Hello everyone! It’s great to be back on the Hill. The year is off to an amazing start!!!
I began my second year at Holy Cross early this year. I was an orientation leader for the Class of 2026, and the experience was fun, tiresome, but very rewarding. We moved in about ten days early to undergo volunteer training that would prepare us for the welcoming of the incoming students. While the days were long, I made some of the best memories and friends. We hung out after orientation training, watched Mamma Mia, ate Chipotle, and bonded as a family. The highlight of my day during orientation was unpacking the day with all my friends after training ceased, and I will cherish the laughs we had as we made inside jokes, shared our experiences with our groups, and decompressed all the stressors we underwent. I will forever be blessed with my orientation leader friends, and I know we share a common commitment to make the Holy Cross community close-knit and inclusive. Around seventy upperclassmen took on the task of initiating nine-hundred new students to the first-year class, and we fulfilled the task to the best of our abilities.
I was a leader of the O’Kane Octopus group. I feel like these first-year students became a part of the Holy Cross community early on. Whether we were singing as part of icebreakers or talking about their fears coming to Holy Cross, I bonded with them in a very special way, and I am forever grateful for the opportunity of being a source of familiarity and support for twenty-five first year students. While the school year quickly followed and classes picked up, I stay connected with my orientees, and I love seeing them at tailgates, in the stacks of the Science Library, or at Kimball. I hope they feel the sense of belonging as integral members of the Holy Cross family.
