Orientation.

You know how some people log into their social media accounts after a lengthy period of inactivity and post stuff about their Facebook/Twitter/blog/etc. being 'dusty' and pretend to blow the dust off? It may have been kinda funny or witty when the trend first started, but it's been grossly overused to the point where it makes people (me) want to bang their heads on any available flat surface at its sheer lack of originality. Everything - including (but not limited to) jokes, music, films and books - gets old with repetition.

Next week I will be registering for the first semester of my final year at my university, and in the time it has taken me to reach that point, I have taken part in eight orientations for new students. The first seven of those ranged from 'just plain bad' to 'alright, but still kinda meh', but the most recent one, which just ended yesterday, can be honestly described as being pretty good. The main difference between the eighth orientation and the previous seven, was, of course, the lack of repetition.

My first orientation was for the June 2013 intake. I don't have much memory of this one really - I don't remember being an official member of the orientation committee, but I do remember helping out a bit, so still I count it as my first orientation.

But then I joined the Student Representative Council (SRC), so I was made to be a part of almost every orientation from September 2013 onward. I would probably have taken part in more if a couple hadn't clashed with tests or exams.

The thing about the orientations between my first and last ones was that they were all almost exactly the same in terms of program flow, structure and personnel. There were some variations in the first few in terms of games and activities, but eventually, for some reason, the people in charge of running the orientation just settled on a particular set of games that would be played for every single intake from then on.

What I found incomprehensible, however, was the fact that, despite things being pretty much the same for every orientation, the same mistakes were constantly being made. What was worse was that these same mistakes always seemed to be made by the same people. Any improvements in the quality of personnel were minimal, which is unsurprising when half the personnel is the same every single time. You can't polish a turd, and all that.

My seventh orientation, September 2014, came at a time when my term as a member of the SRC was drawing to an end. I figured it would be my last since I had no plans to rejoin the Council in the future. Just like a number of orientations prior to this one, most of the games and activities were exactly the same. The only thing that made it different from past orientations was that there were more new people working as members of the orientation committee (OCs), as opposed to the same old faces from before.

It ended up being the best orientation that I'd done up until that point, although that's hardly saying much. I might not have realized it at the time, but with the benefit of hindsight I'll say that it showed how sometimes things need to change for them to become better. By bringing in new blood to be mixed in with the orientation veterans, the program went more smoothly and was more enjoyable to both participants and organizers due to the eagerness of the newbies guided by the experience of the old heads. Personally, I enjoyed guiding the junior OCs throughout the process, which is what us senior OCs were supposed to be doing instead of stamping our authority on them at every chance we were given. I found it detestable when, during the post-mortem meeting we held at the end, several senior OCs chose to criticize the juniors for making some mistakes. Well, seniors, maybe they would have done better if you hadn't waited until everything was done and dusted to address those issues.

Fast forward to after the SRC elections that took place two months later, and I was, once again, called up to help with orientation. As I considered the offer, I realized that my haul of seven orientations greatly dwarfed the number racked up by anyone on the current SRC and the other guys invited to organize this latest orientation. My decision was made; I figured they could use my experience.

As it turned out, this orientation, for the January 2015 intake, was completely different from the previous seven in terms of both structure and personnel. For once, I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and not just because none of the other orientation veterans (whom I had never really gotten along with) were involved. We had new games and activities, new leadership and, most importantly, new spirit. Gone were the days of handling orientation because we had to; now we did it because we damn well wanted to. This was helped by the fact that, besides the hand-picked main leaders of the committee, the remaining OCs were selected through an interview process, resulting in capable, eager OCs being called up. This was a welcome change from 'buddy' system of old, which was partly responsible for there being so many orientation veterans who never seemed to learn from their mistakes, in spite of their experience.

In the end, everything turned out well. We had mostly positive feedback from the new students as well as the OCs. As for me, well, anything remotely decent that was unlike the orientations of old was good enough - and this one definitely was. The flow of events wasn't as smooth as we had hoped, but other than that things were just fine. Funny how good leadership, mutual respect, a friendly working environment, and a lack of favoritism can help an event become a success.

(On a side note, I probably would never have been involved with orientation had I not been on the SRC in the first place. And if I hadn't been forced into being involved with all those orientations, I would never have been given the pleasure of helping to organize this one. God certainly knows best.)

If the next orientation was to be organized in a similar manner to this one, I wouldn't mind taking my orientation count to nine. Despite being a massive introvert, there's just something about meeting new students and guiding less-experienced OCs that I just love. Come to think of it, that's probably why I've done so many orientations; to be happy with any situation you need to focus on the positives more than the negatives.

Now I just need to keep that up throughout the final year of my undergraduate degree. Do pray for me.