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The Daily Tar Heel

Opinion: There are very, very special people in our midst

It’s easy to be consumed with negative things and people that we are surrounded by each and every day.

Online, in-person and on T.V. it seems as though there is always something wrong. Whether it’s someone doing something wrong, or something being unfair — it’s always something. That consumption is dangerous because it can lead us to think about those things and not appreciate all of the positive people and things we have.

So, as opposed to feeding into negativity and tension, we want to celebrate individuals that are filled with sunshine and have hearts of Carolina blue. There is a very special group of students that do incredibly important work during the summer. You’ve seen them, and it’s very likely that you’ve encountered one before. The matching outfits. The large, blue signs that tower over the heads of eager, incoming students. The skits...so many skits—and the undeniable aurora that each of them have.

Yep! The orientation leaders (OL’s).

The people that always have a smile on their faces regardless of rain, shine or the countless miles they have to walk when they’re on-duty. They give up their ENTIRE summer that could have been spent interning or chilling at home to stay here and introduce students to UNC.

We get tired just THINKING about our orientation session. The speeches about picking your major, the countless slideshow presentations. But somehow, you go back, week after week, perform your skits and give your spiels like it was the very first time. We honestly don’t know how they do it.

They are the ultimate ambassadors. What they do is more than lead around a group of students...they remind us of why we chose Carolina in the first place. They literally do it all — in khaki shorts in 90 degree weather — which is incredible. It takes a very special person to do that.

We appreciate our OL’s, even though when we attended orientation we may not have shown it by the last day. The point at which we never want to experience another break out session again, and are tired of walking.

We look for them during our first few weeks of class for comfort, and we care if they remember what we shared about ourselves in the few short days we spent together.

So, shoutout to all of the OL’s out there and everyone else involved with New Student and Carolina Parent Programs, you are appreciated.

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