Student Voice Orientation – Reflection

During the October break, I took part in an orientation for the new students who joined UWC late due to the unforeseen consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. As I am part of ‘student voice’, which is a group of students comprised of one individual per mentor class that represents Grade 11, I contributed to planning out the activities that we would run during the orientation such as Pictionary, mini obstacle course, and easy ice-breakers.

Our initial interaction with the new students was quite awkward as the new students seemed to be very timid, therefore I had to initiate conversations and make sure that everyone was interacting with each other and no one was left out. Although our ice-breakers which was the game ‘Splat’ ran successfully, as everyone seemed engaged, which created a very zeal environment, our second activity which was the tour groups seemed to be very confined with time. When first planning out for the orientation day, we didn’t expect the campus tour to last for a long time; however, time was definitely a challenge that I faced when taking the new students around the school campus. Our last activity was the games such as ‘Pictionary’, ‘Mini-Obstacle course’, and a blindfolded trust game. All these games required teamwork and collaboration, which I felt was a skill that I was able to improve on even more after participating in this orientation.

Ultimately, the orientation day was successful as everyone seemed to be very engaged and enthusiastic about all the games that we had pre-planned. One main reason the orientation day ran smoothly was that we were able to use our time effectively during our Student Voice sessions, in order to organize activities. However, if I were to run this orientation again, I would lengthen the time of the school tour as I felt that this was a crucial part that should have been lengthened.