Sarah Hagler completed an internship at Fort Hays State University (FHSU) through NODA. During her internship, she assisted with several orientation and welcome programs including Tiger STRIPES orientation, international orientation, Core2Campus events, Tiger Impact service day, and international welcome leader training. She also researched implementing a common reading program and presented her findings. Sarah enjoyed gaining experience in new functional areas, learning from student leaders, and being able to bring new ideas back to Sam Houston State University. The internship helped her grow personally and professionally.

1. My NODA Internship
at FHSU
Sarah Hagler

2. Background
 Decided to pursue a NODA internship for a different experience
 Wanted to get out of Texas & out of my comfort zone
 Decided on Fort Hays State because it offered a chance to work
with two very different functional areas

3. Summer Projects
 Tiger STRIPES Orientation & Pre-Enrollment
 International Welcome Leader (IWL) Training
 Common Reading Experience
 Serve 2 Succeed
 International Orientation
 Core2Campus Event
 Tiger Impact

4. Tiger STRIPES Orientation &
Pre-Enrollment
 Helped with the Browsing Fair, the VIP: Very Important Parent
session, and with other tasks
 I got to see how orientation is conducted at another institution.
 The OLs I interacted with were great, and were good examples
of student leadership!

5. International Orientation
 Created activities, icebreakers, and games
 Attended orientation planning meetings and ISS staff meetings
 I really loved getting a glimpse into a functional area that I
have never really interacted with prior to coming here.

6. Core2Campus
 Attended planning meetings at the Downtown Hays
Development Corps
 Secured some volunteers to help with set up/take down
 This is such a unique offering that I would love to see similarly
implemented back in my own college town!

7. Tiger Impact
 Big Day-Out Service Project
 Secured sites
 Sign up form
 Reflection
 I got to see ways in which a “welcome week” service event
was conducted at a different institution, and got to learn about
some of the community agencies in the area!

8. International Welcome
Leader (IWL) Training
 History of the position
 4 IWL’s completed online Cultural Competency training
 Topics covered included anticipatory anxiety, curiosity,
privilege, identity, and life-long learning
 Created assessment to be sent out after last session (8/2)
 Created IWL task schedule for international orientation
 I enjoyed hearing the different perspectives each IWL has
during their postings in the online training. Each of them has a
desire to help international students get acquainted to the FHSU
community!
 I was able to use a tool I had never used for training purposes
(Google Communities), which I could potentially use down the
road.

9. Serve 2 Succeed
 Service immersion
 Developed service-learning presentation and activities
 Contacted potential service sites
 Reflection

10. Common Reading Experience
 Why a common read?
 Research
 Proposal

11. Common Reading Experience
Research
 Survey of other institutions
 U of Kentucky, U of Florida, U of Louisville, North Carolina SU
 Review of the literature
 Strategies, best practices, programmatic components
 Application of institutional assessments
 NSSE, Engage College Aggregate Report, High Impact
Educational Practices

12. Book Review
“Little Princes” “Outcasts United”

13. Takeaways
 Different experience
 Personal growth
 Great interactions
 Fun!
 I’ll be returning to SHSU with fresh ideas and thoughts on how I
can improve the work I do, and have found new interests in
areas I would never have imagined.

14. In closing…
 Questions ?