Mission Briefing, Welcome Committee

By John R.

Welcome. This is the mission briefing. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, will be to aid and spread the word of the Welcome Committee in whatever way you can. Before we go any further, let's dive into the mission context and details. The Welcome committee is often overlooked. As Aragorn says in the Lord of the Rings: “Deeds will not be less valiant because they go unpraised.” They are a group within NSA dedicated to making people feel welcome. They are geared toward people new to NSA and Teams, so they are at their strongest at the beginning in the year. But by no means does that mean they simply fade after that. Far from it. This means you will be interacting with them long after the first couple months. They not only do their welcome committee stuff, but they also help out with regular StuCo events. For instance, you might see them helping out with the Spiritual Emphasis Event or Reading Contest.

Let's start at the beginning. I briefly described what the Welcome Committee is. To give us all a greater understanding of the committee, I contacted someone from the inside. This person will be one of your main assets. Dorshea G. is one of the Welcome Committee’s leaders and can explain better than I. “My job as one of the Welcome Committee Leaders (along with my amazing teammates, Maia and Ruthie), is to basically handle and ensure the Welcome Committee runs smoothly!...We host live newbie mixers with various different themes (this month's was pizza party), send out emails to the newbies, and a few changes we're hoping to include this year are to start reaching out to the newbies and inactive people through direct message, as well as restarting the Sibling Program!” If you are wondering what the Sibling Program is, well, it's a declassified program aimed at assigning people who are essentially “tour guides” to show people around campus.

As I said earlier, intel suggests the Welcome Community, and yes I said community, is planning to either aid or coordinate several projects over the coming year. “I love making new people feel welcome, getting to know them, and doing fun things with them such as game calls! These are all things I love to do even outside of my job, I love meeting new people and making new friends, so the fact I have a job that lets me do that, is awesome! I never forgot how welcome I felt as a newbie here three years ago, so I really wanna do the same for the new people coming in this school year!” explained Dorshea.

The Welcome Committee is a very tightly bonded group. Dorshea said: “It so happens that both of these girls are my close friends and we work VERY well together, while having a lot of fun doing it :D” They all know each other well, and they all know how to get a hold of each other. The only issue is there is a break in operational control. The new communication platform, they use Microsoft Teams, has undergone some major changes. Their challenge, and your mission, is to help them bridge the gaps. Be an extension of the WC, guiding others to the WC. Not everyone has access to the same channels.

Anyway, to conclude your briefing, we must point out that the WC is underneath school admin and works on the same level as StuCo; It is a subdivision of StuCo. Note they are looking for recruits, even more reason to steer people that way: “We might expand later on in the year though! If you're interested in joining, please text/email me, Ruthie O. or Maia C!” said Dorshea. Indeed, they are well liked by the general populace. They are really good at what they do, and like I said earlier, are in conjunction with the Student Council. They are dedicated to helping others wherever they go, and are generally nice people. Don’t be afraid to ask or talk to them. And if they invite you to a pizza party, yes, you may join. To quote my old friend Bilbo Baggins: “Don’t adventures ever have an end? I suppose not. Someone else always has to carry on the story.”

Dismissed.

John R is a two-year veteran of NSA and of the NorthStar Navigator. He currently lives on the West Coast of the United States. He is deeply interested in topics concerning international relations, geo-politics, military history, equipment, and tactics, law, and criminal justice. He plans on attending college and getting a degree needed to becoming a police officer. He loves the woods and the sea, and his favorite types of day are cloudy, windy, wet.

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