8 MAROON LIFE
FLO-ing into freshman year
A Nguyen — THE BATTALION
Members in Freshmen in Engineering, Science and Technology Jackson Ballew, Veronik Lisovaya and Yulia Lisovaya stand for a photo.
First-year organizations provide communities, leadership By Sydnei Miles @Sydnei_M04 Freshman Leadership Organizations, or FLOs, help incoming freshmen establish a firm foundation and provide opportunities for connections. FLOs create an easy transition into college life for incoming freshmen, and there is a wide array that students can choose from to find the best fit. As freshmen begin their first year of college, the size of the campus community can be intimidating and overwhelming. Sport management sophomore and zone leader of Freshman Leaders Establishing Excellence, or FLEX, Emma Tenbrink said FLOs are designed to help freshman students find a sense of belonging on campus their first year. “I think the biggest part of a FLO is it really helps [high school] seniors transition into college their freshman year,” Tenbrink said. “It kind of gives freshmen a huge friend group right off the bat. Most FLOs pride themselves on just having casual hangouts
like Evans hangouts, MSC hangouts, it just allows freshmen to always have someone to be with because, especially [at] A&M, it can be very scary to come in alone … So it just gives freshmen someone to be with right off the bat.” Statistics junior and FLEX head director Nick Johannessen said while every FLO aims at achieving the same goal of fostering a welcoming environment for freshmen, many are intimately different. “There are some that are more major-specific and that can help if you’re worried about meeting people within your major or having people to study with,” Johannessen said. “Even though it sounds like they’re all the same and we have the same events throughout the year, each FLO is different in its own unique way.” Students have the opportunity to explore every FLO, communications junior and FLEX communications executive Katie Cook said. “We always ask freshmen to go to the All-FLO Informational that the Freshman Leadership Advisory Council offers because they kind of get to see a little glimpse of every single FLO,” Cook said. “They can see, you know, that they’re all kind of structured
similarly, but they all have different qualities and different philanthropies and you kind of get to see what the vibes are of each FLO.” Even after freshman year, students are able to hold positions in FLOs which helps them stay involved with new freshmen classes. Johannessen said he has remained a part of FLEX because he wants to give back to other students. “You don’t really see too many juniors still involved in [FLO],” Johannessen said. “It’s just kind of wanting to pay it forward. I know what being in a FLO and specifically FLEX my freshman year did for me, giving me so many great friends and amazing memories that I know I’ll cherish for the rest of my life. My college experience would be so much different without it and I just wanted to be able to provide that same positive experience to the freshman Class of 2025 and then also this year, 2026. Just ensuring that they could have as good of a freshman year as I did and helping them out with that transition because I know how difficult that can be.” Cook said the most rewarding aspect of being involved in a FLO is the connections made throughout the year. “You just make such unique relationships,” Cook said. “I think that FLEX really
plugs you into people that you would have never seen yourself being friends with. When you serve on leadership, you get partners and you get put in these groups with new people to work with … It paves the way for there to be such a good relationship with every single person in this organization. I think that the people that end up being in FLEX are just incredible, truly one-of-a-kind people.” As students determine which FLO fits them best, Tenbrink said it’s important to understand what each group values. In order to do so, she said the best thing to do is be yourself, be as open to understanding other people’s values and take time to know what you will pour your attention to. “The biggest thing I love about FLO recruitment is how genuine it is compared to other recruitments that happen at A&M,” Tenbrink said. “So just really understanding what each FLO stands for and what they pride themselves on. I think it’s really important and just meeting people and putting yourself out there and being vulnerable and just being true to yourself is definitely the number one advice.”