As summer jobs go, the one the former Leslie Howard landed two years into her UI education was as good as it gets.
“I worked as an orientation student leader giving campus tours to incoming freshmen and leading discussions in Foellinger Auditorium about campus life,” says Leslie Bardo Gordon, the Los Angeles-based marketing and communications strategist (BS ’90, advertising/communications).
“I loved everything about this experience, from leading the guided tours — where I shared little-known facts about the campus, including why the Undergraduate Library was built underground — to lightheartedly advising the incoming students how not to look like a freshman when crossing Wright Street.
"Hint: Wright was a one-way street and if they wanted fit in, they didn’t necessarily need to look both ways. Probably not universally advisable, but it was a fun fact to ease some anxiety and make them laugh.
“As an orientation student leader, I met some amazing fellow students from all different backgrounds and walks of life that I wouldn’t have otherwise met, and my experience that summer made me appreciate this great university and the surrounding community in ways that have stayed with me since my time on campus.”
