Frosh Trip Support Team & Command Center Teams
We are looking forward to getting back outdoors for Frosh Trip 2024. The basic structure for will be similar to past years: groups will consist of 8-12 participants and 2-3 OA leaders who build connections and explore the natural world together over 4 days. There will be a combination of campus-based day trips and basecamp trips and backcountry trips staying off campus doing a variety of activities like hiking, canoeing, biking, trail maintenance and rock climbing.
Positions for Frosh Trip
Frosh Trip is a massive logistical enterprise! In order to be able to meet the needs of the 750+ students involved; we will rely on a strong backbone of Support Team staff & Command Center staff. When you apply to be part of FT 2024, are joining part of a great team with all of us working towards one goal, providing the very best entering experience for incoming first-year students. You can apply for either of the following positions (or both-- some people may end up serving in a hybrid between the two roles).
Frosh Trip Dates 2024
- Saturday, August 24: Command Center & Support Teams return to campus and move in to their dorm rooms. OA Check-in at 5:00 PM
- Sunday, August 25 - Tuesday: August 27: Pre-Trip - logistical planning, instruction and prep
- Wednesday, August 28 - Saturday, August 31: OA Frosh Trip!!
Support Team Staff
We couldn't operate the Frosh Trip without Support! Support Teams are pairs of students acting as our mobile response team for groups out on the trail. You will be based on campus (sleeping in your dorm room, and spend the day driving an OA minivan to various locations in the Princeton area as needs arise. Being on Support creates opportunities to interact with entire OA groups, as well as more extended indvidual interactions with First Years that you transport. OA provides lodging in hotels close the thr trips along with the min-van, all transportation expenses, as well as all of your meals for the week! Typically Support Teams are pairs of students, so we invite you to apply for this position with a friend!
In order to drive a Support mini-van you need to have a valid US Driver's License and complete the University's Van Driver Training program (which includes both an online an in-person component). For details go to (https://finance.princeton.edu/risk-management-tax-rents-mortgages/risk-management-and-insurance/fleet-safety-and-university) and scroll down to Become an Authorized University Driver.
Command Center Staff
Command Center operates as the "brain' behind the entire Frosh Trip program and is an essential resource for making everything run smoothly. As part of Command, you can anticipate staying on campus throughout the week performing a variety of roles that help us keep track of where everyone is and solve any real-time problems. Time is spent both in "the Command Center", answering phones, tracking locations, and dispatching Support Teams to respond to situations. Command stays in constant communication with both Leaders and Support Teams and helps make decisions about how to allocate resources and make logistical plans. Command may also interact directly with Leaders and Frosh through daily check-outs/check-ins as groups depart and return to campus.
You will be staying in your room on campus and OA provides food for all meals.
I am ready to apply! - Rolling Application Process
To get to know you a little bit and your interest in being part of the OA Orientation team, we have included several brief essays in our application. If you have served on Support or Command in a previous year, you do NOT need to complete the essays. Here are the questions:
- Why are you interested in being a Command Center or Support Team member?
- What should the goals of the OA portion of Orientation be?
- Why do you think you will be a good addition to the OA Orientation Team?
- Being either a Command Center or Support Team member requires that you be part of a team working closely together. Describe your experiences in working as part of a team.
- Describe your organizational skills for handling multiple tasks simultaneously.