So Saturday, October 25^th, was Open House here at SUNY New Paltz.

It was a great experience for all involved! We had SO many prospective students with their families come and visit the campus. Since I’m a Student Ambassador I was required to work it. Oh let me explain what a Student Ambassador’s job entails, in case you are caught unawares! A Student Ambassador is someone who gives tours around campus as well as working in the Admissions building. So I’m not going to sugarcoat this…we had to get to the Admissions building at 7:15 AM and I was not thrilled. The only reason I wasn’t too ecstatic was because it was so darn early. Besides, it was just a tough weekend with the musical going on every night and what not. I was drained! However, the day went quickly and it was quite rewarding. As I said in my title, everyone was so smiley and informative, so it was easy to catch the energy bug and help out where ever I was needed. Plus, the rain held out until later that evening, which was nice! It wasn’t the best weather ever, but at least it wasn’t a torrential downpour!

First of all, Meagan Olsen, Nichole Saldana, and I were assigned to go to the Student Union Building, fill approximately 26 balloons with helium, and then walk along route 32 to tie balloons to signs/ telephone poles. That way, the families could have an aesthetically pleasing blue and orange tour route to arrive at the parking lots. I know it was always confusing when my family and I looked at colleges! We seemed to have a difficult time finding where we had park. So I hope the old follow-the-balloons-trick worked! After that, the three of us had to rush back (since the balloon task took such a long time) and grab something free from the continental breakfast. There were bagels, muffins, fruit, cinnamon rolls, coffee, juice, etc. The three of us missed the group picture, which is a bummer, but ah well. Instead we had all those families driving safely in the right direction, so we did the right thing! Haha

Meagan Olsen and Nichole Saldana holding all our balloons.

My job for the day was to be stationed in the Athletic and Wellness Center with Erin Kowalsky, another fellow Student Ambassador.

Erin Kowalsky, here, radio-ing it up!

Well our job was to advise the volunteers for Open House as well as mingle with families and ask if they had any questions or concerns. We had SO many volunteers who signed up with C.R.E.W. This idea of C.R.E.W was created by Paul Kohler and Marlea Liguori, where they collaborated their ideas and made it happen. I bet your wondering what the heck I’m talking about when I say C.R.E.W, so I’ll post the website for your viewing pleasure. However, I’ll just copy and paste the information from the Facebook group that Paul and Marlea made, since they summed it up very nicely!

“We’re looking for enthusiastic students who want to share in their love for New Paltz with prospective students and their families. As part of the admissions C.R.E.W, you will share your experiences at SUNY New Paltz with high school students trying to figure out if New Paltz is the school for them! Responsibilities include: giving campus tours, welcoming visitors, passing out information, hosting a students for a day, and assisting admission advisors with the general operations of our large scale events!
Benefits: Volunteer hours for each event worked, free New Paltz gear such as shirts and cool backpacks, and great experience if you’re interested in becoming an ambassador, and sharing your love for New Paltz!!”

Here’s the link to the website: http://www.newpaltz.edu/admissions/crew.html

Here’s a group picture! All the students in orange shirts are the volunteers and the beige jackets/blue polos are student ambassadors.

Through out the day, there were ALL types of events. Let me break it down fo’ ya. There were Admission Information Sessions in the Lecture Center that covered the admission process from application to decision. They went from 9:45 to 1:45. Also in the Lecture Center they had workshops, tours, and information fairs. The workshops were based on the Educational Opportunity Program and the Scholar’s Mentorship Program. Then there were campus tours as well as residence life tours that took place from 9 to 2pm. (My job through out the day was pretty much showing people on the map where the Lecutre Center was so people could get to these tours. ) In the Athletic and Wellness Center, where I was stationed, there were Academic Department tables set up from 10am until 2pm, where one could go and get pamphlets/ask questions to faculty members pertaining to their major of interest. So as you can see, we needed a lot of assistance and the Student Ambassadors as well as C.R.E.W. members put in so much work! But let me tell you, I was DOG TIRED once Open House was over. And then I had to shlep on over to McKenna Theatre to do a show of Company, but it all worked out! The energy some how magically appeared when I needed it. It just goes to show you: you can always do more than you think you can!

OOOOOOO pictures galore! Here ya go!

Stephanie Samuel, a student ambassador, posing with a Crew Member.

Paul Kohler being all manly with that staple gun.

A faculty member showing an example over at the science tables.

Jamie Michelman (Student Ambassador) and Laura Waterbury (a volunteer).

Sarah Doran and Lisa Zingone, both Student Ambassadors.

Chris Lavin, Emily Kurland and Alex Johnson helping out at the Theatre table.

Shari Griswold, a theatre major, helping out at our teched out Theatre table in the Academic Departments fair.

Matt Vitale and Chris Levine smiling in the Athletic and Wellness Center.

Me…uh…praying? haha With my high-tech radio.

They brought this jacket out since the Costume Shop made it! It was on display at the Theatre Department. And ya know what’s cool about it? I wore it for the musical last year as Ruth in Pirates of Penzance!

Michelle Temme, Mark Fredrickson, and Cheyenne Garcia= all student ambassadors. Suprise.

Alright , I hope you liked the blog and such. Open House was a great success, and we have another one on November 8th!! So sweet dreams all!

This entry was posted on Monday, October 27th, 2008 at 11:54 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.