Adventures in Freshman Orientation

I served (and by "served" I mean "was paid to work") as a Y Group Leader at Freshman Orientation this last weekend. I was in charge of leading the group of students who I'll be mentoring this coming term. Fortunately they're all pretty cool so it'll be a fun semester. Orientation, though, was an interesting experience indeed. Here are some highlights for those of you who didn't have this experience (or, like me, who somehow forgot about the madness...):
-We opened with a meeting all about how great BYU is and how lucky we all are to be here. This was the first of FOUR meetings like this. Yes, four. They all said the same thing and if you didn't leave that orientation feeling an overwhelming guilt, I suppose they didn't do their job. Now, I agree that BYU is wonderful and that we are indeed lucky to be here. However, let's not lose our heads.
-That night, the new students gathered in the Smith Field House for a celebration of the Honor Code. Hey, if seeing Jericho Road perform motivates you to shave every morning, good for you...or for Jericho Road, I suppose. What else did they use to brainwash...I mean, inspire the young BYU newbies? "Sieze the Day" from "Newsies," "Higher" by Creed (or a very enthusiastic and clean-cut cover band), and Mariah Carey's "Hero." Hey, whatever works.
-We folk danced which was embarrassingly fun. And, hey, getting paid to dance...
-We took the kids on a tour of campus. I pointed out the best food on campus, the best places to nap, the places to avoid, and the places to meet people. My partner covered the rah-rah BYU stuff.
-A professor told us all to save our neurons for math, not for porn. Yes, he said that and I was very happy about it.
-The event culminated in what is perhaps the pinnacle of the BYU experience: a dating game. This along with a Mario Cart tournament and, of course, a dance. Party-pooper that I am, I opted out of the fun. I can only hope that my freshmen had a good time. And got some phone numbers. Because that's what it's all about, right?
I could see members of my group growing pretty weary of beating the "BYU-is-great" horse and hope they can manage to be enthusiastic about the first day of classes. Speaking of which, I am really excited about the first day of classes. I'm such a nerd...