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February 2, 2007 > News > Carter to coordinate O-Week

Carter to coordinate O-Week

By Natalie Kone | Thresher staff

Baker College junior Jessica Carter has been selected to be the student director of Orientation Week for the incoming class of 2011. She was selected by a committee that included Assistant Director of Student Activities Holly Williams, 2006 O-Week Student Director Mark Wanek and Academic Advising Director Michele Daley.

Carter, who was an O-Week advisor at Baker in 2005 and a co-advisor at Lovett in 2006, said she will work with the residential colleges’ O-Week coordinators to plan improvements for university-wide events, such as matriculation and the faculty address.

“Basically, I think that some of the challenges that I might face with O-Week this coming year [will] be incorporating the athletes, especially football players since they’re in season already, and working with the diversity facilitators and improving those sessions,” she said.

Carter said she will also meet with Wanek and Williams to gather input and decide what to adjust. She said she could use the advice from those who have been working behind the scenes.

Wanek said Carter’s experiences with Leadership Rice distinguished her from the other three candidates.

“Jessica was chosen because of her extensive experience in planning large-scale events, which we found would be very useful for orientation,” he said.

Interim Director of Leadership Rice Natalia Ksiezyk, who also served on the committee that selected Carter, said Carter’s communication skills and professionalism make her an ideal candidate. She said the position requires the ability to adapt to the needs of different groups, including administrators, faculty, parents and students, and Carter showed she could communicate with all these groups professionally.

Ksiezyk said Carter expressed a commitment to making O-Week a university-wide experience and not solely a college experience.

“That’s something that’s really important to the position because O-Week is an introduction not only to the college system but to Rice University as an entity and to academics and all the other logistics that students need to know about,” Ksiezyk said.

Carter said she is most excited about meeting the newest additions to the Rice community.

“I know I’ll spend a lot of the summer communicating and sending out e-mails and getting lots of questions from parents and students who are so anxious to be here, so I really can’t wait to chat it up with the new students,” she said.

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