A key member of the Calvin College student life team has been honored by a national organization as one of the best at what he does on the continent.

John Britton was named Orientation Professional of the Year by the National Orientation Director's Association at the group's annual conference earlier this month. NODA is an international organization chartered in 1976 and serving orientation professionals at colleges and universities throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Previous awards winners (the honor was first given in 1993) have represented such schools as Kent State, Arkansas and Michigan. In fact Britton is the first award recipient from a private college.

He says he is humbled by the award and honored.

"To be chosen by your peers and to have your hard work and creativity recognized is very special," he says. "But the orientation program at Calvin is such a team effort, so it's difficult to think of this as my award. We have amazing student leaders who work on orientation and a terrific professional staff, including my boss, Bob Crow, the dean of student development."

Britton says he believes the award is a reflection of how Calvin tries to welcome first-year students and family members to the college.

"This award is typically given to large state schools," he says. "I think our receiving it is an acknowledgment that our vision for orientation, with a focus on hospitality, leadership development, community and mission embodiment, is a vision that can be an example for other orientation programs."

NODA annually presents awards to outstanding professionals and contributors to the field, as well as for excellence in publications. At the 2006 conference Calvin also earned an award for "Outstanding Use of Theme" for its first-year orientation materials.

Britton grew up in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and attended Liberty University for three semesters before transferring to Calvin where he was a secondary education student with a major in physical education and a minor in Biology. He began working at Calvin in the fall of 1996 in residence life work at Calvin's Knollcrest East apartment and now is in his fourth year serving as the associate dean of student development (but has been doing orientation for eight years).

Among the twists he has added to Calvin's orientation program is a wilderness orientation which takes small groups of first-year students away from campus for a week of sea kayaking, rock climbing, rappelling, island camping, voyager canoeing, sailing and solo time.