This year marks the 50th anniversary of FASET, a tradition which welcomes new students to Tech and provides current students an opportunity for
mentorship.
Staff applications for the both the FASET and Wreck Camp programs are open until Feb. 5 at midnight.
Fourth-year BA Sarah Beth Parker, who is the membership and recruitment executive board member for the FASET Cabinet, explains the benefits of joining the staff.
“The professional experience that you gain from FASET, it’s really unmatched,” Parker said.
She mentions the importance of being a representative for an organization.
“You have to, one, learn how to put on the FASET face, as we call it, so even when you’re tired, even when you’re stressed, even when there’s a lot going on, being able to put on the smile and represent an organization really well,” Parker said.
Additionally, being a representative for Tech means drawing upon personal experiences.
“Everyone has had their own experiences with different things at Tech, but when a student asks you about a specific resource, [you are] learning how to represent the Institute in a way, while also being able to give your honest experience with it and learning how to mesh those two. I think [it] is a super valuable skill for joining the workforce,” Parker said.
Parker’s decision to become a FASET Leader was inspired by her own time at FASET.
“I think that was like the peak of my existence when I came into my own FASET,” Parker said.
“That’s the most extroverted I’ve ever been, I was more ready to make friends than at any other time in my life and my FASET leader was so kind and let me kind of bounce off the walls … I was like, ‘This is just a place where I feel like I belong and I want to be her one day.’”
After her first year at Tech, Parker applied to join the FASET staff and began the training.
“I learned a lot about Tech and I slowly got to know people and our retreat is where I feel like I really started to develop some relationships,” Parker said.
Parker soon had an opportunity to pass along her own advice later that summer.
“FASET is different from anything I’ve ever experienced,” Parker said.
“I led my first small group at the summer first-year FASET, so iGniTe, and everyone was so excited, so willing to make friends. I think honestly that was the best small group I had that entire summer, just because of the energy that they had.”
Parker gave out her phone number and email to her small group so that any students could contact her for help.
One student reached out and she was able to serve as a mentor for them throughout the summer.
“That mentorship experience really meant a lot to me, because it really felt like a tangible way that I was making an impact on someone else, as opposed to just like giving my small group spiel and then everyone leaving,” said Parker.
“So that was really cool and rewarding.”
While there are some differences between working at either program has benefits.
One factor to consider is time commitment and availability.
Working at FASET means staff cannot work full time, because the FASET sessions take place on workdays.
“Wreck Camp is less of a consistent commitment over the summer, because they have three camps, so you just have to be able to be there for the workdays and for the specific camps,” said Parker.
“So, for example, maybe if someone is working a flexible full time job, they could work full time and space with their students, just because the camps last several days and you’re with the same small group the whole time, so you really get to dive in deep with those relationships,” said Parker. “… FASET leaders will spend time with a wider variety of students, because the students change every session and there’s a lot more sessions and FASET leaders will also need to interact with parents and guests a lot more.”
The applications for both programs are broken down into parts to help the recruitment team learn more about the applicants.
“You’ll have to put in general information like name, major, hometown, all that good stuff. You’ll have to talk about your availability for the spring and the summer, like if you’re co-oping or interning, important dates,” said Parker. “Then there are going to be some short essay questions just to help us get to know a little bit more about the candidates.”
Applications will also need to provide which dates they can attend events.
“FASET has an extra step where we’re asking people to submit an ‘About Me’ image as a way for us to kind of see different parts of the applicants that may not be addressed in the application questions, so this is more an opportunity to let their personality shine and you can put pictures of yourselves, you can put your favorite memes, your favorite quotes,” said Parker.
The staff training will be largely virtual with the potential for some hybrid interactions, but both can be completed entirely virtually.
“We’re of course going to be abiding by all government, CDC, USG and GT-COVID requirements,” said Parker. “… Over the summer, for FASET, we’re likely going to have some socially distanced in-person sessions and some online sessions … Just in case, there’s some emergency where we can’t do socially distanced in-person, we do have the capacity for virtual.”
For either in-person or virtual programs, Parker encourages students who genuinely want to help new students to apply.
“I think the most important part in both of our programs is a passion to serve students,” said Parker. “I think, personally, you can be the most enthusiastic, well-versed Tech person in the world, but if you’re not applying for the right reasons, it’s kind of easy to see through that, so just making sure that you really showcase your passion for wanting to help new students at Tech.”
Students interested in applying for FASET can visit tinyurl.com/FASET21.
Students interested in applying for Wreck Camp can visit tinyurl.com/WCHY2021.
Students with any questions about applying for FASET stadd may contact Tim Edmonds-King at [email protected], Sarah Beth Parker at [email protected] or Logan Sands at [email protected].
Additionally, students with any questions about applying for Wreck Camp staff may contact Jake Owens at [email protected].