Twenty five Southern Style leaders, 2 orientation team leaders (OTLs), 1 intern, 1 graduate assistant and 6 staff members returned Sunday evening after an outstanding weekend! From Disney to educational sessions, this Southern Style team has represented all things Southern Miss and left places and people better than they found them.

We competed in the Skit, Song, Step and Dance, Banner, T-Shirt, Graduate Case Study & Undergraduate Case Study competitions as well as presented 10 educational sessions (only one other school in attendance presented more with 11) at the largest SROW in history! Two of our presentations were recognized with conference awards: "#blackgirl_________: You're Allowed to Choose" presented by Imani Harris, Kayla Hubbard and Adria Mulligan won 1st place in the undergraduate category. "Solar Controller: Intentional Involvement" presented by Emily Hope and Kayla Mitchell won 3rd place in the combined category.

Students had many take-aways from the conference. One of the themes continues to be gratitude for their many opportunities, which you all made possible through your giving and support! Thank you and as always ... Southern Miss To The Top!

Good afternoon friends,

With a heart full of gratitude, we THANK YOU for your incredible donations. Our team successfully reached their goal to help offset the costs of attending the Southern Regional Orientation Workshop in Orlando, FL.  The team is spending this last week making final preparations before our departure. Your generous donation will allow them to:

• professionally develop through attendance at a regional conference.
• present ten educational sessions that will contribute to the learning and development of those working in orientation, transition and retention.
• compete in multiple conference competitions including: most outstanding undergraduate student leader, undergraduate case study competition, graduate case study competition, etc.
• experience all that a new city has to offer.
• continually build their team and grow as individuals.
• represent the University of Southern Mississippi!

Beyond SROW, the Eagle Fever dollars that were raised will assist in funding other programs and student leader development opportunities that are housed in the Office of Orientation and Transition Programs. Even though our Eagle Fever fundraising page ends tomorrow, you always have the opportunity to give back to Southern Style, GEWW Crew, orientation and the many other programs we offer to help ease the transition of new students to their time as college students at Southern Miss. If you feel led to continually give, you can support us through our foundation account by visiting www.usmfoundation.com. Thank you for all that you do for Southern Miss. SMTTT!

As March approaches, our team is busy preparing for the trip to the Southern Regional Orientation Workshop (SROW) in Orlando, FL. Over the weekend, we learned that Southern Miss received TEN presentation proposal acceptances. That's right! There will be ten presentations at SROW given by students and staff from Southern Miss. We hope to make you proud in Orlando and continue to ask for your support in spreading the word about our team's fundraising efforts. Take a look at the presentations from our team - you'll certainly note the interstellar theme!

Southern Miss . . . To The Top!

1. Title: Interstellar Involvement: Greek Life and Orientation; Presenters: Kate Phelps, Ryan Johnson and AP Palazzolo
2. Title: A BRAND New You: The Positives and Negatives of Self Branding; Presenters:Holden Carrell and Tyler Jones
3. Title: Skills that Last Light Years: Transferrable Skills You Gained From Your Orientation Experience; Presenters: Kate Howard and Austin McDonald
4. Title: What Are You Bringing Today? Helping Aliens Acclimate Through Understanding & Empathy!; Presenters:Kate Howard, Kyle Nixon (University of Memphis) and Cade Slaughter (University of Mississippi)
5. Title: Solar Controller: Intentional Involvement; Presenters: Kayla Mitchell and Emily Hope
6. Title: Uncharted Territory: How Connection Eases the College Transition; Presenter: Casey Ford
7. Title: Mission Transition: Working with Students from Military Families; Presenters: Caleb Plott and Callie Shirk
8. Title: Written in the Stars: Exploring the Personality Galaxy; Presenters: MK Lees and Aaliyah Elbert
9. Title: Creating A Flight Plan: Orientation to Retention; Presenters: Laura Laughlin, Katie McBride and Kate Howard
10. Title: #blackgirl _________: You’re Allowed to Choose; Presenters: Imani Harris, Adria Mulligan and Kayla Hubbard

We are truly feeling the love on this Valentine’s Day and are so grateful for our many donors! We are beyond proud to say that we have reached our initial fundraising goal to support the 2018 Southern Style team, and this would not have been possible without all of the generous gifts from our incredible donors. In the less than two weeks since we launched, we have received gifts from 89 donors in 11 states! We want to keep going!

When we started our fundraising page, we hoped to raise a portion of the overall cost needed to support Southern Style. We want to see if we can continue our fundraising efforts in order to offset more of the costs associated with developing and equipping these students. We can't wait to have others continue to help us make it happen!