When transitioning to college life, new Colorado State students can look to their Ram Welcome leaders as a resource to facilitate a smoother move, according to volunteer staff.
“We want to help the incoming students create connections with upper classmen, the staff and faculty,” Ram Welcome leader Ashley LeSage said. “We want to set the foundation for them to have a successful school year.”
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LeSage, a junior veterinary medicine and biological medical science double major, said her position “extended beyond this weekend.” She planned on taking a group of students to the bookstore to find their books and encouraged them to ask as many questions as they could while they were on the tour.
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According to business marketing major Sean Somers, his primary responsibility as a Ram Welcome leader was to “help facilitate the transition from high school to college life.”
A junior, Somers is a returning Ram Welcome leader who said he understood the more difficult tasks that came with welcoming in the new students.
“Getting them engaged in conversation is the hardest thing to do,” Somers said. “But it’s also the most rewarding when I can get them talking.”
Jordan Burch, a freshman English major, said that other than being “kind, energetic and optimistic,” her Ram Welcome leaders were useful for “offering advice and giving directions around the campus.”
“I appreciated one of the leaders saying to me ‘We’re not talking down to you, because we were all in your position once,’” Burch said.
Even the small favors the Ram Welcome leaders were doing for the incoming class left lasting images in the minds of the new students.
“I lost a shirt yesterday and my Ram Welcome leader went and got me a new one,” incoming engineering major Nicholas Santiago said.
Though the transition to college life can be difficult, some Ram Welcome leaders felt the incoming class was adjusting to the changes smoothly. One Ram Welcome leader, history major Elizabeth Zentner, had seen that adjustment with her group.
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“They seemed overwhelmed, but they’re handling it very well,” Zentner said. “They might be having too much fun!”
Collegian staff writer Sean Meeds can be reached at news@collegian.com.
