COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (Sept. 25, 2007) — Exceptional is how Tennessee Tech University’s most recent group of student orientation advisers has been described — and four of them are actually award winning.

“The students who are selected each year to serve as SOAs are nothing less than paraprofessionals, and this year’s group did an exceptionally amazing job,” said Dustin Rawls, director of orientation and student success at TTU.

“As SOAs, they do a little bit of everything to help our first-time freshmen and their families navigate through the orientation process,” he continued.

“They’re part campus guide and part information center, but their primary responsibility is to do whatever it takes to insure that an atmosphere of calm, comfort and confidence prevails in spite of the chaos of orientation,” Rawls said.

Students must have a minimum 2.5 cumulative GPA on the university’s 4.0 scale in order to be considered for the post, which is selected on a year-by-year basis.

Being an SOA provides those selected students with opportunities to enhance communication, leadership, networking, problem-solving and team-building skills.

“At this year’s SOA appreciation banquet, it was incredible to watch what a truly successful team these students had become,” Rawls said.

Four awards were presented at the event. Dee Gregory of Mt. Juliet was awarded the Most Outstanding SOA Award; Paige Provey of Columbia was presented the Super-spirited Award; Jennifer Hale of Fayetteville received the Unsung Hero Award; and David Warren-Smith of Cookeville was the recipient of the Helping Hands Award.

--Tracey Hackett
This information posted 26 September 2007