If you were ever thinking about becoming a Jump Start Orientation Leader, this is your sign!
When I started at UBC in 2020, I wasn’t able to get a full-fledged Jump Start experience, as everything was online. I’ll never forget how much my Orientation Leaders (OLs) then strived to make the best of the virtual format and variety of time differences they were working with, and engaged us as much as they could in many different ways. Alas, there was only so much they could do from their side of the screen. It was quite disappointing to say the least. (Fun fact: I stayed in touch with one person from my group who is one of my closest friends today!)
Cut to a year and a half later: I’m filling in the application to be an Orientation Leader. My grievances with my own Jump Start experience fuelled my passion to make that experience unforgettable for the incoming first years. Although I didn’t get picked in the first round of applications, they ended up needing more leaders closer to date, which was when I got called in. Duotang in hand and lanyard around my neck, I headed into the training week feeling both nervous and excited, or “nervous-cited”, as the Jump Start team liked to call it.
The training schedule was filled with various sessions ranging from how to read our schedules to how to manage social events. At first glance, I wondered why we needed five whole days to cover content that I assumed would be relatively straightforward. Once we started, I was surprised at how detailed the training sessions were, centered around dealing with a variety of situations and scenarios. A session that really stood out to me was the one we did with the Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Office (SVPRO), which taught us how to respond to disclosures and other sensitive situations.
The highlight of my training, however, was all the people I got to meet. My group of fellow OLs were some of the kindest and most wonderful people I have ever met. Spending almost all day with each other during that week (even after official training hours), we became incredibly close and formed a great support system. Meeting them, sharing experiences and learning from each other was such an enriching experience. I couldn’t have asked for a better group!
Apart from training, the actual week of Jump Start was a treat of its own. My Learning Community (LC) was supposed to have around 30 members, and around 20-22 of them were able to regularly attend sessions. While it was slightly awkward at first, my partner OLs and I tried to always keep it light, engage in good conversation and conducted some great team building activities and games. As the week progressed, we saw our LC members become less timid and showed more comfort. We even saw them spending time together outside the designated Jump Start time, which was when we knew that we had achieved our purpose as OLs!
In a sense, this experience became the Jump Start I never got. I spent so much time in close quarters with my OL group and we ended up becoming such good friends! I was also very appreciative of my LC and how cooperative and kind they were to us. Whenever I run into them on campus, they always stop to have a conversation and thank us for helping them all become friends. Moments like that always make my day and help me remember that I have a larger purpose. We plan to host some events for them in the coming months too! This was such an enriching experience and I highly recommend it to all upper-year students. I would definitely do it again – maybe I’ll return as a Senior OL, who knows? Stay tuned!