Orientation leaders focus on belonging

By the time thousands of incoming students and family members arrive on campus each summer for orientation, the team behind Carolina’s program is already months into its work.

From training student leaders to redesigning sessions and coordinating with campus partners across the University, staff members at the office of New Student and Family Programs dedicate their time to preparing students for their first year at Carolina.

“The orientation professional in me will tell you our work is always going,” said Ian Reynolds, associate director of orientation and transition programming. “We truly look at part of the start of orientation in the summer as our leaders paving the way for our future leaders, too. It’s cyclical.”

Planning formally begins in the fall semester, when the office starts recruiting orientation leaders. Students apply and interview before selected leaders begin weekly training sessions in January.

Throughout the spring, orientation leaders meet with campus partners and learn how to guide incoming students through everything from academics to student success resources. By summer, those leaders are helping run one of Carolina’s largest annual onboarding efforts.

“We want students to be excited that they’re coming here,” Reynolds said. “We know they come into orientation maybe a little nervous, maybe a little unsure of things, but when they’re out the door, we want them to know they are going to have support.”

That sense of connectedness and belonging has become an increasing focus for the office in recent years. After reviewing student feedback and benchmarking orientation programs at other universities, staff members reworked Carolina’s orientation model to create more opportunities for engagement and connection, like the Strengths First session where students begin to consider their strengths and how to use them at Carolina.

Thanks to student feedback, orientation now includes more choice-based experiences, campus partner sessions and late-night activities designed to help students find community before classes begin.

“Students want to see their future here,” said Justin Inscoe, director of New Student and Family Programs. “Like, do I belong? Am I ready? So we’ve leaned into that.”

For orientation leader captain Adriana Dubon, those moments of connection are what make the experience meaningful.

“I remember coming into my orientation feeling super nervous,” said Dubon, a rising junior and medical anthropology and journalism double major. “I met one of my best friends from orientation. It was just kind of crazy to me how such a small thing could lead to something bigger.”

Another orientation leader captain, Zez Tucker, is a rising junior studying dramatic arts. She said orientation leaders help set the tone for students’ first impressions of Carolina.

“We really do want to embody that Carolina pride,” Tucker said. “It’s No. 1 priority for new students to come in and see smiling faces with knowledge.”

That atmosphere extends beyond the orientation sessions themselves. Nearly 13,000 students and guests attended orientation last year, with families consistently pointing to orientation leaders as one of the highlights of the experience.

For the staff and student leaders behind orientation, the work is about more than just icebreakers and presentations. It’s about making Carolina feel like home.

“If the students are leaving here feeling like that’s a possibility for them,” Reynolds said, “then I know we’re doing a good job.”