A day in the life of an ‘Epic Eight’ at New Student Orientation

It’s 11:50 a.m. on a Wednesday, and 370 upcoming freshmen and parents fill the Tate Student Center’s Grand Hall. Behind a thin curtain, chatter of excitement and a playlist of oldies fill the room. The lights go down, and a hype video plays at noon on the dot. When the lights come up five minutes later, it’s chins up, energy high, smiles on, lapel pins in hand. It’s time to welcome them all to the University of Georgia.

This is one of the last freshman orientation sessions for this year’s cohort of 20 New Student Orientation leaders. One of them is “Epic Eight” Esteban Lazaro, a rising fourth-year, first-generation student studying French, Spanish and Latin American and Caribbean studies.