Staff Spotlight: Stella Santos
Q: Could you just share a little about yourself and your role on the Amherst campus?
A: I’m the associate director of New Student & Family Programs, [which] is housed within the [Office of] Student Engagement & Leadership under Student Affairs. I mainly oversee all aspects of New Student Orientation, so everything from the onboarding of new students, running student leader training before orientation, and then the orientation program itself.
Q: What was your journey to Amherst like?
A: I started almost a year ago … and I’ve worked in higher education for the past eight years or so. However, I worked primarily in admissions and recruitment. I started out working at the University of Delaware — I was an admissions counselor there out of college, so that required me to travel, talk to students in high school, talk with parents, and help them through the college application process, which was really fulfilling for me.
After many years of that, I transitioned to working with tour guides in the admissions office and planning large-scale events. One day, I thought to myself, “I really want to work in retention.” I was getting all of these students admitted here to college, and I really wanted to see what that process looked like when they were here as a student. Combine that with my love for event planning — this position [at Amherst] really sparked my interest because it [merged] two things that I really loved: helping students through an orientation process and then also being that first step in the retention process. So, it was kind of a perfect fit.
Q: I believe the 2024 orientation was the first one you organized here. How did you approach planning and executing it?
A: I started in March 2024, and although orientation and training really [don’t] happen until August, it takes a while to plan. When I came here, my initial thought was, “I need to do a ton of outreach,” and campus partners are vital in this process … from processing meals through [Dining Services] to helping with Workday. I reviewed a lot of the prior programs that Amherst has [facilitated]. I also interviewed over 100 students who applied to be Orientation Leaders. I did that my second or third week … that was a great way to get to know students and what they thought about their orientation process. So that was really rewarding and helped me gain a better understanding of the experience through the student lens. And while there were some changes made — we had this goal of trying to create as many interactive experiences as possible — I really wanted to see a lot of these programs run through first to see how it was perceived by new students prior to thinking about making changes.
Q: What do you view as the main goal of orientation for students?
A: You might have felt this coming in — I feel like new students will have … some sort of baggage. They may be really excited to be here. They might be really homesick right away. They might feel lost. And all those feelings are very, very natural. There is no way that we will ever expect a student to memorize everything that their Orientation Leader has said in their meetups or in all of the sessions. So our goal is to really make sure that they can get through that first day, that first week, feeling like they know how to navigate classes, they can find vital resources on campus, the dining hall, the health center, [and] where to seek out more information.
Another large goal of orientation is fostering connections between people in your squad groups, residence hall, and people that you’re just passing by. So, we had an orientation event — a silent disco out on the quad. We definitely know this might have felt cheesy to people, but if you got to laugh about it with a new person and make a memory, that’s an accomplishment for me.
Q: Was there any feedback from past orientations that you took into account as you planned this one?
A: Absolutely. One thing people should know about curating orientation programs is that new students’ needs are always developing. Some cohorts of students might need more emphasis on certain resources. So, feedback is always necessary, and orientation is always going to be evolving. We’re never going to do a total rinse and repeat of what happened that last year. One main point we tried to hone in on this past orientation was to create programs that were as interactive as it could be. Students digest information in so many ways … so we tried to incorporate everything from guided tours of buildings to meeting staff members over a game of mini golf. Student Care also does an activity during a panel, which involves students coming up on stage. That was really fun to hear about as well.
Q: What advice would you give incoming students to help them make the most of their orientation?
A: I think my biggest piece of advice is to just take care of yourself. Do what you need to do to be settled while also being really present in the orientation activities. We are fully aware that some people think that they might just be “too cool” for orientation [or that] it’s not necessary to go to all of the sessions but trust that we really think things out methodically when putting it out for students. We want you to be as engaged as possible. So, go to the glow night and participate in your squad meetings. And as cringey as it might feel in the moment, I promise, everyone comes back to me and says, “I have X, Y, and Z memories of orientation.” Also, Amherst is a small campus, so the more exposure you get to seeing people or recognizing people in the dining hall or on your way to Frost … is really nice.
Q: Do you have a favorite part of your job?
A: I really love working with my team in Student Engagement & Leadership and campus partners. Like I mentioned prior, orientation does not happen with just myself or Student Engagement & Leadership [and] Student Affairs. It’s really a campus-wide initiative. I love being able to speak with campus partners about evolving visions for what they see for their part in orientation every year. And to be able to do it with people who are looking at the student view from all sectors is really rewarding. I also love to see when an event comes together. I remember this past convocation, hearing students cheering everyone on [outside of] Johnson Chapel. I felt so many emotions. Like, it’s over, we did it, and everyone’s here on campus, and hopefully, they’ve had some good memories.
Q: How do you like to spend your time outside of work?
A: I love to read. So, if you catch me outside of work, I’m probably with my Kindle. I also live close to the Quabbin Reservoir, so I like to be outdoors as much as possible. I will probably be trying to read outdoors, so that’s where you can catch me.