Shajith Marakka Thuruthiyil is a student in the Information, Networking, and Computer Security, M.S. program. He enjoys making new friends and motivating others to pursue their interests.

On Friday, August 18, I participated in 2017 Fall Orientation Leader Training program on our campus. There were sixteen other vibrant members on the team. The training was led by Campus Life.

The activities focused on learning about the tasks needed at New Student Orientation on August 29 and 30. It was an absolutely amazing day with fun filled activities to prepare Orientation Leaders to help new students. Not a moment was dull throughout the day, from the ice-breaking session in the morning until the volleyball game at Canada Place at the end of the day.

Training took off with an ice-breaking session, which helped the team members know more about each other. To emphasize the importance of teamwork, two teams were created and led by the campus life student assistants, Miranda and Valentina. The names of the teams were Team Horton and Smartinis.

Orientation Leaders are highly motivated to take different roles to perform during orientation. We also had a brain-storming session on different topics that the new students might ask questions about. Based on the training experience, I am excited to help out at New Student Orientation and welcome our new students.