Showcase Saturdays: Joyce Ang Tze Harn

(Above: Ang (front row, 10th from left) together with the other orientation leaders of “University Welcomes”)

Name: Joyce Ang Tze Harn
Course/University: Bachelor in Communications (Broadcasting), Taylor’s University
Experience: Orientation leader

“To welcome our freshmen with open arms and to ease their transition into university life”, that was the motto of an orientation leader. For 2½ years, I had been an orientation leader with the privilege of having to facilitate eight orientations at Taylor’s University. During this time, though the content was the same, I came out of it differently each time.

The fun begins!

As orientation leaders, we organised “University Welcomes” (first day of orientation, the mundane stuff), campus hunts, safety workshops, clubs and society days and, of course, epic orientation parties with various themes.

Although we were separated into teams for each orientation session, we still worked together, all 70 of us! It was our duty to guide the newbies when they were lost. We shared our experiences and knowledge with our juniors, in the hopes that they would not repeat the same mistakes we made.

Learning moments

The best part of being an orientation leader was that it offered me the opportunity to meet various people. I’ve met people from as far as the Netherlands, Pakistan, Indonesia and Korea who had amazing stories to tell, some of which were rather inspiring to me.

Through this experience, I learnt that being a leader is not only about getting people to listen to you, but also to be the one doing the listening. The chance to work with a group of people on an ongoing project was also very enriching as I learnt how to organise my time, be spontaneous and have more fun.

Concluding thoughts

We worked and played hard, and after three days of hard work, it was time to party! We got various sponsors for our events so that the newbies pay less to enjoy an awesome party.

Above: Ang (left) together with the DJ and emcee of the night

In a way, being an orientation leader was very much like being an event planner, and our job was to make sure everything went smoothly. If you ever plan to go into the event business, you should join Taylor’s University orientation leaders.

The best moments of my university life were spent guiding and helping new friends around campus and sharing my experiences with them. If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn’t change a thing. The satisfaction I got from knowing that I had made somebody feel welcomed and loved was truly indescribable.

If you had an experience during your university/college days that you would like to share, email it in to campus@leaderonomics.com!