Friday is the deadline to apply for a position next summer as an orientation counselor, the students who introduce incoming freshmen to WSU during Alive! sessions.

Amanda Morgan, director of New Student Programs, said long days and mental exhaustion make the orientation counseling process very challenging, but also one of the most rewarding positions students can obtain.

“I think they find a greater understanding of who they are, what they want to be, and what they want to do later in life,” Morgan said.

Morgan said orientation counselors help new students adjust to the university, build connections, and learn what it means to be a Coug. She said 36-40 people will be selected to become OC’s for next summer, including a maximum of 10 returning OC’s. Students can apply online on the WSU Orientation Counselor website.

Roberto Garcia, an OC during this past summer, said he became a better person and leader by training and talking with fellow OC’s. He said the best part about the job for him is when someone from his orientation groups stops him on the mall to tell him the positive impact he had on them.

However, he said being an OC was not without its challenges, the biggest being the loss of one of his students. After the last summer session concluded, one of Garcia’s students, who he had grown close with, had died shortly after returning home before the start of the fall 2015 semester.

While the loss of his student was shocking and hard to deal with, Garcia said this encouraged him to reapply for the following year. Each OC is told to treat every session like it is their first, Garcia said, to feel their job is not finished.

“You really do have the opportunity to help people out,” Garcia said. “We all have different stories, we all have different journeys.”

As an orientation counselor supervisor, Julia Rosenzweig said the best part about being an OC is making a difference in students’ lives.

“It’s been my driving force to help people reach their potential,” Rosenzweig said.

This became clear to Rosenzweig after she read a program evaluation by a new student. Looking over the evaluation with the student’s orientation counselor, Rosenzweig said the student wrote that the reason they were now excited to attend WSU was because of their OC.

Though the job of an OC is a paid position, at more than $5,000 for the summer Alive! sessions, Morgan said the experience is the real benefit. The employees are intentionally diversified, she said, as OC’s will gain confidence in working with people different from themselves, as well as develop their public speaking and leadership skills.

The OC process helps people mature and grow, Garcia said. They will be exposed to ideas and perspectives they may never have considered before. If someone considers the position, Garcia said, they should be ready to be pushed to their limits, and have a passion for helping other people grow.

“Just do it for the right reasons, and just give it 110 percent,” Garcia said. “Once you know what it means to be a Coug, go teach somebody else what that is, so we can keep passing that on.”

This article has been updated for accuracy. In the original version the name of Julia Rosenzweig was misspelled.