Facilitator Corner: Xiruo (Cece) Zhang
FIUTS Facilitators are student leaders from all over the world who welcome new international visitors, help organize events, and lead activities for hundreds of students each quarter. Read on to find out more about the FIUTS facilitator experience from Xiruo (Cece) Zhang!
Name: Xiruo (Cece) Zhang
Country: China
Major: Physics
Class: 2017
FIUTS Facilitator Since: 2014
Brief Introduction: Spicy food addict, life-long member of the global cat lover club, female otaku gamer with never ending curiousness towards life.
What does it mean to be a FIUTS facilitator?
I joined FIUTS when I was a sophomore, and by that time, I thought it’s like a volunteering work and that’s all. However, after spending two years facilitating and participating in events, I started to realize that this is not as easy as I thought. First, yes, being a facilitator is like being a volunteer, you take your time to help other students to adapt their new life here. A lot of the times facilitators are international students who know nothing about Seattle, and you need to push yourself to ask around. Why there’s an underground city in downtown Seattle? Where is the Fremont troll? What’s the history of the Seattle Seahawks team? You will probably never know any of these if you don’t give yourself the chance to learn. So it’s not just giving out your time, but also gaining back, improving yourself as a person. Second, leadership. Every time after facilitating an event, you are asked to fill up a feedback form. It’s the best way to look back what you have done throughout the event. Have you helped students to know each other? Have you encountered any problems? What were the solutions you used? There might be some embarrassing moments during the first couple times of facilitating, but don’t worry, we all been though those. The most important thing is you practice yourself as a leader, and that matters. As time pass by, you will notice that you are getting more comfortable speaking in front of people, and even if something unexpected happens, you won’t be as nervous as you used to. That’s what we want you to be at FIUTS.
Facilitators at FIUTS Camp during the New Student Orientation
What's your favorite FIUTS anecdote as a facilitator? Every moment in the New Student Orientation! I’ve been as a facilitator for a while, but this year is the first time I put myself into this huge event from the first day till the end. It was busy, we had a 2-day long folding party to put together all the info sheets that are useful for 1,500+ students. It was crazy, you get to know so many students, who might just get off the plane from the other side of the planet. It was amazing, watching all those young adults traveled all the way to get to meet each other, from strangers to best friends. It was fantastic, there were tons of fun events that you can take part in, camp, football games, scavenger hunts... All these reminded me the first day I arrived at the campus, excited, upset, curious… you have to say time past so fast and now I’m no longer a freshman. Anyways, if you want to practice leadership, have lots fun, get to know lots people, you should definitely sign up for this event – I promise you won’t regret the decision.
What tips or comments do you have for peer facilitators?
1. Get prepared for whatever event you are facilitating. This is important. A lot of the times students who come to your event are new, international students, they don’t know as much as you do, and they want to know more than just the event itself. Make sure you check the emails that FIUTS’ staff sent to you after you register, they have some basic information that you should know. Except for that, Google the place you are going to, or the event you are joining, or some random places around that may help you just in case. All you do is not just for helping the students, it’s also a way to improve yourself. I’ve been in Seattle for almost 4 years and there are a tons of fun places that I will never get a chance to know if it’s not because of FIUTS.
2. Take advantages of the 15 minutes’ facilitators’ time before the start of the event. You should know each and every fellow facilitator in the group, get to know who they are, what they study, oh, and their phone numbers – I’m not kidding, you will need those. A lot of the times, especially if you are facilitating a huge event with too many students show up, you will need to separate students into small groups and take them to the place in several buses. Phone numbers are the only way to get contact with the rest of the facilitators and keep them updated. Plus, maybe someday if you want to hold a bubble tea party, you can invite them!
3. Be passionate! Don’t be afraid to meet new people. Sign up for the events! Drop by the office as long as you have time! And most important, enjoy your life <3
Check out our past Facilitator Corners:
Nail Hassairi, Sophia Chakalo, Bader Alfarhan, Peirce Kirkham, Alissa Mustre, Ang Li, Wedward Wei, Terry Jung, Hassan Almuzaini, Isabella Ning, Lucy Deng, Nhung Le, Abigail Lim, Ferris Maghi, Kevin Sander, Joey Liao, Anya Raj, Minhtu Nguyen, Jianyang (Jane) Zhang, Jialu Sun, Fleur Xuanlin Li, Saleh Alwabel, Clara Jiayao Lu, Le (Juliet) Huang,David Veth, Yili (Jacky) Chen, Jonathan Cheng,Fah Thamsuwan,Charlie Warner, Katherine Li, Nabil Sutjipto, Jeremy Sculley, Ani Antonyan, Jaisang Sun