LSU campus leaders have logged more than 150 hours training to bring peace of mind to confused freshman during spring and summer training for freshmen orientation. The Freshmen Orientation, Advising and Preregistration team, also known as FOAP, has been training with different departments on campus for the past few months, as well as working on team building and improving orientation. The team consists of 20 Ambassadors who deal with students one-on-one during orientation.Mary Claire Gilder, head of the FOAP team, said the opportunity to work in Student Life with orientation was something that she had been passionate about for years. “The transition a student makes from high school to college is a very delicate thing, and as orientation team leader, I want to ensure that the product we put out for the prospective student, as well as their families, is one that leaves a positive impression, as FOAP is, more often than not, the first glimpse a student has into the collegiate world,” said Gilder. Starting college is an exciting yet sometimes fearful experience, said Elizabeth Sandridge, a FOAP team member, and orientation leaders can reminisce about their own experience as an incoming freshman.”It is strange to think a year ago this time I was going to orientation and now I am leading a group,” Sandridge said. “To get ready, I am trying to think of all the questions and worries I had as a new student on this big campus.”Gilder said she tries to prepare the students for University life, no matter what their state of mind.”Students come in with a plethora of emotions,” said Gilder. “We pride ourselves in educating and acclimating students to LSU in order to alleviate those worries and concerns they have, all while reinforcing their excitement for and pride in LSU.”Orientation is a considerable event for parents, too.Amanda Gulino, summer coordinator of the parent orientation leaders, said her orientation team tells parents about what their first year at LSU was like, what they did as freshmen and what resources at LSU have helped them. “My favorite part is that parents always have questions for us and they challenge us to keep up-to-date on our knowledge of LSU,” said Gulino. “They are genuinely interested in their students’ lives and attend as many sessions as possible to learn about what LSU has to offer.”Parents’ biggest concerns for their children are safety, health and academics, according to Gulino. They want to know that their student will be safe on campus at night, have access to health care and information on healthy life choices, and have a strong academic core. “We give them a student perspective, and I believe it helps to ease their minds because we are students, just like their sons and daughters,” said Gulino. —-Contact Jennifer Raines at [email protected]