Summary of Parent Counselor Selections

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!