students. From staying overnight with a current First Year, to touring our campuses and meeting Staff and Faculty from the different Departments at the University, Loyola Weekend is a weekend full of activities so that admitted students can picture themselves as being part of the Wolf Pack!

The Weekend itself is run by the Undergraduate Admissions Office (where I work) with the help of other Departments in order to better accommodate the needs of the incoming families without disrupting normal University activities. It really isn’t a job for the faint of heart. In order to make sure that the Weekend would run smoothly, UAO recruited all of its student workers to give a little help in as many tasks as possible; that’s where I come in. Having decided last minute that I was going to work on Saturday for Loyola Weekend, I had only a slight idea of what I was getting into since I had already worked for a similar event last semester.

Nothing had prepared me for the work that went into preparing for the arrival of the families: days passed and the student workers had to prepare folders for every student that was to come, with information specific to the group they belonged to, as various hundreds of folders were needed for the weekend. I helped with folder making one day, and got a glimpse of all the other things that had to be done before Friday came: Faculty and Staff had to be reminded to attend their respective meetings, as were the Registered Student Orgs that were to participate in the Student Life sessions. The Panels for the different Schools and Departments needed to have enough people in order to give a rather full picture of the experience at Loyola. Students coming for auditions for Fine Arts Programs had to be accommodated properly, as were the students from the School of Business and School of Communication. enough Campus Tour Guides had to be available in order to show everyone around, and Student Ambassadors had to be available to provide the families with directions and help.

There are so many other things that had to be done that I might not know of or not even remember, but every single role was important to be fulfilled, and our advisors at UAO made sure that we student workers knew that. As a tour guide for the Halas Recreational Center, I saw how important it was to show our admitted students what their new home looks like, how crucial it is for them to envision themselves as living in Loyola. As hectic as the whole experience was, with everyone running up and down in order to get everything done, I really enjoyed the experience. At the end of the day, I had enjoyed sharing with others a little of my time at Loyola and to express my opinion towards the different resources that Loyola has to offer its students. I felt that my voice was being heard whenever a student or my parent would ask me to go off-script to tell them a little more of what being a Rambler is like. And I felt great being able to welcome them to the community the way the Loyola community had welcomed me when I was a First Year.

If you came to visit campus during this past Loyola Weekend, leave a comment and let me know what your favorite part of the whole weekend was! And if you have any questions about life at Loyola, just leave them in the comments section!