Students move-in early to prepare for incoming class

Bobby Rawlings wasn't up to much for most of the summer, but that all changed Aug. 20, when he began orientation leader training. The Elon University junior was one of almost 500 students who began moving back to campus early beginning Aug. 8.

Only students in approved organizations are allowed to move in early to on-campus housing, according to Taryrn Njagu, assistant director of residence life for North Area and housing operations manager. Those groups include resident assistants, orientation leaders and staff, athletes, marching band and some members of Greek Life.

"The athletes come back the earliest, but most early move-in students come during the weekend of Aug. 13th-14th," Njagu said.

Resident assistants go through a week- and-a-half long training session prior to the arrival of freshmen.

"They are learning policies and procedures, how to manage conflict, communicate more effectively to different types of people and work better in teams so that they can better manage the residents assigned to them," Njagu said.

In addition to resident assistants, orientation leaders play a major role in welcoming freshmen to Elon.

A total of 100 student orientation leaders moved in early, in addition to the 16 head staff members, who are former OLs who help to train current OLs. There are also more than 50 students who are members of "O Team," who do not go through formal training but help OLs with move-in weekend. Rawlings was a member of "O Team" last year.

"Members of O Team mainly help new students move their things from point A to point B," Rawlings said. "It was actually a lot of fun."

Orientation leader training lasts for a full week starting Aug. 20, preparing the future OLs to be as helpful as possible to incoming freshman.

"Their training consists of a lot of information gathering so that they can help the new students, it's also a lot of activities that help the orientation leaders work together as a team, because that is important for move in weekend," said Katie Hight, director of new student programs. "The training teaches the orientation leaders a lot about what is available to students on campus, like health and wellness services and student organizations."