By Nikki DiRico

Orientation Leaders, a group of students that lead yearly freshman orientations, have been chosen for the upcoming summer. While OL’s are known for their silliness, there’s more than just the green polo and a smile.

“This person that has chosen to take on this responsibility to be the first person that a new student gets to interact with, and the best representation of what Quinnipiac has to offer,” Associate Director for the Student Center and Campus Life Erin Towney said. “At the end of the day, no matter what, it’s about the new students first.”

250 students went through the group process when applying, and 85 made it through the first cut and earned an interview. Of these, 39 earned a position. Fourty-one OLs returned out of 80 in total.

“I don’t want 80 OLs that love to dance and scream and yell and get excited,” Towney said. “I think that’s great and we certainly need that level of excitement, but I can’t have 80 people that are like that because we don’t have 1,800 students that are like that, so we’d miss the boat with some people.”

Christopher Aldarelli, one of four orientation interns this summer, says that the polo symbolizes much more than just fun and games.

“It’s that moment when your freshman reach out to you,” Aldarelli said. “Knowing that I’m being looked up to, as a role model and almost as like a ‘big brother’ on campus makes me just feel better about how I’ve given back to the Quinnipiac community.”

Follow Q30 News on Twitter!