As an incoming transfer student in 2010, Jake Hartfield sat in Lee Hall’s Bettersworth Auditorium among hundreds of other new students. There, Mississippi State’s Orientation Leaders turned these strangers into Bulldogs and helped them take their first steps into life at a large, Southeastern Conference school.

“By the end of Orientation, I no longer felt like an outsider,” he recalled. “I left Orientation that day feeling like I had found my people before I even started classes.”

Hartfield now serves as director of Orientation and Events at Mississippi State, ensuring that new generations of Bulldogs find that same foundation when they begin their Maroon and White journeys. While Orientation is celebrating 100 years at MSU and has changed a lot in that century, he says its purpose remains the same: Help students feel prepared and welcomed to their new home.

“Orientation sets the tone,” explained Hartfield, who completed a political science bachelor’s in 2012 before continuing to earn master’s and doctoral degrees in education, also from MSU. “Outside of official campus tours or recruitment events, Orientation is the first experience students and their families share as they begin their Bulldog journey. Our staff and Orientation Leaders want to ensure it’s a memorable and effective experience.”

Across the generations, MSU Orientation Leaders all have shared similar traits. They’re welcoming, energetic, approachable and extremely passionate about Mississippi State. Hartfield said that is intentional as their tasks can include anything from creating and performing a welcome skit and hosting Dawg Talks to one-on-one conversations that put someone’s mind at ease.

Everything Orientation Leaders do, he said, is about helping the transition to Mississippi State feel less intimidating—something he experienced firsthand as an Orientation Leader in 2011.

While standing in Lee Hall that summer—the same building where his Orientation Leaders made him feel at home—Hartfield noticed a mother who seemed overwhelmed.

“She was nervous about her son—her first child—going off to college and was struggling with the transition,” he recalled. “What started as a quick check-in turned into a 30-minute conversation which helped ease her concerns.”

Hartfield remained connected to the family, watching as her son became a resident assistant and his two siblings joined him at MSU. Even now, he said he enjoys watching their careers bloom post-graduation.

He explained that moments and connections like those help families and their students feel more confident about the transition to college—and that’s what Orientation is about at its heart. Still, while the mission remains the same, Orientation has changed—and not just compared to its beginnings in 1926, but from decade to decade as well. To remain relevant and be of service to incoming Bulldogs, Orientation must evolve as technology and people’s expectations change.

Jay Allen, a 1992 Orientation Leader, said the Orientation sessions he led were very different from what his daughter, Emma Grace, experienced in 2023 as the contact with students and their families had shifted to more emails, texts and other tech-based communication. But he said that is part of what makes Orientation successful—meeting the students where they are in a way they’re comfortable with.

“You make students feel at home,” said Jay, who holds two degrees from MSU and serves as president of Itawamba Community College. “You share your own experiences and find ways to connect with them.”

He also noted significant changes in the slate of events planned for recent Orientation sessions. Where he and his 18 team members in 1992 scheduled things like movie watch parties and ice cream socials, more recent Orientations have featured events like Dawgs After Dark, which includes games, music and a silent disco—which Emma Grace, a former 2024 Orientation Leader herself who serves as coordinator in the Office of Orientation and Events, now helps oversee.

Emma Grace said everything they do—both the Orientation Leaders and MSU staff—is designed to help students feel like they belong. That’s why, she said, having a designated team of outgoing, approachable students to lead Orientation events is important.

“A lot of students won’t come up and say they’re nervous,” she said, explaining how Orientation Leaders are trained to identify people in need of reassurance. “So, as an OL, I would just go up and ask them if they needed help.”

She said that small act often made a bigger difference than she expected. In one instance, Emma Grace said a student she spoke to was unsure of his major. She explained it was OK to not have everything figured out and encouraged him to take his time.

Later, he came back to tell her he’d found a major he truly enjoyed and he credited it to that conversation during Orientation. He later became an Orientation Leader himself.

“Seeing him thrive now, that’s something I’ll never forget,” the 2025 science alumna said.

Inspired by her father, Emma Grace says she first joined the organization to gain leadership experience and build her resume. But she says she quickly discovered it was much more than that. Like her father, she says she came away with lifelong friendships, personal development and a much stronger connection to Mississippi State University.

Hartfield said the Allens’ experiences, though decades apart, show Orientation is not just important to new students and families but has an invaluable impact on the lives of Orientation Leaders and the university as a whole.

“What makes Mississippi State special is that we haven’t lost sight of what matters,” Hartfield said. “Whether it’s making students feel at home, developing them into leaders or helping them find their career paths, we’re here to make sure they know they’re not alone and made the right choice to join the Maroon and White family.”

By Mialani Garcia, Photos by University Archives

An app for that

A new app will soon make Orientation at Mississippi State more personalized and easier to navigate for students and their families.

Chris Mackey, a 2023 business administration and 2025 MBA graduate, helped develop the app for the Office of Orientation and Events. He said the goal is to reduce confusion, help attendees feel more independent, allow staff to assist more efficiently and make the most up-to-date and important information easily accessible.

“We want the app to answer every question a student or parent might have before they even think to ask it,” Mackey explained. “It’s all available at their fingertips.”

Titled Mississippi State Guides, the Orientation app offers:

• Personalized and customizable schedules

• Interactive campus maps

• Comprehensive information and updates

• Quick answers to common questions

Available for iPhone and Android, Mississippi State Guides can be downloaded for free from your app store.