After starting at the University of Washington, I quickly became involved with roles in an office that was then named First-Year Programs, now New Student and Transfer Programs (NSTP). This office supports new students in their transition through multiple types of programming including Advising & Orientation, Dawg Daze, First-Year Interest Groups (FIGs). After being selected as an Orientation Leader and FIG Leader, during the spring quarter of my first-year I enrolled in position preparatory amongst my fellow Orientation and FIG Leaders. These preparatory courses and then my continued roles in NSTP transformed my facilitation skills and significantly strengthened my confidence in public speaking. Before stepping into these roles, I was someone who felt extremely stressed at the possibility of being called on in class and often rehearsed my thoughts so intensely that I stopped fully engaging in discussion at hand. Beyond confidence in my facilitation abilities, I also needed to learn how to be adaptable in my facilitation style to support the learning of those I’m working with. An adaptable facilitator must be able to adjust in the moment, respond authentically, and communicate in different styles. Taking on roles in NSTP allowed me to grow deeply as a professional and individual and I will forever be grateful for the opportunities and mentorship amazing members within this office have provided me. 

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As an Orientation Leader, I had the privilege of welcoming the class of 2026 to the University of Washington during the summer of 2022. Due to starting college early through the UW Academy Program, I was actually younger than many of the students I was welcoming. This was something I never drew attention to but found to be a bit silly. Leading orientation for nearly 8,000 students over Zoom came with no shortage of daily challenges, from student engagement to unpredictable tech issues. As the content I presented shifted across groups and student populations, I also found the need for my communication style to shift similarly. For example, when working with first-year domestic and international students, I tended to take on a bubblier tone that encouraged students of all comfort levels to join the conversation while still centering my experiences as a current undergraduate student. While my warmth was still present when working with transfer students, I would adjust to a more mature tone and intentionally recognize these students' past knowledge about and experiences in higher education. 

 

I enjoyed teaching a First-Year Interest Group for three years, and this role similarly required me to adapt my presentation and communication style to meet the needs of each class. Teaching a FIG taught me the importance of collecting and responding to student feedback as a part of the teaching process. In my first year as a FIG Leader, I taught a themed FIG targeted to support student activists in their transition to the UW. When having my students completed a reflection activity on their lived experiences, in collecting student feedback I learned that my reflection questions weren’t fully relatable for some of the international students. From then on, I became much more intentional about how I introduced material and the implicit cultural contexts of my references.

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In my second year as a FIG Leader, I co-taught a FIG for students affiliated with the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) which supports underrepresented students in achieving academic success at the UW. As an EOP student myself, I found this experience to be especially meaningful and allow me to further center my values around supporting my communities. The highlight from this quarter of co-teaching was getting to host a Diverse Excellence panel featuring professionals of color whose roles aligned with our students’ interests. Still three years later, when I run into students from that quarter they tell me how much they enjoyed and how impactful this panel was for them. Through my roles in NSTP and working with amazing professionals of color, I learned that communication can be both authentic and professional