By: Bailey Oedewaldt

As with many events this year, orientation for members transferring into the Junior League of Washington (JLW) went virtual. While the in-person community can be difficult to replicate online, the Transfer Committee went above and beyond to ensure members transferring into the League had an engaging session, with polls and chat features replacing in-person small groups. 

Transfer Committee Chair, Caroline Campbell, made it a priority to ensure Transfers had fun during their orientation. The virtual orientation worked to capture some of the engagement in-person orientations usually have by playing music as women entered the meeting and keeping the women active during the session. The Committee assigned roles to ensure a smooth event, with the Chair giving the welcome, the Vice Chair running the slide deck, and other committee members monitoring the chat.

Despite the usual difficulties with virtual events, such as navigating breakout rooms and coordinating screen sharing, the transfer orientation was wildly successful. Vicky Prosser, who transferred into JLW this year, said that she’s felt welcomed into JLW since joining this fall.

“As a transfer from the Huntsville, AL Junior League, which has around 250 active members, I was nervous about transferring to such a large League. At our transfer orientation this fall, I felt so welcomed, like I’d known these women my whole life. Even though there were a lot of us, the orientation felt personal and provided us with a great idea of how JLW operates and what support it provides for the community. We were also given an opportunity to meet with our small group and our advisors, which helped start our journey through the transfer year. I’ve already been able to jump in with volunteer and social events and am no longer worried about being lost in the size of JLW. There is a place for every woman who wants to join! So very excited to be part of this amazing organization!”

To learn more about transferring into the Junior League visit our Transfer information webpage here.