New students selected to serve as orientation counselors

Thirty-six new students recently joined New Student and Family Services as members of the 2019 orientation counselor team.

These new counselors will lead incoming students and families during summer SOAR (Student Orientation, Advising and Registration) sessions. Their selection resulted from a competitive interview process during the fall 2018 semester.

This year’s orientation counselors represent the following academic units: Belk College of Business (7), Cato College of Education (2), College of Arts + Architecture (4), College of Computing & Informatics (2), College of Health & Human Services (4), College of Liberal Arts & Sciences (15) and University College (2).

Fourteen counselors are first-year students, 12 are second-year, eight are third-year and two are fourth-year students. Eight of these team members transferred to UNC Charlotte, and the remaining 28 began their careers at the University. Additionally, this year’s class of counselors has shown academic success in the classroom with an average GPA of 3.315, a 1.8 percent increase from 2018.

On Friday, March 15, the orientation counselors and Gold Rush teams will travel to Coastal Carolina University for the Southern Regional Orientation Workshop, where they will participate in leadership development sessions and community building with other orientation and transition student leaders. Additionally, they will compete in the “Song, Skit, Step, and Dance Competition,” a conference tradition that allows institutions to highlight their spirit and pride.

The 2019 orientation counselors will compete in the “step” category. Watch an exclusive preview of the team’s step show at 5:45 p.m., Tuesday, March 12, in the Popp Martin Student Union Multipurpose Room.