Blue Hens

"At the University of Delaware, UD students are proud to call themselves Blue Hens. The most proud, most spirited bunch might possibly be the New Student Orientation Leaders. The Office of New Student Orientation (NSO) employs 21 UD students who show loyalty to the university while spreading school spirit amongst the incoming freshmen. Orientation Leaders (OLs) are carefully selected--this year we had over 150 applicants--to represent the diversity on campus, each bringing his or her own character to the OL team. The NSO Office does not describe the OL position as a job; rather, they describe the OL position as an experience. While there may only be 20 days of NSO in the summer months, the OLs begin their experience in the late fall. One of the most iconic parts of the NSO Office is the backpack that each OL receives for the summer. It is customized with the OLs' personal initials, along with the NSO Office logo. The backpack is emblematic; when all of the students return to attend school in the fall semester, they know who their OLs are because of the backpack. In the summer months, OLs wear bright yellow polos, that way they stand out. However, those bright yellow polos are not exactly the most fashionable piece of clothing. The backpack, however, transcends the summer months. The NSO Professional Staff came up with the idea of putting the iconic backpack on the back of the yellow T-shirt because we knew people would recognize it, and it was a fun way to reward the OLs with an end of the year gift. On the front of the shirt is the phrase "Can I get a Blue Hen Spirit Check?!" The OL team created a Blue Hen Spirit Check, a new chant that could be called out at football games letting foes know that Blue Hens mean business! Whenever this phrase was yelled, the OLs and new students knew to clap their hands while rambunctiously chanting: "Blue, blue, blue-blue-blue; gold, gold, gold-gold-gold; blue-gold-blue-gold, woo, woo, woo, HENS!" - Scott Levitt (Jul 23, 2013)