Nick CamachoThe Cal Poly Week of Welcome Executive Board, composed of seven students, has more power than one would think.
The students involved in the Executive Board have a tremendous time commitment; training Team WOW; the group that prepares the WOW Leaders; scheduling and coordinating the WOW events; acting as liaisons between the orientation program, the campus and community; and overseeing the week while it takes place.
“It is a really intense process but it is very rewarding at the end,” said Catherine Dickstein, WOW Board member and history senior.
The most difficult part about being on the WOW Board is the time commitment, Dickstein said. The student volunteers participate as board members for a full year, from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30.
During this period, the board meets weekly with WOW staff, and the students also meet with on-campus administration, the community and attend several on- and off-campus events.
“The students are really dedicated and are talented at balancing their school and their work,” said Lisa Bruce, the assistant director of Orientation Services. “They meet upwards of 150 hours each quarter.”
The board’s main connection with the university is through Student Life and Leadership’s Orientation Programs staff. Bruce, along with Andrene Kaiwi-Lenting, director of Orientation Programs, helps the Board with their coordinating and planning.
“Our goal as staff members is to be part of the process,” Bruce said.
Kaiwi-Lenting added, “I advise the students through the leadership process. I am the university link through the planning.”
In order to be eligible for the WOW Executive Board, applicants must have participated as WOW Leaders and members of the WOW Team.
WOW Leaders are the group of roughly 500 student volunteers that are the direct leaders to incoming students during the orientation week. The WOW Team is composed of approximately 50 students who have the job of training the WOW Leaders.
There are usually about 15 applicants and each must complete three different interview processes.
After an initial review of each application, applicants are given the first interview with the WOW panel. Panel members change every year but always include representatives from campus faculty and administrators.
Applicants are also given a project assignment which they present to the interviewers.
Next, there is an open forum where students and staff involved in WOW get to ask the candidates questions and offer their opinion to the Orientation Programs staff. This is a time when the student and volunteer opinion counts most, Kaiwi-Lenting said.
Following the forum, hopeful board members receive a one-on-one interview with Kaiwi-Lenting.
For those that complete the process and become part of the board, planning for the upcoming orientation week begins quickly.
This year’s WOW Board (planning the 2007 WOW event) has made some changes to the orientation program.
“Something new to the WOW Board is that (the members) will be hosting parents during Cal Poly Summer Advising,” Kaiwi-Lenting said.
Another change is the amount of community service WOW is executing.
WOW Board members have adapted the Day of Service program to make a larger commitment to the community. Now everyone in WOW, including the board, WOW Team, WOW Leaders-in-Training and WOWies will participate in community service all over San Luis Obispo County.
“WOW does a lot of things directly with the community,” Dickstein said. “WOWies directly impact the community through ‘days of service.'”
WOW is responsible for roughly 800 to 1,000 students doing community service during the past four years.
Additionally, WOW will be celebrating its 50th anniversary this fall. Board members are trying to incorporate this into the event’s theme.
“We are really excited about the 50-year anniversary,” Dickstein said.
Kaiwi-Lenting said that creative themes for WOW are not decided by the WOW Board but the ideas are taken from the WOW Leaders and WOW Team members. However, because of the anniversary, board members are pushing for a related theme.
“The WOW Board initiates and then opens it up to leaders (to choose),” Kaiwi-Lenting said. “To capture volunteers, one of our main focus points is ownership. We let the volunteers come up with the ideas.”
Much of WOW’s success can be attributed to its relationship with the San Luis Obispo community and the university’s support.
“We have a really solid relationship with the community,” Kaiwi-Lenting said. “We have to have many meetings with city officials and coordinators.”
WOW Board members are required to do campus visits during the planning process. The members must meet with different faculty advisors, administrators and staff to plan and decide upon goals for the next session of WOW.
“These meetings set the tone for WOW and the board,” Kaiwi-Lenting said.
Cal Poly’s WOW is nationally recognized as an orientation program because the large number of volunteers and new students that participate.
WOW has an 85 percent participation rate of all incoming students, and Bruce said that more transfers are registering for the program as well.
The upcoming Week of Welcome runs from Sept. 10 to 14. Spring training for WOW Leaders begins the first Tuesday of spring quarter.