Imagine this: You are driving up to Grove City College for move-in day, but you are feeling butterflies in your stomach. You are sitting in the car, nervous about meeting people, making friends, and starting classes. As you pull up to your dorm building, a group of white T-shirts swarm your car, shouting in excitement. They start to unpack your car and carry all of your bins and suitcases to your dorm room. They wait around for you to walk into your dorm room and pray over you for success and joy through the semester. When your parents leave, you spend the next few days meeting upperclassmen and fellow freshmen, participating in social gatherings, sports, movie nights, and other activities.
That was my experience when I came to Grove City College. Orientation Board (OB) helped me get familiar with the campus and with meeting new people. They also helped me get to know upperclassmen in my major, to help give me an idea of what my classes would be like, as well as the professors. After seeing how involved Orientation Board was with incoming freshmen, and the group as a whole, I decided I wanted to do it.
Through the process of joining OB, we did retreats and meetings to grow closer together and hear the “why” behind everyone’s decision to join. Orientation Board is a big group, divided into different committees. Each committee has different tasks and events they put on for the freshmen. I was on the Religion Committee, which included Sunrise Service, Worship Night, Praying Sessions, etc. One of my favorite events that OB did before the freshmen arrived was the Prayer Walk. We each walked around on campus, to each building, and prayed over it and prayed for the incoming freshmen. An event that I helped organize was All-Campus Worship. My team and I put together a group of student musicians to lead worship and read Scripture. Seeing all of the OB members and the campus come together to worship helped remind me that Jesus is changing our hearts daily and we are serving Him through helping others. I think it also helped many of the freshmen know that Jesus is the one constant thing in our lives and we should lean on Him to help us through the semester.
Orientation Board has helped me step out of my comfort zone and meet so many people – some of which are now my closest friends. OB has push me in my relationship with Christ, while serving others and having a fun time. Overall, it has been an amazing experience to be apart of Orientation Board, and I cannot wait to do it again next year.
