Programming has always been one of my favorite parts of being in ResLife. Bringing people together to share ideas, foster community, or just to have fun has always been useful in galvanizing an identity of unity within residence halls. And, when it comes to hosting educational events, the name of the game is work smarter, not harder. Many campus partners, whether they’re Academic Advising or Career Services, are already strongly encouraged to host their own events to help meet the needs of students. So this is a mutually satisfying, award-winning partnership in the making. But not only is this a useful collaboration, it’s also necessary. Here’s why:
Students feel overwhelmed with SO MUCH PROGRAMMING. The beginning of the year is almost idyllic for college students as it’s what they’ve always imagined. There are so many intentional events to help keep students busy and engaged, helping them integrate into the campus culture and make connections with other students. But when the newness wears off in October and students are in their routines, they will make specific decisions about the programming that they attend and the organizations that they associate with. When students look at the calendar of events and see that there are five events happening in one night, they may feel inundated with analysis paralysis and resort to staying home or simply doing something with friends. While particularly important to residence halls, college campuses as a whole need to offer more limited, focused programming to meet the specific needs and interests of students.
Staff need to have boundaries with their energy to prevent burnout. While this topic has gained a lot of support from ResLife professionals over the past few years, it’s something that has plagued this field for decades. In my first few years I found it especially difficult to limit my time to 40 hours a week when I was expected to direct the community while also planning various events to help foster connections. Since campus partners are already looking to host different events, provide them with the venue and encourage them to host it in your rec room or another commonspace available within your community. While you may be present during the event, it also helps prevent the pre-planning (and post-event wrap-up) that is entailed with event planning, giving you more time to focus on other necessities within the role. By collaborating on events, it reserves expended energy on all sides and helps consolidate the sheer number of programs provided on campus.
After hour event attendance potentially suffers when outside of residence halls. I’ve had many students tell me that it needs to be a compelling event for them to leave their room after it gets dark. I imagine that is especially true if students are also going to trek across campus to different buildings, especially if it’s in inclement weather during the winter months. Tied to the point above, you eliminate some of the hurdles in getting students to the event by hosting it within your community. It’s hard to say no when they are just a few floors away, especially if it’s an exciting or relevant event!
These are the three prominent reasons contributing to a rationale on why we need to collaborate with campus partners. At this point, you may be thinking about how you can work with other offices on campus and different events that you can bring to your community. Here are some ideas I have for you:
Invite them to come to your hall for programming. This is what I’ve been talking about throughout this article so far, so it’s a sensible first stop on how to make this happen. One of the best events I hosted was Root Beer Floats & Registration: I had a group of Academic Advisors come to the lobby of my building right before spring semester registration and assist students with planning their classes, reviewing account holds, and generally answering questions about their future plans. While students waited, they were able to mingle and have a root beer float in the lobby of the building. Every time this was hosted, I managed to get a decent turnout and residents often said it was one of the most helpful events of the semester. While it helped Advising ensure that more students were ready for registration, it was also a valuable opportunity for student connections. The best thing you can do when thinking about collaborations with partners is to assess what their needs are and see how you can help them out. While they rarely will say no, it makes agreeing to collaboration much easier.
Host a campus partner resource search. Working with first-year students throughout a majority of my time as a Hall Director, this was something that I found particularly useful. These students are trying to gain familiarity with campus so having them search for specific offices in the first month or two of the semester is helpful. This can be as simple or complicated as you choose to make it. It could be a scavenger hunt where you provide clues to resources based on the services that are provided. Or it could be a selfie challenge, where students have to take a picture with a staff member or just the exterior of the office to receive a prize. And, even if you’re working primarily with returning students, this could be a helpful refresher to identify where different resources are located around campus. This is something that is helpful to all students and provides campus partners with an opportunity to share upcoming events and more information on the services they provide with students.
Support their programming with take-to events. The boundaries with energy extend beyond professional staff members to our student staff. Odds are that they have even less time that they can balance being successful in the role. To assist with that issue, both departments that I have worked with implemented “take-to” events. It’s simple: the RA simply identifies which event each month that they intend to take their residents to on-campus and then they do it. It means they have to plan one less event per month and we can easily support other offices on campus. This is something that you can build into your expectations and your community development plan but it’s most successful when it is initiated by the department. At both institutions, take-to programming was built into the overarching departmental model, reinforcing the importance rather than just having a single Hall Director declare its usefulness. If this isn’t something your team does, address it with your supervisor and see what you can do to integrate it into your department’s approach to programming!
If you’re not integrating campus partners into your community development plan, you are missing out on an opportunity to meet the needs of your students and are making your work more challenging if you are planning events of this nature on your own. Take a chance and collaborate with a campus partner this semester. You won’t be disappointed with the result!
