Ambitious freshmen are about to get some help making a name for themselves on campus.

Orange Seeds, a leadership empowerment program targeted at first-year students, will debut this fall, said Travis Mason, vice president of the Student Association and co-director of the program.

The Orange Seeds steering committee will select a group of about 25 students to become acquainted with the campus by getting them involved with other student leaders, making connections with the staff and administration of various campus offices, and learning new skills.

But while many students laud the idea, others wonder if the program is a detriment to other non-member student leaders.

Orange Seeds will run under the jurisdiction of the Student Association and the Orange Seeds Steering Committee, which includes non-SA students. SA does not have any plans of making Orange Seeds its own independent organization, said Eric Crites, the placement and management chair for Orange Seeds and a sophomore marketing major.

‘But it will not be an SA recruiting program,’ Mason said. ‘We just think it will be more structured under the SA.’

Orange Seeds will not be funded by the Student Association or the Student Fee, and the steering committee is still researching where to obtain its funds, Crites said.

Orange Seeds, which Mason calls his brainchild, is modeled after the Texas A & M University’s Fish Eggs leadership program, Mason said. Mason and other members of the Student Association began work on the program in February, and initially ran into some trouble with the Office of Greek Life of Experiential Learning. OGLEL claimed that it had developed the idea for the program. Progress halted for about a month, but with clearance from OGLEL, the 13-member steering committee started to finalize its plans.

‘It was a hard and long process to get it enabled,’ Mason said.

Organizers advertised intensely for applicants during many Opening Weekend activities, including the Student Activities Fair, and will continue to advertise during the Student Involvement Fair on Sept. 8 and at the Juice Jam festival on Sept. 5, Mason said.

They also contacted peer advisers from each college to encourage their advisees to apply and asked the Residence Hall Association to help spread the word to residents, Mason said.

Students can pick up applications at the Office of Greek Life of Experiential Learning or download from the Orange Seeds Web site, which Mason designed during the summer, Mason said.

The Orange Seeds board will select the new members based on their enthusiasm and willingness to learn, not on their grade point average, gender, ethnicity, or involvement in certain activities, Mason said.

The group will meet every other Wednesday evening, and, within those meetings, they will focus on two major components. The first involves meeting other leaders or speakers from various campus organizations, learning about these organizations and hearing from guest speakers, Mason said.

The second component of the program focuses on the relationship between each member and the Orange Seeds mentors, who will be selected upperclassman leaders from a variety of campus organizations, Mason said.

‘We just want people who are excited about the opportunity and about the program,’ Mason said.

The Seeds and their mentors will bridge connections and help the members to form their own network, Crites said.

‘If a certain member shows a great interest in a certain organization, he or she may team up with a mentor of that organization and find a leadership position within it in future years,’ Crites said.

Because the Orange Seeds will establish a direct pipeline into student leadership positions of various organizations, some members of these organizations are unsure that the program will be beneficial and say it may be unnecessary to help first-years become more involved.

‘That seems to happen organically already,’ said James Kaechele, president of Pride Union and sophomore environmental forestry and biology major at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry. ‘If students are interested in broadening their leadership skills, there are already opportunities through OGLEL, such as the Compass Series. Orange Seeds seems to duplicate existing opportunity.’

Any student who is willing to work hard and get heavily involved in an organization will find a way, regardless of whether they are an Orange Seed, Crites said.

‘It’s not to say that the people who aren’t in this program can’t be in a leadership position,’ Crites said. ‘But whoever shows the most ambition will get it. If an Orange Seed, then so be it. If not an Orange Seed, then so be it.’

Upper-class students should not oppose the program based on the belief that they will not be able ascend within their organization because of the trained Orange seeds, said Amanda Cushing, co-director of DanceWorks and a senior inclusive and special education major.

‘If they’re so concerned, sophomores need to take initiative to go to other leadership programs,’ Cushing said. ‘It’s possible without the [Orange Seeds]. It’s just a stepping stone.’

The program may be beneficial for some, but as in all organizations or even as in class, those students who possess the natural ability will become leaders regardless, said Eva Baker, a senior chemistry major and president of Alpha Chi Sigma.

‘Some people will use it to get better, and others won’t care and it will fall away for them,’ Baker said. ‘And others will be leaders to begin with, and won’t need the program. Each organization will vote in whoever they think is best.’

The purpose of the program is not to stifle anyone else’s chances of succeeding in an organization, but instead to encourage new students to go out and get what they want and make them more skilled, Mason said.

‘I believe I would be a better person if I had this program as a freshman,’ Mason said.

Published on August 29, 2004 at 12:00 pm