9 days!

Orientation is almost here as the countdown continues. We're into single digits! Michelle and I as Orientation Coordinators are working hard to finish the last minute details before you all arrive. It has been amazing how fast this summer has gone.

My hopes and prayers for you all include that you have the opportunity to spend time with all of your loved ones before coming to campus. This is a time of great transition and change, so showing appreciation to the ones you love can mean more now than ever. Also, I pray that you have time to relax in God's goodness. Stress levels can be high as money issues are discussed and roommates are decided. Trust in God's sovereignty over all - inlcuding where you lamp is going to go once you've setup your room. Enjoy time with Him alone. It may be everything you need to prepare for the move to Fox.

I send you my blessings and happy thoughts as you finish your last week and half of summer. I'm so excited to see you all and get to know you in our community.

With love,

Jessie Sarver

MYSTERY BUS TOUR!

SIGN UP FOR THE MYSTERY BUS TOUR!!!

Here is the link - http://www.georgefox.edu/offices/student_life/orientation/mystery-bus-tour.html

OR:

Go to orientation.georgefox.edu, click on New Student Resources, then click on Mystery Bus Tour which is under "Orientation"

You won't want to miss this event, so make sure you sign up!

See you all in three weeks!!

Hear from the Orientation Staff - Grace Muange

Hey, hey my name is Grace Muange. I will be a sophomore this fall. I’m originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo but reside in Portland, about 45 minutes from Newberg, yep close to home! I’m the second oldest of 8 kids, and a “pk.” I’m an Allied Health major, and I want to become a health specialist someday. If I could travel anywhere in the world I’d like to go back to the DRC, because it has changed and I miss my hometown!

George Fox partnered me up with a wonderful roommate that I plan to know forever! I survived my first semester at Fox with the help from many including my peer advisors. They were a married couple and knew everything (at least to me). They knew all about campus and what activities to get involved in. I remember it was my peer advisor who helped me pick out my second semester courses and she was right about many things.

I’m enjoying my summer break and I’m excited to be your peer advisor this fall! See you guys soon!

Hear from the Orientation Staff - Bryan Martz

Hey! What’s going on everyone? I hope your doing awesome! Well my name is Bryan Martz and I get the great pleasure of being one of your many O-leaders. I am going to be Senior in the fall at George Fox and I’m a business management major and after college I plan on going to to either bible college or the fire academy. Little side note about the whole major thing I have changed my major 7 times in three years, you could say I’m a little indecisive. But I think I finally found one. Maybe…
Anyway I was born and raised in California in a really small town called Cottonwood. I love baseball and I am lucky enough to get to play at George Fox. I am a huge Yankee fan and you can either love me for it or hate me for it your choice. Florida is my second home. Riding my mountain bike and road bike are two of my favorite hobbies. I love music, I like all kinds of music, I play the guitar, ok well I try to play the guitar but I’m working on that. I love having fun and making people laugh. And I love the beach.
I am excited for orientation week it’s going to be a blast. I’m looking forward to meeting all of you and getting to know you better. I hope you all have a great rest of the summer and that your getting excited for school, I promise you it’s going to be a blast. Just remember to have fun, embrace every moment, and don’t be afraid of the change that college brings. AND don’t be nervous just be really really excited!!!

Hear from the Orientation Staff - Heather Orr

My name is Heather Orr, I'm from Kelso Washington and I'm a psychology major. This is my last semester in the Bachelor's program which I'm super bummed about because I wish I could stay here longer! From week one, I have loved the people at Fox, I have been so blessed! I'm passionate about the community here. I'm also passionate about anything outdoors, including hiking, swimming, tennis, gardening, etc. Well, that's a little about me, look forward to meeting you all!

Hear from the Orientation Staff - Meredith Tribble

Hey y'all! My name is Meredith Tribble and I will be a SENIOR at Fox this up coming year. I will be graduating ( God Willing ) with a degree in Business Marketing. I am soo excited you all have decided to come to Fox! I remember looking at all of the schools and such... what an awful process! But now you are all done and now you just have to worry about what college will be like- but trust me, through it may be scary, college will completely rock your socks off (if you let it)!

Right now I am sitting in a coffee shop in my small home town of Cody, Wyoming ( yes, Wyoming. And no, I am not a cowgirl, though I do like saying y' all) thinking about meeting all of you and let me just tell you- this school year is going to be completely rad! If you guys need anything don't histate to ask- this year I will be the senior class president and therefor I have more power ( he he he) so I should be able to help y'all if you need anything!

So few things about me:

I have red hair, I am deathly afraid of moths, and longboarding makes me extremely happy. Also, the show Fringe... well I LOVE it and I am completely obsessed with it. If you want to see something funny, just ask me to explain the show to you- I will instantly become extrememly hyper. I would love to travel to Scotland and meet a beautiful man with a great accent who plays soccer... oh and who loves God! Its my dream. lol it will probably stay a dream. So George Fox... well Fox has been one of the biggest adventrues of my 21 years here on earth. While it has been competely challenging and just down right, ridculously crazy, God has transformed my life and molded me into the woman He has desired me to be. I am so happy that you are going to be joining in the life adventrue with the rest of us at Fox.

Find me on facebook!

Meredith Jean Tribble.

Hear from the Orientation Staff - Maggie Pitcairn

Hello everyone! My name is Maggie Pitcairn, and I will be a junior this year at Fox. I am an Elementary Education major and looking forward to teaching Kindergarten once I graduate! :) I am from Medford, Oregon, where I am home for the summer, working at Costco. My first semester at George Fox was definitely different from being at home, but you will meet so many great people and have so much fun! Try not to stress too much about the changes...everyone will be there going through the same stuff! More than anything else, Fox has challenged my beliefs and made me truly think about God, and I hope it will for you too! Look forward to meeting y'all. Have a wonderful rest of the summer!

Hear from the Orientation Staff - Brittany Miller

Hello new GFU Students!

My name is Brittany Miller and this fall I will begin my Senior Year at Fox! I am an Elementary Education major and will be student teaching and I can't wait! I'm so excited to be apart of Orientation again this year. I hope you love it just as much as I do! I was an O-Leader my Sophomore year and was apart of the Orientation Committee my Junior year. This year I will be on Committee again! So you know a little bit about me now, the three most important aspects of my life are God, Family and Friends. I could not live without those. To describe myself in three words I would say I'm organized, caring and outgoing.

Freshman year is such an exciting year, because there is no other year like it! Some of my best memories of Fox come from Freshman year. This is not true for everyone at Fox, but most of my best friends at GFU are the ones I met and hung out with Freshman year. I lived in Coffin Hall and my floor had a great brother floor. Those guys and the girls I grew close to on my floor still hang out together. We have memories of late night runs to Sharis, Taco Bell and Fred Meyer. There are funny stories about roomies, rotic, floor dinners, main event, floor retreats, the 70's Dance, beach trips, slip-n-slides and so much more! You will get to make your own memories with new people this year and it is something to look forward to and enjoy every minute of!

I look forward to meeting you all and talking to you about the place I love. Yea GFU! Enjoy the rest of your summer and see you in August!

God Bless,
Brittany

Hear from the Orientation Staff - Stacie Laughlin

HEY FIRST YEAR STUDENTS!

My name is Stacie Laughlin and I am going to be a junior here at George fox. I love God with my whole heart. I would not be the person that I am today without him in my life. I love my life. It’s the best and would not be the same without George Fox. It has become such a huge part of my life. I love Taco Bell. I can be found in the drive through most nights getting a bean burrito with no onions and extra sauce though the new chicken soft tacos are becoming my new favorite. I love my camera and pictures. I think I have just about 6000 now on Facebook alone. I love Weddings. My major is Organizational Communications with a Cinema and Media Communications minor and with that I hope to become a Wedding Planner. The first wedding on the list? MINE! And last but certainly not least, I love The Twilight books. Just this last weekend I dragged the boyfriend up to St. Helen's to take pictures of all the places that Twilight was filmed!

Orientation week I formed life long relationships. My friends here at fox have become my second family. We eat together, live together, go to games together, cry together, laugh together, fight together and do absolutely nothing together. Let me tell you right now that though you think you are already counting the days till next summer. I am dreading them! It just means another four months spent away from my second family. I came to fox knowing 5 people and by the end of my freshman year I knew hundreds. Going into my junior year i realize that I probably know pretty much everyone on campus now except all you new first year students! Hence the Orientation Committee Member title that I now obtain! Good Luck to you all and I can’t wait to meet each and every one of you! Only a month and a half left!

Hear from the Orientation Staff - Jodi Lund

Hey Everyone! I hope your summer is going fabulously! I hope you are all getting excited to come to Fox soon!

To introduce myself, my name is Jodi Lund. I am a Business Administration major, with a concentration in International Business, and I'm going to be a sophomore this year at Fox! I'm from a small town in Idaho, where I live on my family's dairy with a lot of cows.

I'm so excited that you have chosen to come to Fox this year!!! Fox is a great place to learn, grow spiritually, and have a blast with new friends! Here are some words of wisdom I hope will help you as you get ready to come to Fox for your first semester! First, girls, don't pack your whole closet when you come to campus. Closet space is limited, and so is space in general, pack what you need and don't go overboard! If you forget something when you come, you can always ask someone on your floor if you can borrow it! Trust me, you don't need everything you think you do. Second, don't be afraid to introduce yourself to new people. It scary coming in and not knowing a soul on campus, but if you go out and make new friends your first semester at Fox will be a lot more fun with all the new friends you have! Third, make sure you come to Orientation with plenty of sleep because you will be having way to much fun to sleep during the weekend! Finally, know what buildings your classes are in for the first day of school Monday. You do not want to get lost and be late to your first class of the semester!

I hope the rest of your summer is amazing!! I can't wait to meet you all!

Hear from the Orientation Staff - Kami Kuhn

Hi incoming students! I am so excited to meet you all in August! It can't come fast enough for me! I'm Kami Kuhn I'm from Keizer, OR (next to Salem), and I will be a Junior in the fall. My major is Foods and Nutrition in Business, and on campus I am involved in the GFU symphonic band and cheerleading. I hope you are as excited for orientation as me, because orientation was probably the best few days of my life! During those days I met some people who would become my dearest friends and finally became an independent adult leaving my parents for the first time! We have so many fun activities in store for you to help you get to know Fox and get to know each other! Yipee! See you soon!
~Kami

Hear from the Orientation Staff - Sara Kelm

Hey folks! I'm Sara Kelm, and I'm on the Orientation committee this
year. I'm a Writing/Literature major and Psychology minor from Calgary
(yes, Canada) who has one semester left before graduation and little
idea of what to do next. Being a student of literature, I love to read
and write non-fiction essays. Here are some other things I love: fruit,
So You Think You Can Dance, blogs, Tim-Tams, Switchfoot, documentaries,
pigs, and Papua New Guinea (where I spent three weeks this summer).
I've lived at Fox for the last three years of my life full-time, and I
truly call it home. One of my favorite memories from freshman
Orientation weekend was dancing with my roommate and two guy friends
during the Hoedown. The square dance caller was going way too fast and
we were too far away to hear him, so we just started to make up our own
square dance. Pretty soon, we were laughing so hard we could barely
breathe. Moments like that continued to happen all throughout my
freshman year, moments that were unexpected, hilarious, and ridiculously
fun. Expect to be stretched and challenged during your first year at
Fox, but also expect some amazing and unpredictable moments that you'll
never forget. I think Fox is great, and I hope you will too! Please
find me on Facebook (I'm on there all the time), and feel free to ask
any questions that you think of as you prepare for this fall (i.e. how
big are the dorm rooms, how's the food, should I bring my kayak?). Stay
awesome, folks!

Sara Kelm

2009 Begins!

A new year, the same great coordinators :)

Michelle and I are back in action this year, ready to create another amazing Orientation Weekend for George Fox. Last year was an exciting year, with a fantastic staff and a boisterous incoming class. These students made a great addition to our campus. It makes me excited to see who all of the new students will be.

Two new things have changed in planning this year. First, we have a new director - Meredith Dougherty! She has worked with us at Fox in the past and is an amazing addition to the Orientation Program. We look forward to her insight and what is to come from working with her his year. The second is that Michelle has a new last name - Bornfleth. I'll let her give the details on that one however...

We officially started planning for Orientation on June 1st. Some of you incoming students may have already attended Genesis in May, where you would have met Michelle. The rest of you will meet the two of us during your Genesis events in June or July. Please come up to us and introduce yourself. We'd love to get to know you by name and face put together :)

Meetings have begun, staff are being contacted, the logo is made and ready. Currently, the Orientation Newsletter that is sent out to incoming students mid-July is about to be created. Current staff and upperclassmen are writing personal articles to you students, hoping to give you some insight as to what we are about here at Fox and what you might expect as you arrive.

We are really looking forward to this new group of students. And everyday Michelle and I work towards making Orientation even better than the last year. Even down to the nitty gritty details like signage and event length. We want to make this the best and smoothest event so you students can simply enjoy the weekend and transition into your new home.

Best of luck during June. Enjoy some sunshine and rest after graduation has been completed for you seniors. A new chapter has begun...

Jessie