Continue reading »]]> Oh…Day 2! It’s probably the day that everyone thinks about because this is the day that the students and parents get to meet with their advisor. But before that happens in the afternoon of Day 2, there is a lot of information that is crammed into the morning of Day 2. It can all start with an optional yet lovely, brisk jogging tour around campus at 6:30am with a friendly professor and employee of the university, Dr. Doug Hankes. If that doesn’t fit your fancy, you can just arrive for late check-in/breakfast and hear from the Director of Camp War Eagle as he welcomes the new day and offers advice and helpful tips. Starting at 8:15am, there is a series of three Concurrent Sessions, all 25 minutes long, where you have the chance to hear from numerous offices and individuals from the University. These range from helping you set up a college student budget, scholarships, questions about the Meal Plan and TigerCard, and Sorority/Fraternity Recruitment. After all that information, the parents join back together in the ballroom of the Student Center for something called “Freshman Zone”. “Freshman Zone” is a panel of 4 or 5 Parent Counselors who talk about their different college experience and take questions from the crowd. Once that is over, the parents split into two groups. One group stays in the ballroom and hears from other speakers for information pertaining about Housing/Residence Life, On-campus technology, and academic help/advice. The second group heads to Tiger Tables where they get to browse different tables that offices and university programs have set up to answer questions and to provide information. Once those groups are done, they switch so that everyone can benefit from all the great information. After such a busy morning, most of the parents are ready to be re-united with their student and get lunch which is provided in the Student Center. Even though the morning is very long, it provides much of the information that parents want to hear or have questions involving their student’s college career.

Continue reading »]]> Training Week for the Parent Counselors was a blast! Thinking back to my experience as a PC, I remember Training Week being the time when we really came together as a group/team and getting to know each other better since we spent so much time around each other over that week and half. I would definitely say the same for this year’s PCs. The week started out with some excitement because they got some of their uniform which they had been asking about for weeks. The PC schedule for Training Week started up around noon where they would meet up and hear from different offices around campus, do different interactive activities, practice for their opening skit and participate with the CCs in numerous things. During Training week, the PCs do not have to worry about classes or other on-campus obligations. School is already out and finals are done so they are able to focus entirely on Camp material and give a last effort in preparing for the summer. That’s the main purpose for Training Week; to come together and put all attention on the details so that everyone is ready for the orientation sessions. It is a lot of information to take in, but the PC did a great job over those 10 or so days and we were ready for the students, parents, and guests at Session #1.

Continue reading »]]> This past February, the FYE Office selected their 20 new Parent Counselors to be apart off this year’s Camp War Eagle Staff. We are very excited about having them on board and finally being able to start training and preparing them for this summer. The Parent Counselors are a very unique part of the FYE office and are vital to the success of the Camp War Eagle program. The Parent Counselors are the students that lead and run the Parent Program of Camp War Eagle. They are the ones that perform the opening skit for the parents, lead small group discussion, give tours of campus, and answer any questions that parents or guests have, as well as aid in many other things in the orientation process that the parents and guests of Auburn’s incoming freshman go through.

The process of selecting this year’s group was ground-breaking since we added a second round interview to the selection process. This was the first year that we had a two round interview process, which gave us the chance to get to know the participants even better. After turning in an application, participants were scheduled for a 1st round interview. Callbacks for 2nd round interviews were posted after that and finalists were able to start preparing for their 2nd round interview. Something that we started this year as well was that we asked that each person bring to their 2nd round interview an object that they thought was important for a parent to give their student before leaving for college. Some of the objects candidates brought were a debit card, a tool box, a family picture, a memory blanket and a first-aid kit to only list a couple. This helped us tremendously in the selection process and also allowed the participant to start thinking of ways to serve and help the parents.

 The new Parent Counselors were announced following the longtime Auburn tradition of Callouts on the back steps of Cater Hall in the middle of campus. Callouts are when former organization members stand on the back steps of one oldest and prettiest buildings on campus and literally “call out” the new members by announcing the members name and welcoming them into the group. Callouts is always very exciting and this year was no different. It gave newly announced PCs a chance to get to know each other and gave them a glimpse of what was to come. Right now, the PC’s are in training and are getting ready for the fun and exciting summer ahead of them. They meet on Tuesday’s for about 3 hours and are trained about what a PC is and how they help parents. The PCs also hear from speakers, participate in activities and learn a lot of Auburn information which they will have the opportunity to relay to the parents and guests of this year’s incoming freshman. Training comes to a big climax at the end of the semester when PCs take part of training week which allows the CWE staff to fine tune anything and gets everyone ready for the 1^st orientation session.

 I hope the parents out there are excited to meet the PCs, because I know the PCs are very excited to meet them this summer!