Like one of my favorite celebrities Zooey Deschanel from 500 Days of Summer once said, “Summer has always been my favorite season. I feel happier.” I couldn’t agree more. Yes, summer is the season full of laughter, sunshine, and love. However, over my past nineteen summers, summer 2014 is the best of my life so far, because I worked as a Pre-College Counselor at the University of Rochester. This special summer job not only taught me responsibility and cooperation, but also brought the most sincere and precious friendships to my life. Summer 2014 completely changed my college experience.
The Pre-College Counselor position is half residential advisor, half camp counselor. Every counselor has different tasks every day to provide the best experience for the program attendees. During weekdays, some counselors were on duty the entire day to make sure every student found their way to classes; some counselors worked in the Office of Admissions to help program coordinators with administrative and prep work; and some counselors ran fun programs for the students. By the end of the summer, all the counselors and students became a big family and we all share the same precious memory of this past summer. It’s crazy how time flew by so quickly—it’s been more than a year since I got the job, and while reading the bios of this year’s new Pre-College Counselors, all the summer 2014 memories came back to me. So, I want to share some of the most memorable times I had working as a Pre-College Counselor.
1. Paintball: The coolest staff-bonding activity ever
Because none of the counselors knew each other or the Graduate Head Counselor (GHC) too well before the program started, we all decided to play paintball to bond as a team. It was my first time playing paintball and everyone else seemed to be really pumped. When we got to the arena and got all geared up, we realized that we would be playing against each other with some younger kids mixing in our team. I remember when the game started, I ran into a barrier right in front me and tripped. I didn’t expect the barrier to be filled with air, so I also knocked the barrier down, which exposed my GHC Ellie completely to the opposite team because she was right behind me. When the game was over, we all laughed so hard because we were all covered with paint. That was the first time I felt comfortable around my coworkers and it was also the first time I was sure it would be a great summer. Paintball really bonded us together!
2. Day trip to George Eastman House and Park Avenue
When Taste of College students moved in, our first weekend activity was a day trip to the George Eastman House and lunch on Park Avenue. As a student of Rochester, I’ve walked by the George Eastman statue on the academic quad every day, by this was my first time visiting his house. We admired his elegant living room, beautiful dining room, study room, and his mother’s bedroom. We also learned about his achievement as an entrepreneur and philanthropist and his personal life. The garden of the house is one of the most beautiful gardens I’ve seen in my life; we all took a bunch of pictures and had a great time appreciating the scenery.
After visiting the Eastman House, we went to Esan Thai restaurant on Park Avenue. Park Ave is where you can find all kinds of unique shops, boutiques, bakery, cafes, and restaurants. I ordered Pad Thai and Thai iced tea, and all of us enjoyed a great meal together and ended a great day!
3. Around the World: Learning more about our diverse staff team
Last summer, our staff team was extremely diverse. I have coworkers from Jamaica, China, Senegal, Mexico, Nicaragua, etc., and all of us knew at least one other language other than English. We all had different talents: some of us sing beautifully, some know how to play violin, some are great at break-dancing, and some are talented at sports. In order to help our students learn more about world cultures and diversity, we organized a weekly event called “Around the World,” which required each Pre-College Counselor to do a presentation on his or her own cultural background and interact with residents more in a personal way.
This event was a great success! Whenever the sign-up sheet was out, it was filled immediately. Of course, free food had something to do with the students’ excitement, but an opportunity to learn about another culture and the respective counselor was the main attraction for students.
When it was my turn, I decided to do a presentation on Asian manners. So I cooked over 200 dumplings from scratch (it took me two days!) and prepared kimchi on the side for students. During my presentation, while my students were enjoying the food I prepared, I talked about the history of greetings and table manners in Asia, and discussed different manners in different countries. It was quite a blast for me to share my own culture with other people and watch them appreciate it at the same time. I was also convinced that I wasn’t so terrible at cooking from this experience.
Other than those activities, we also went to a Rochester Red Wings baseball game, had an awesome day at the local Seabreeze Amusement Park, played beach volleyball on Hamilton Beach, walked around Cornhill and Park Ave Art Festival, teamed up with our students during a Just Dance competition and mafia game, learned about a cappella from the Yellowjackets (the all-male a cappella group at Rochester), and by the end, we all attended Pre-College prom and had a blast with great music and friends.
Even though it’s been more than a year since I got the job, all of those memories are still so vivid in my mind. The friendships and work ethics I obtained stayed with me throughout sophomore year. After a summer of hard work and laughter, I realized that I am passionate about helping people and I am always proud of introducing Rochester to prospective students. Thus, during the year, I applied to be a Meridian (campus tour guide) and a residential advisor. During my interviews, I talked about how much Pre-College Programs has shaped me and accelerated my maturation. With this experience under my belt, I was luckily selected to be a new Meridian this year and an incoming residential advisor.
Besides launching two campus jobs successfully, my summer coworkers became my closest friends on campus. Whenever I am feeling down or stressed out, they are the people I open up with and they always have my back. If I had never worked with them, I probably would never have met them since we all have such different majors! Thanks to Pre-College Programs, I now have a group of solid friends that I can always rely on and have fun with.
As for my Pre-College students, I still keep in touch with some of them, and I’ve been following their lives beyond Pre-College on Facebook. Up ’til now, a lot of them got in top-tier schools in the nation and have a bright future lying ahead. During one of my campus tour guide shifts during the 2019 Experience admitted student day back in April, I saw two Pre-College alumni, Juan and Victoria. They were also thrilled to walk around the campus again as accepted students. I was so happy to see them that I almost teared up. It’s such a pleasure to see all our students succeed beyond the program and pursue their dreams.
My time with Pre-College Programs was the best summer of my life!