Speaking of ... College of Charleston

Essential Tips for New Students: An Interview with Student Orientation Leader Hayden Cohen

• Hayden Cohen • Season 3 • Episode 7

Share episode

Send us a text

On this episode of Speaking of…College of Charleston, George Johnson, Executive Director of Strategic Communications, interviews Hayden Cohen, a junior theater major and student orientation leader. 

Hayden’s Tips for Incoming Students:

  • Less is more when it comes to packing
  • Speak up for yourself, ask for help when you’re feeling homesick
  • Participate in Weeks of Welcome to meet people on campus

Featured on this Episode:

Hayden Cohen is a Junior at the College of Charleston majoring in Theatre, with a concentration in Youth Theatre, and is currently on track for a master's program at the college (M.A.T. in Performing Arts). She’s a former CofC Bridge program participant, Leadership Council Member, and Peer Mentor. She’s a second year Orientation Intern who started the Photography Club, is currently the Vice President of HSAB (Halsey Student Advisory Board), and is a member of CofC Hillel!  

Resources from this Episode:

 

 


[00:00:09] Hello and welcome to Speaking of College of Charleston, a podcast produced by the Office of Marketing and Communications at the College of Charleston. I'm your host, George Johnson, and I serve [00:00:20] as the Executive Director of Strategic Communications here at the college. Today I'm here with Hayden Cohen.

[00:00:26] Hayden's a junior theater major from all the way from Columbia, South Carolina, who is on track for the Master's in Performing Arts degree here at the college. As a student orientation leader, Hayden has one of the most important jobs here [00:00:40] on the campus. Blah. I'm going to start from the top. Okay. Alright.

[00:00:48] Hello and welcome to Speaking of College of Charleston, a podcast produced by the Office of Marketing and Communications at the College of Charleston. I'm your host, George Johnson, and I serve as the [00:01:00] Executive Director of Strategic Communications at the college. Today, I'm here with Hayden Cohen.

[00:01:06] Hayden's a junior theater major all the way from Columbia, South Carolina, who is also on track for the Master's in Performing Arts degree here at the college. As a student orientation leader, Hayden has one of the most important jobs here on the campus as [00:01:20] it relates to our new students. In addition to that, Hayden is a former CFC Bridge Program participant, a Leadership Council member, a peer mentor, founder of the Photography Club, and a member of Hillel, which is a Jewish student organization, and vice president of the Student Advisory Board for the Halsey [00:01:40] Institute of Contemporary Art.

[00:01:42] Hayden's joining us here today to chat about all things orientation and what a new student needs to know about becoming a Cougar here at the College of Charleston. Wow, Hayden, I was just reading over all of those things that you do, and I don't, how do you have the time to do all of that?

[00:01:58] Honestly it's a team effort. [00:02:00] I could not do it without my supervisors, my team members, and honestly, every student I've met along the way. Wow. Wow. Great. Great to have you here. Before we jump into this interview, I want to play a round of what I call CFC This or That. Let's do it. And I'm going to give you a word or two.

[00:02:17] It could be a word or it could be names and you tell me which [00:02:20] one you prefer. And I may have you to elaborate on some of those so feel free and be ready to do okay? Okay. Sounds good. So you ready? Yep. Alright, Apple Music or Spotify? Okay. I only had Apple Music when they took Joni Mitchell off of Spotify and then I re downloaded Spotify so I'm back on it.

[00:02:36] Okay. So that's maybe like a boat. Yeah. It's a little 50 50. Okay. [00:02:40] Okay. Swifty or Beehive? Ooh, Swifty all the way. But my walk up song is Love on Top. So you got a theme song? Listen. It's orientation. You never know. Oh, okay. Be ready. Here's another one. Drake or Kendrick Lamar? Ooh, Kendrick.

[00:02:56] Why? Kendrick won. You heard it. We all heard it. [00:03:00] Kendrick won. Okay, we'll give that. IG or TikTok? Instagram. All the way? I'm rarely on TikTok, but I do love TikTok. Looking for those trends, but Instagram all the way. Okay. Here's one for those who know our campus. Rivers Green or Stern Gardens? Both.

[00:03:18] Rivers Green for the [00:03:20] sunsets, but the Stern Garden turtles. Okay, I'm gonna have to make it over there. I'm new here, everyone, so I've seen Rivers Green, so I'm gonna have to make it over there to the gardens. I'm new here. Here's one. Marty's Place or Liberty Street Fresh Food? Ooh. Sunday morning Liberty Breakfast.

[00:03:37] And a good Marty's [00:03:40] Pizza and a lemonade after a hot day. Okay. Okay. Texting or Snapchat? Texting. I'm rarely on Snap. I am rarely on Snapchat. Come on now. I'm texting all the way. Okay. Okay. Biking or walking? Walking. I thought about bringing a bike, but we walk everywhere anyway. [00:04:00] Everything's close by.

[00:04:01] Everything. Okay. Are you a night owl or an early bird? It depends on the day, but I'm usually an early bird. Okay. Waterfront Park or Hampton Park? Waterfront, forever. Okay. And here's one, I laughed at this. Amazon or Tanger Outlets? Ooh. Ooh. [00:04:20] Amazon, especially when you can get that shipped to the Amazon lockers on campus.

[00:04:25] You don't even have to leave your bed. Yeah, that's true. But, you go to the outlets and you might find a deal. But it was just Prime Day, we got all those deals already. You're right about that, you're right about that. You're from Columbia, so that's not too far away.

[00:04:38] Why did you choose to come here [00:04:40] to Charleston at the college? Initially, I knew the school had a huge Jewish student population, which was really wonderful for me because I grew up in a place where there were only four Jewish students through my K 12 experience, which was extremely difficult.

[00:04:56] It was, me, my brother, and then maybe two [00:05:00] other students. Okay. So I wanted to choose a college that meant something to me, not only academic wise, but outside of the classroom. I had toured Charleston four times. Okay. I had no idea where I wanted to go, what I wanted to do, but I knew one thing. I love to do theater, and I wanted to help people.

[00:05:19] I [00:05:20] toured the college. I knew that Charleston had rich history, so I came in as a history major, thinking I was going to work in one of the museums here. And then I ended up getting accepted into the bridge program, and then I got I totally messed that one part up. But I can start over from that. If you want to [00:05:40] pick back up from wherever you're comfortable.

[00:05:41] I'll just literally start from the beginning of that one, if that's okay. Initially I chose COC because I knew the school had a huge Jewish population, and I grew up being one of four students. who were Jewish in my K 12 experience, and I needed a change. I knew the theater scene was incredible here, [00:06:00] but I knew that I wanted to work in a museum.

[00:06:02] Being a history major, I wanted to give tours, I wanted to dress up, I wanted to do the whole hospitality and Charleston scene and that aspect. The first time my mom and I toured the school, we actually ended up parking in front of the Jewish Studies building. Get out of here. So we [00:06:20] parked and we turned around.

[00:06:21] I'm gonna start crying. We turned around and we saw the Jewish Studies building and I was like, This is your place. This is my place. We didn't even see anybody come out of the building. It was just, knowing that there was a building for, ugh. Knowing that there was a place for Jewish students to go to.

[00:06:37] And my brother, he's an incoming freshman. So [00:06:40] knowing that my brother could also have a place to go to when he comes here, like we both can finally go to Friday night services together. We can go to these events. We can go to these Passover Seders together. We can do things we did growing up with so many other Jewish students.

[00:06:55] And we don't have to explain that we're Jewish to other people. Your community was [00:07:00] already here. Already. And they were welcoming me. That's good. That's good. Now we're here. That's good. That's good. You get here, you're in your freshman year. When did you decide and how did you decide to become a student orientation leader and then tell us about your duties?

[00:07:14] Yeah. So I was accepted into the bridge program, which was wonderful. My [00:07:20] seminar class was actually taught by Carly. Carly was actually working for orientation. So she was teaching my class and I was in her office. Oops. Carly Pruitt. Okay, so okay, so I'll start from I'm sorry, now that turned off. [00:07:40] So you're in your freshman year.

[00:07:43] What made you decide to become a student orientation leader and then share with us some of the duties? Yeah, so I got accepted into the charl nope, totally messed that one up too. I got accepted into the College of Charleston Bridge program and my [00:08:00] student success seminar teacher was actually Carly Pruitt, who is now my supervisor for orientation, but I didn't know that at the time.

[00:08:08] Shout out to Carly. I know, right? Shout out to Carly. Shout out to the entire new student program office, but I was in my one on one meetings with Carly as My bridge seminar requirement [00:08:20] and I told her I was like, I don't feel like i'm fitting in. I don't have my people I want to transfer. I don't think this is the place for me and she was like Have you gotten involved with the school yet?

[00:08:30] And I was like, no, she was like, did you do that in high school? Were you in like student government and things like that? And I was like, yes And she was like apply for this job and I was like, [00:08:40] okay I'll apply and see, see if I can do anything. And then I got the job. Wow. Wow. So knowing that I was, A little apprehensive honestly because I came from the bridge program.

[00:08:53] So I was taking classes at Trident Tech I knew basically nothing About College of Charleston as a whole because [00:09:00] I was taking classes with Trident just living on campus Okay, so I wasn't involved with any campus organizations my first semester and once I bridged over the day after I bridged I You know, I called Carly and I was like, I need a job and so we applied I got the job and now You I'm an orientation intern, so I'll tell you a little bit about [00:09:20] what we do.

[00:09:21] We welcome new students and new family members, but my duties range from being in charge of check in the morning, making sure it runs smoothly, making sure that all of the students are checked in by 8. 05, making sure that Cougar Mall is empty by 8. 05, so that we can start [00:09:40] Our day at 8 15 in the cistern.

[00:09:42] So that's my first minute schedule it's I mean my our schedules are broken down by 30 minute increments. So it is not There's no free time But in the best way, like we have our jobs built out for us it's wonderful, but my duties range from being in charge of check in to Presenting to [00:10:00] my students to taking them to advising for them to meet their academic advisors To go and present in front of family members in the Satili theater at, at a random time at any point in the day To then giving different presentations maybe for the library and tech sessions or for a budgeting session If it's on our [00:10:20] schedule really Myself and my entire team were trained for everything on the family schedules and on the student schedules in case We're needed to be put anywhere else Tell me about some of the preparation that you and the team members had to go through to prepare for the new students and their families.

[00:10:37] Yeah, of course. We're trained for every [00:10:40] position, basically, in orientation on purpose. Because there's only upwards of 18, 19, or 20 of us. It is difficult. We're welcoming all of these incoming freshmen, which is wonderful. But If there's only a team of 20 that's pretty difficult. So our supervisors know that we go through two weeks of intense training right before [00:11:00] orientation start.

[00:11:01] And we learn about different upcoming processes that are new for incoming students. Like we have our meta majors, which are, was different for us this year. We have all of our, requirements for the residence halls and how to get involved Everything like that. It was just a lot of training de escalation tips that [00:11:20] kind of deal So so de escalation give me an example of something that you may have encountered.

[00:11:25] Absolutely. You would have to use one of those tips Yeah, so actually i'll just use my brother as an example. Sorry jacob, but When our students are stressed out because there are classes closed You know, there are no open sections left. We, as an orientation [00:11:40] team, have to say to our students, we know that these classes may be, some classes may be full and there may be some open sections in some, but also you can change your schedule every day after three.

[00:11:51] So it's just our main job is to just be that backbone of support for our students who are nervous and who have [00:12:00] anxiety and who went through covid and went through all of these things and didn't have anybody to talk to and because People weren't, not that they weren't listening, but now they have so many more resources and opportunities.

[00:12:12] Definitely. So we're moving into a time where the students are returning. Move in day is coming up. Three days in August. I think [00:12:20] that's August 14th, 16th, and 17th. For many of the new students that are coming, this may be their first day. first time that they're living with someone outside of their family what are some tips?

[00:12:31] Cause I know you, you had to get used to that with living with someone that you didn't know. What are some of the tips that you can offer to those new Cougars who will be living with someone outside of their [00:12:40] family? Absolutely. The, my biggest piece of advice is you can never over communicate with somebody.

[00:12:45] Okay. If something happens that. gets on your nerves and you notice it, tell your roommate, if I was talking to one of our family members earlier today, if your roommate's making something in the morning for breakfast [00:13:00] and you hate the smell of it, you just hate the smell of it. That's an uncomfortable conversation, not only for you to have, but it's uncomfortable for your roommate to hear.

[00:13:09] But you have to communicate because none of us can read minds, so you have to stick up for yourself. You have to over communicate as much as, however uncomfortable it may be [00:13:20] and you have to reach out to the people who are reaching back out to you. So some of those life skills, you're definitely those life skills or even those soft skills that you're learning to or honing in on going into your adulthood.

[00:13:31] So definitely over communicating, communicating, over communicating. What other things what about neatness? You're [00:13:40] sharing a space with someone. Absolutely. What are some of those tips on being neat or noise versus quiet? Absolutely. So definitely having those conversations and we know, our incoming students are having these mandatory conversations with their resident assistants, with these people who are living with them.

[00:13:56] They have to have these conversations so that those boundaries aren't [00:14:00] crossed. If you want to share clothes with your roommate, that's a conversation that You need to have, if you're okay with sharing food, like that's another conversation and sharing food, don't touch my Teddy Grahams after this time, don't touch my chocolate chips.

[00:14:13] Like I need my s'more, like it's like that kind of, it's like little nitpicky things, but once those bottle up, that's the real issue. [00:14:20] So even when it talks about neatness and things like that, looking out for your roommate is also super important. If you know your roommate had a hard day or they had a hard class or a hard exam.

[00:14:31] Just cleaning up the dorm without, being prompted or without being asked by your roommate is a bunch of help. So just being empathetic and [00:14:40] being, not overly kind, but just exhibiting kindness whenever you can. Yeah, and you can even be that listening ear to that person. That person could become running your circle of friends.

[00:14:49] Absolutely. I was, in hearing you talk about this my first move in day for college was about 30 years ago. And thinking about that, I wish I had listened [00:15:00] to a lot of the suggestions. on what to bring and what not to bring. Cause we, we packed the car up, all this stuff. And then when I got there, I was like, did I really need all of that?

[00:15:10] So share with some of the new Cougars and then even with some of the current ones, because we need those reminders. What are some of the things to bring and not to bring? Absolutely. [00:15:20] There are so many TikToks and so many Instagram reels and so many Pinterest boards of what to bring, what not to bring.

[00:15:27] My biggest piece of advice is less is more. Okay, we live in charleston like we can walk to target we can walk to harris teeter. We can walk to anything on king street amazon, we have amazon lockers here on campus, [00:15:40] we have mail services for a reason You don't need to pack everything with you when you come here, just packing those essentials And buying the school supplies that you had in high school you know what notebooks work for you, what pencils you like, what pens you like that kind of thing Just going through and picking out those little individual things will just [00:16:00] mean a whole lot more when you get here So so right at our fingertips we have stores.

[00:16:04] And maybe a lot of people don't know that if they're new to charleston so we have Public transportation outside right here. We're right here in the city and so you can just Literally get on the bus or you could walk down the street to Target and shop for all those things As a new student, [00:16:20] we talked about finding your community as you were able to do It's important to find people who are interested in the same types of things that you are What are some of Things that a new student will experience during what we call Weeks of Welcome.

[00:16:35] Yeah, so there are a lot of events happening during Weeks of Welcome. My personal [00:16:40] favorite events that are happening, we have a bunch of games and activities that'll go on through our Cougar Activities Board, which is the, the hub for all of our activities here on campus. So how does one find that?

[00:16:52] Oh, good question. So that's on Cougar Connect. Okay. So that is on the C of C, Cougar Connect. Make sure you look that up. And it's [00:17:00] also on the mobile app Quark. C O R Q. Okay so they should download that. Download that app because you can RSVP for those events on the app and you don't even have to look up Cougar Connect in order to do it.

[00:17:12] Got you. So Weeks of Welcome happens for how long? So it's usually four to six weeks and your orientation interns are [00:17:20] emailing you about all of the events that are happening because we're going too. So these aren't events that are just, Only for new students. This is for the entire school. Okay, so the entire school is able to come out all together Go to these fun events Participate in things together and meet new friends at the same time.

[00:17:37] Do you remember your first weeks of welcome? I do tell me [00:17:40] about it I on it. I met one of my best friends during weeks of welcome We went to one of the bingo events that they were having and he won a bunch of free swag and it was Incredible I go every single year So keep your eyes open for all of those activities because I'll be there and you should be there too this is a real conversation overcoming [00:18:00] homesickness, as we said for a lot, this is the first time that, that some of our students, new students have been away from home.

[00:18:06] What's your advice to help new students overcome homesickness and adapt to their new environment? Do we have campus resources here? Let's talk a little bit about that. My favorite on campus resource when it [00:18:20] comes to this, straight, Up is the counseling center my Mom told me when I came here just go to the counseling center one time and if you hate it You never have to go again And now I have an ongoing counselor that I love her so much we meet every semester But it's just that first initial It's the first initial [00:18:40] step.

[00:18:40] That is honestly the hardest part is asking for help And that is just something I cannot You know, I wish I could tattoo it on my forehead. Ask for help when you need help because times are gonna be hard. The adjustment is real and we got to talk about it. It's time to talk about it. Go see a therapist.

[00:18:56] Everyone needs to go be in therapy and it's included in your tuition [00:19:00] anyway, so might as well get your money's worth. All right, use the resources on campus. What about the RAs? What would be their role in helping out a student transition? Absolutely. During the transition period, RAs are having mandatory meetings with roommates and suitemates to make sure these conversations are being had about, hey, we can share clothes, we can [00:19:20] share food, that kind of thing we were talking about, and just having those simple boundary conversations.

[00:19:25] And that's what the RAs are here for. If you have an issue, go to your RA. They're literally living on the same hall as you. It's not like they're checking in and then going back to their off campus apartment. Residence hall with you reach out. These people are living right next door. You just got a knock [00:19:40] Is there a place where students can find more resources?

[00:19:44] Where should they look to find all of those resources that we have? Absolutely. You can go to Campus Services HQ for all of those questions if you need to be directed to a certain spot. But, I'd recommend going to Students for Support, too, which is a peer on peer [00:20:00] counseling situation, so you're able to text them about the situations that you're going through, and that's a resource right on your phone.

[00:20:06] You don't even have to leave your room. Okay. If you could speak to younger Hayden, what advice would you have given yourself about starting your first year of college? [00:20:20] And again, remember, in thinking about it, you did start the BRIDGE program. And then you saw yourself transition to this vibrant, outspoken Hayden.

[00:20:28] Or was that Hayden before? We've added on a little bit as it's gone on, but definitely, thank you. Let's talk to younger Hayden. What would you have give some advice to younger Hayden about [00:20:40] starting the first year? The first seven seconds that you meet somebody is your first impression If you walk into those classrooms And you're attentive and you introduce yourself to your professors and you sit in that front row no matter how embarrassing it is And you're brought in your brain If you sit in that front row and you talk to [00:21:00] your professors You're going to be better off than the people who are sleeping and on their phones in the back of the room Because we all went we went to high school, like it's inevitable You But, if you're sitting at that front of the row, and you're sitting at the front of the room making eye contact with your professors, that first seven seconds you met them, they're gonna know that at least somebody's listening [00:21:20] to them while they teach.

[00:21:21] And that could be your future employer. Mm hmm. Anybody you talk to on this campus, always walk around with a smile on your face. Everybody, I've never met somebody who's not happy to be here. I can say good morning to everyone that I come across. It's that Southern charm, isn't it? It's that Charleston charm.

[00:21:36] But seriously, that first seven seconds can be the most [00:21:40] important interaction ever. You just have to think about it. We talked about giving the advice to the students that are coming. The parents play a huge role in this and so we have a lot of parents out there listening. Tell the parents, how can they assist their son or daughter with this transition?

[00:21:56] Definitely, so it's, like we said it's definitely a [00:22:00] transition, but listening to your students, and listening, like we have two ears and one mouth for a reason. For Expound on that. Listen, we have two ears for listening. And, when times are hard and you get those calls from your students saying, I'm okay, but I'm struggling with [00:22:20] this or I'm struggling with that, asking them what they need.

[00:22:23] Do they need somebody who's going to fix the problem for them or just listen to what's going on? Because sometimes, most of the time, the students are going to be taking care of it for themselves. As parents, I would recommend just listening to your students, seeing what they need, and just [00:22:40] observing.

[00:22:41] And send those care packages. Oh, send those care packages with the candy. Send those cash apps. Send the Venmo, send everything, because, it never hurts to get a Target gift card in the mail. That's right. Tell me a little bit more. We talked about you as the student orientation intern, but you're also [00:23:00] here as a student.

[00:23:00] And we talked a little bit about you being a junior theater major. What are your goals and aspirations? Because this is, you're going into your junior year starts now. You have one more year after that. And then you're going into the master's program. So you just felt, you just saw graduation flash before your eyes.

[00:23:17] Literally. What's gonna happen in these, in this next year [00:23:20] and then after that for the master's program? Absolutely. Absolutely. So my plan as of right now is to. Focus on being a theater major. It took me a while to get here. I changed my major four times. That's okay Honestly, I mean I came in as a history major Thought I that's what I wanted to do went to communications thought that's what I wanted to do Went to arts [00:23:40] management because I love doing theater.

[00:23:41] I've been doing it since my childhood But I didn't think I could get a job in it And then I was sitting in my arts management class about to go to my musical theater class and I was like I need to be there Became a theater major And now on track for the master's program, but I think I want to be a cruise director.

[00:23:59] [00:24:00] Okay. Maybe? You could use all those skills. That's what I'm saying It's all of these soft skills and all these transferable skills that i'm learning now And these internships and possibilities and opportunities i'm able to take advantage of now So that I can get to that cruise director level or I can be on snl one day or I can Perform on broadway one day, like there [00:24:20] are so many different things I could do, but that master's program, that's for teaching.

[00:24:25] So I do want to teach and perform at the same time. So do you think you'll return here at your roots? And I think so. I think maybe I'll go away out at sea for a little bit, have my time on the boat and then come back and maybe help some [00:24:40] students and teach. So you all look out Hayden's coming back home in a few years to be right back here where she started.

[00:24:46] Anything that you want to tell the Cougars out there, those who are listening as we're about to come to a close, anything that they should be looking out for, things that we may have forgotten to touch on? I [00:25:00] think a piece of advice I would say is come in with an open mind. And learn with curiosity.

[00:25:08] Yeah, it's okay. That flyover. Motorcycle in the last one. Oh, you did? Yeah. I think we ended early. This seems [00:25:20] quicker. Or does it matter? 26, we're at 26 minutes. Oh, we are? Yeah, we're doing pretty good on time. Okay. That's like a real good time. Yeah, any longer than about 30, it's the end of a little loop, okay, perfect. So let me see. Do you want him to read that back to you? Yeah, will you just read that? It was like, do you have any? Final thought. Okay. Yeah. We can [00:25:40] even use your initial read, just something to prompt the question. Okay. Yeah. Hold on, we got another one. What is happening out there?

[00:25:45] I'm scared. It was like, they're coming to get us. Are you guys dying? I can open the door if you're hot. It is warm. I thought it was me. I'm like nice and comfortable. The air turned off in here for some reason. Oh. And [00:26:00] so we have a work order in for them to re Now we can't have the air running during recording.

[00:26:04] That's true. But if we could at least get it like ice box first, we could do it. But I think it was just final thoughts. Just pitch it to everybody.

[00:26:17] Hayden, any final thoughts that you would want to [00:26:20] leave with our listeners? I think to learn, or no, sorry, I'm going to answer that one more time. But learning how to accept information out of curiosity and not out of judgment is super important. And to add a little bit more glitter and a little less stress.[00:26:40] 

[00:26:40] Alright. So on behalf, and I want to thank you. So let me start again. . , thank you. Our way up. Hey, and on behalf of all of the new students that are gonna be joining our family here, thank you and thank you to all of the other student orientation interns and [00:27:00] also the people that you work for over at the Office of Admissions for all that you do to help make this transition for our students, smooth.

[00:27:08] Thank you again all for listening to this episode of Speaking of College of Charleston. For more episodes and to read stories about our guests, visit the College of Charleston's official news site, [00:27:20] thecollegetoday at today. charleston. edu. You can also find this and past episodes on all major podcast platforms.

[00:27:30] This episode was produced by Amy Stockwell from University in Marketing. Nope. This episode was produced by Amy Stockwell from University Marketing and [00:27:40] Communications with recording and sound engineering by Jesse Kunz from the Division of Information Technology. This is George Johnson, and thanks again.

[00:27:49] We'll see you next time.