Service Learning - MSU Friday

     MSU Fridays are harrowing and exhausting affairs.
     I am an Advocat. As I have explained before, that means that I am a volunteer student tour guide. I give regular tours every Thursday morning at 9AM to any visiting, prospective students and their parents. There are four MSU Fridays every year and Advos are required to work them. MSU Fridays, for those who don't know, are the very organized and structured days (on the organizing side of things) in which visiting families get a presentation of MSU - there are campus tours all day and a big presentation at 9AM. They have the opportunity to go to sample classes, meet with department heads, deans, the Honors College; there are presentations by the Office of Student Success, Study Abroad, and Financial Education. They get a free meal pass so they can eat on campus, in the SUB. And we, as AdvoCats, run the whole show. We don't miss any classes, though, which means that we start the day at 7AM, and work in between classes and other engagements until 4PM.
     At the first MSU Friday of this year, there were upwards of 300 attendees (something like that - it felt like 600 at some points during the day). My day started bright and early at 7AM, at which time I was in the SUB practicing a skit I was to perform with seven others in front of 300 people. The purpose of the skit was to formally introduce the student AdvoCats, relay a variety of majors and years, and discuss an abundance of reasons why to come to MSU. We ran down the isles, through the chairs, from the very back of the SUB Ballrooms, jumped on stage, sang YMSU (to the tune of YMCA), and sent the microphone down the line explaining who we were and why we came to MSU. The problem was, that the Office of Admissions needed more than just the typical reasons (skiing and Bozeman), so I was up there in front of 300 people telling them that I came to MSU because of the variety of student resources and assistance on campus - trying to sound authentic. In the end, I think I did okay. Then we jumped off stage and ran back to the back of the Ballrooms.
     Then, my day continued with the setting up of lunch tables and decorations in the SUB Ballrooms (after the guests had filed out and the previous set-up had been cleared away). I then had to run from there to Linfield to collect a crowd of potential Agriculture students and families so I could escort them safely and quickly back to the SUB for a sample class. This was difficult; I don't know if you have met the dean of Agriculture, but she is potentially the nicest person you've ever met: which means she talks a lot. So at 12:01 (the students were supposed to be on the move by 12), I had to step into the meeting room and relate the her that we needed to move these people out of here. Of course, she's the nicest person in the world, so it wasn't a big deal. BUT THEN, I had to move thirty people from the very top of Linfield, down a narrow staircase, up the mall, and through the SUB without losing them. To be honest, I still don't know if I lost anyone and if I did, I hope they're not still out there. The purpose of the AdvoCats, though, is to make MSU's first impression on these families. If we're rushed, unfriendly, and rude, that's how these families will remember the university. It wasn't hard for me to make conversation with these lovely people, but there was a pressure there and I was constantly worried about those in the very back of the crows whom I couldn't speak to.
     Come lunch time, I was assigned to mingle. I literally had to walk up to random families, who were eating their lunches, and make conversation. This is one of those things that brings flashbacks of my old, shy self back to my mind. I worry a bit about how awkward I could potentially be and how I might find I have nothing to say. But I realized that I was there, representing my school as a leader and that I needed to just jump in. So that's what I did. I didn't give myself any more time to worry, I just picked a girl sitting with her mom and sat down across from them. And (surprise, surprise) it was actually really fun!

     Long ago, in the age of high school, I, myself, attended an MSU Friday. I still remember it; I don't remember the details; I don't remember my AdvoCat's name, or any skits. But I remember it. That's why we do them and that's why I'm an AdvoCat. My Advo friends and I represent our school as leaders, as students, as community members, and we are usually the very first impression for a lot of our visitors. That's the goal, just to help these high school students decide where they want to go to start the rest of their lives. When I remember that, at the end of MSU Friday when I'm on my way home for a well deserved nap, it makes it all worth it.