Student Association plants OrangeSeeds

Student Association plants OrangeSeedsSeptember 09, 2004Matthew R. Snydermrsnyder@syr.edu

The Student Association at Syracuse University, in collaboration with SU’s Office of Greek Life and Experiential Learning (OGLEL) and Office of Orientation and Transition Services (OTS), has announced the introduction of OrangeSeeds, a leadership empowerment program for first-year students.

Students that take part in the OrangeSeeds program will benefit in many ways, including:

• Exposure to new and evolving leadership opportunities;
• learning essential leadership skills such as effective communication and time management;
• becoming acclimated and well adjusted to our campus community;
• forming new personal and professional relationships early in the college career;
• learning SU traditions;
• exposure to available resources on and off campus;
• networking opportunities with administrators and student leaders;
• learning to plan a successful event with knowledge of logistical and operational factors;
• forming a strong support system that will encourage self-reflection as well as personal and professional growth; and
• applying lessons from the program to the college experience.

Entry to the program is by competitive application. Once accepted, first-year students will be place with mentors who will guide them through the experience. Mentors will be students of SU or the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry who have already shown tremendous leadership, academic or community service skills. Mentors and Seeds participants will stay together throughout the academic year.

The culmination of the year will be in the spring, when the participants plan “The Big Project.” Using the skills they have learned from their mentors, administrators and others around them, Orange Seeds members will create a community-wide program to be implemented on National Orange Day, the annual celebration of SU’s birthday.

“This is our way to give back to Syracuse what they have given to us for so long,” says organizer Jessie Cordova. “It’s important that this program thrives, because then the students in the program will succeed and the whole process will be rewarding for everyone involved.”

Cordova and Travis Mason, who is also vice president of the Student Association, will serve as co-executive directors of OrangeSeeds. Other members of the OrangeSeeds team include students Sharon Clott (Training and Operations), Eric Crites (Alumni and External Affairs), Christopher Cummings (Training and Operations), Janet Levine (Diversity Initiatives and Fundraising) and Jennifer Marks (Diversity Initiatives and Fundraising). A steering committee of students, faculty and staff will provide vision for the OrangeSeeds program and will be chaired by Mason.

“I am tremendously excited to watch this program in the first year. With the help of the steering committee and the other directors, I believe we have formed a solid foundation from which Orange Seeds can flourish,” says Mason. “We are structuring the program so that it will be rewarding for the students while at the same time providing support in the opening months of their first year.”

To apply or for more information, visit http://students.syr.edu/orientation/OrangeSeeds/welcome.html.

The committee will accept applications until Sept. 16. At that time, the committee will select the 22 students who will take place in this program. There are no application requirements for first-year students, and participants will not be selected based upon race, sexual preference, gender, age, ethnicity or college choice.

There will be an informational meeting on Sept. 9 at 6 p.m., in Room 228B of the Schine Student Center; additionally, OrangeSeeds representatives will be passing out information at major SU events during the opening weeks of the Fall 2004 semester.