APCA Campus Life Trends Magazine - September / October 2015

Editorial: From the Desk of APCA Jamie Tilson

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Agent of Positive Change Student Feature: Lavelle Dunn

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Artist Spotlight: I.N.K.

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APCA Serves!

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Cover Feature: Chris Jones

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A Call to Arms for Student Services by Eric Lambert

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The Inside Scoop on Cooperative Buying

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When Life Hands You Lemons, Make Pink Lemonade by Yonna Pasch

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Special Mission: Enhance and Assess Your Conference Experience

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Making a Positive Change in Your Campus Community by Del Suggs

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To Book or Not To Book? That is the MISSION!

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APCA Regional Coordinators

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Agent ve i t i s o P f o Change student feature

Lavelle Dunn Barry University

Since my freshman year on campus, I have been involved in student government. Early on, I witnessed just campus t how impactful being a part of student government was, en and how imperative each member’s role was on campus. involvem Our university holds SGA members to a standard, one that encourages us to promote inclusiveness and engagement.

The university, for example, sends both the President ip h s r e lead and Vice President of student government to the APCA conference in New York City. There, we go to a number of different sessions and listen to keynote speakers that not only growth give us helpful tips on how to run our organization, but also helps shine light on a number of different topics ent that truly impact our personal m p o l e v e d growth.

Being a part of student government is definitely a role that promotes positive change e g n cha and growth. Since being a part of Student government, I have had the chance to do a number of things. One I am most proud of bring ss is being able to start a mentoring awarene program on campus called, “Bridging the Gap�. This mentoring program was started to help freshman with their transition from high school to college, and ness to develop more impactful relationships on e iv s u l c in campus. In addition to being an awesome mentor program, it has also helped us in our efforts to promote a smoke-free campus and bring awareness to students about what is happening on campus.

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Artist

SPOTLIGHT

I.N.K. This unique

duo of

LANE SHULER AND JONATHAN “COURAGEOUS” CLARK share their experiences of overcoming obstacles, facing fears, and expressing their journey of self-acceptance through spoken word poetry.

Get to know more about this duo of friends and talented poets who will be showcasing at our Fall Campus Events Planning Conferences.

WHAT WAS THE NAME OF YOUR FIRST POEM?

Lane: My first full solo poem was a piece called Time. It was about how time is one of the only true unstoppable forces in the world. I was maybe 21 when I wrote it; I may not have had any idea what it was about, other than the fact that it sounded cool, haha!

Courageous: My first poem was called “Growing Pains.”

I was 13 and I had no idea what to write about, so I opened the dictionary, placed my finger on the first word I came across and I ran with it. It turned out to be a poem that would help me win my first poetry slam and that’s how I got hooked on performing poetry for the rest of my life.

WHEN YOU ARE NOT TRAVELING WHAT DO YOU LIKE TO DO UNWIND?

Lane: I play a lot of ultimate frisbee. I’m not great at it, but it’s good exercise and I love the camaraderie of it. If you bring us to campus, feel free to invite me out to play a game or two while we’re there, I’ll love you forever.

Courageous: I love to cook. It’s a great way for me to focus and try new things. My father recently retired from 50 years as a chef at the University of Tennessee. He taught me how to find my way around a kitchen as soon as I could see over the stove and I still try and sharpen my skills every chance I get. There’s something profoundly beautiful and selfless in preparing a meal for someone else to enjoy. My family has always found love around the dinner table. We still enjoy Sunday dinners to this day.

WHO/ WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST INSPIRATION?

Lane: Two things come to mind with this question. In 2011, I left a job with a lot of freedom, but not a lot of responsibility, so I could “grow up” and take on the task of a “real career” working for a mortgage company.

Shortly thereafter, I found myself in Atlanta, GA, at the Southern Fried Poetry Slam competing against Asia Samson. Asia is a fantastic poet, and he is the mastermind behind The Asia Project.

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Courageous and I attended a workshop he was hosting about making a career out of poetry.

We soaked in every piece of information like a sponge. I met Asia, and we worked out a deal to bring him to Knoxville for a show. I got a chance to hear his story firsthand: how he was working for a big company, spending everyday in a cubicle, just like he was “expected to.” He realized that life was too short to waste it not doing what you loved, and the rest is history.

It was there that I realized I had to drop everything and follow my dreams before it was too late. Two months later I quit the “big boy” job, and went back to hard manual labor and started working towards my goal of being a full time poet.

So, two of my biggest inspirations are, Asia Samson for showing me what to do, and how to do it, and the mortgage company for showing me that rotting in a cubicle every day was a fate that I wasn’t going to take lying down.

Courageous: Aside from my family, The kid I used to be is my biggest inspiration.

I used to be very shy and quiet when I was younger. I would only open up to people I felt comfortable around. After finding my voice through poetry, I felt comfortable in my own skin. I was no longer the shy kid afraid to speak to anyone I didn’t know already. I became the guy on stage hosting a poetry slam and sharing poems about my deepest fears, insecurities and secrets with people I’d never met in my life.

MOST MEMORABLE APCA EXPERIENCE?

Lane: APCA Nationals 2014 in Atlanta was pretty fantastic. Our showcase had a fantastic response, and we got a ton of booth interaction.

We got to the booking meeting and we were incredibly nervous; it was our first go as a duo.

Our name came up and there were so many bookings we got a full on round of applause.

Once the dust settled I went for a swim to clear my head, and to take in the weight of the fact that we finally made it to where we wanted to be, and that our greatest adventures were yet to come.

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Courageous: APCA Nationals, Atlanta, 2014. Our first APCA, our first showcase, our first time being able to show what we’re made of and why we do what we do. The students and advisors were awesome and I finally learned why APCA is such an amazing family to be a part of.

TELL US YOUR FAVORITE PLACES YOU’VE TRAVELED AND ANY SPECIAL STOPS YOU MAKE ALONG THE WAY.

Lane: I absolutely loved doing shows in South Florida at the Broward College Campuses, but I swear I had the most incredible time in Philadelphia for our Penn State-Brandywine show. We were there for two nights and I just had so much fun. We were two blocks from the world famous Reading Terminal Market where we got to have Travel Channel’s Best Sandwich In America at Tommy Dinic’s. We toured the Philadelphia Eagles stadium, and got to go to a Philadelphia 76er’s game. One of my favorite memories from that trip was starting a run from our hotel and running two miles to the Philadelphia Art Museum. I started my run as the sun was starting to set and I got to “Rocky” the steps right as the sun was setting. It was the last show of the tour, and I’ve never felt anything so amazing.

Courageous: One of our first big shows was at the College of Charleston and it just seemed magical. I enjoyed the feel of that city so much. It felt like my home away from home. I promised myself one day I’d own a house nearby on Folly Beach and spend the rest of my days there just living the life. South Florida is always a treat to visit and Philly definitely has a special place in my heart, but the ability to travel, visit new cities and meet new people is my favorite. Lane and I always have to make one special stop when we come through Georgia. The Marietta Diner. It’s worth it. Every. Single. Time.

Represented by HOULA ENTERTAINMENT contact (865) 385-5514

APCA ! s r e h t O g Servin

This summer at the APCA Leadership on Broadway Experience in New York City, APCA teamed up with Dave Kelly and The Boys and Girls Club to host a day of activities and a cookout in the park for the kids. Forty-two APCA conference attendees came to New York City early to participate in this event. We would like to thank the following schools for serving this year:

Polk State College – Lakeland Miami Dade College – Wolfson Suffolk County Community College – Grant

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Quote from Frederick McCall, Polk State SAB President TELL US ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCE IN YORK CITY WITH THE APCA DAY OF SERVICE.

I really enjoyed the New York City APCA Day of Service. It was great to work alongside leaders from other colleges as well as the staff of the Boys and Girls Club while helping the children who are the future of tomorrow to have a fun and enjoyable day. A truly memorable experience!

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Fun fact:

FREDERICK ALSO TOOK PART OF A GROUP INITIATIVE TO RECYCLE WATER BOTTLES TO BUILD A CAMPUS GREENHOUSE! Quote from Frederick McCall, Polk State SAB President WHAT DO YOU/ YOUR BOARD DO ON YOUR CAMPUS TO PROMOTE CIVILITY AND SERVICE? I do my best to greet fellow students and staff on campus and hold doors for them. If I see someone who may need directions or guidance, I talk with them to assist them to the best of my abilities. My board and I always inform students we are here for them, we will assist them anyway possible.

Sometimes students just want to talk or have questions, but we also will assist them in understanding their class work if they need help. I also encourage them to do other things for the students and staff on campus, because sometimes it only takes a smile to change a person’s day.

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APCA ack!

Gives B

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At each conference, APCA auctions off signed Broadway posters to raise money and awareness for their national charity, Broadway Cares Equity Fights Aids. Annually, at the APCA Leadership on Broadway Experience, APCA presents a check to the charity to represent the year’s fundraising efforts. Over the past year, APCA and conference attendees raised approximately $9,000! Thank you to all of the donors and auction participants — we hope you’re enjoying your posters! Did you know you can do the same thing on your campus? Broadway Cares will send you posters to auction off. For more information, contact Broadway Cares at (212) 840-0770.

Not only am I able to support an amazing cause, I’m able to sit back and enjoy my posters and have a daily reminder of the people that benefit from Broadway Cares.

– Michael Stephenson APCA Vice President of Operations

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This performer is far from boring, but he just may put you to “sleep”.

Our cover feature, CHRIS JONES will leave you in awe with his hypnosis and magic.

Chris was also featured this year on AMERICA’S GOT TALENT where he wowed the judges! Learn more about this philanthropist, marathon runner, hypnotist, and entertainer, Chris Jones.

When was your first time doing magic in front of an audience?

My first magic show was when I was 12 or 13 at a YMCA talent show. It wasn’t that I was a bad magician; the audience just didn’t understand what I was doing. They thought I was a clown...a nervous clown at that. I did my first paid magic show at the age of 20 and that show was held in a barn. I was performing for a school of agriculture and my stage looked a lot like a rodeo area, complete with animal poop. I got paid $90 and they gave me a dish of potato salad to take home.

When did you decide to start doing college shows?

I only wanted to do college shows. I saw Christopher Carter perform my freshman year of college and was amazed. The next year he came back I bought him dinner (with my meal plan) and he taught me how to do some card tricks. My hat is still off to him because he’s been amazing help as I’ve developed my show and my career. I knew 12

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that people could be like David Copperfield or David Blaine, but I had absolutely no idea people performed magic live- for everyday people and made a living. Side note, I had a very sheltered life before college. I’m constantly amazed at how much I don’t know.

What are some memorable experiences you have had in the college market?

Every show is memorable because as a hypnotist, your audience is literally your act. But traveling has always been memorable. I love seeing different cities and trying different food. I really enjoy after a show when students come up to me and say one of two things: 1) “I got dragged here by my friends, I was really skeptical, but that was awesome! I can’t believe it’s real.”

2) “You get paid for this?”

What are some benefits of working with organizations like APCA?

APCA is great! I’m really into philanthropy and I know every meal the folks at APCA are doing to talk about some scholarship, some internship or raffle off anything they can get their hands and donate to money to a cause.

It’s also just great seeing students and

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advisers who’ve invited you to shows in years past.

Finally, it really helps performers when schools get together and book artists as a block. I’m training for marathon season and I really appreciate when I only have to drive 100 or 200miles to the next school because it means I get to run, eat well and sleep in- rather than catching a flight at 6am.

How do you prepare before going on stage?

I usually like to meet students before the show. I may warm up with a card trick. Other times, I sit in the audience and pretend to be a regular audience member. I usually ask a guy if they think hypnosis is real or if they think the show is going to be any good. I’ve learned that if I wear a cap or have a book bag with me, I can usually pass for a college student. It’s getting harder now because of my appearance on America’s Got Talent. People recognize me more, but there’s nothing better than having someone say, “I think he picks people before the show and sets stuff up, I think it’s all rigged.” Then they announce, “Here is Chrisjones,” and I run on stage. I don’t do it to be mean, I want people to be honest.

Tell us about your book.

The book...so far is called, “I know I look like Drake, but Listen...” I’ve had a really hard time explaining to audiences that I do hear them when they say I resemble the rapper Drake (and I believe they mean it as a compliment), however, I’m not him.

The book is about the idea of muscularity, how rap portrays women and advice for women in higher education when it comes to having a healthy relationship with men. I hope to have the book published by August 14th. Any profit made from the book will be donated to a women’s shelter or shelters.

Tell us about your experience on AGT

It was great. I got to meet Nick Cannon and had a drink with Mel B. I, of course shook hands with Howie Mandel, it was unreal!

It was stressful because I really didn’t know if my effect, making Howie shake hands would work. I was up the entire night before it aired.

I was super nervous and then in the second round Michale Buble pretended to be hypnotized and that didn’t feel too good. Haha. But it was a good

experience.

People may think your life is set after being on national tv.... nope! After that aired I got over a thousand emails and Facebook messages. No joke. Some of them were positive telling me it was awesome and incredible, some people were calling me unethical for tricking Howie. It really hit me when people started calling my cell (which was listed at the time) and demanding that I hypnotize them to lose weight and quit smoking.

That was when the craziness really began.

Weeks went by and I kept getting more requests, “Hypnotize my kid to brush his teeth,” and “I’m lazy, please help.” That’s all. Just, “hypnotize me so I’m not lazy.” No greeting, no thank you, just, “make me less lazy.” Then it got sad too, veterans emailed me to help them get over PTSD and women would ask me to hypnotize them to leave their husbands. I skyped with a family in India, a son wanted me to hypnotize his father to stop beating his wife. That really put a lot of sadness in my heart and encouraged me to write this book and donate the profits.

I’ve done some cool stuff like travel the US, met some celebrities but I really just want to help people. I think if people cash money they’ll be unhappy because you can never have enough money. But if you help people- you’ll be satisfied.

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Agents of Positive Change A CALL TO ARMS FOR STUDENT SERVICES

By Eric Lambert, APCA Executive Director

My First Assignment As An Agent Of Positive Change I began my life long interest in Student Activities working at the LSU Union Theater. Being exposed to Broadway shows, concerts of classical music, dance and some of the iconic artists of the 1980s had a profound and transformative effect on me. We who worked there considered ourselves to be proud gatekeepers of artistic presentation on our campus, and we were dedicated to our craft. We felt like agents on a mission to bring a higher level of entertainment experience to our campus. We were agents of positive change, helping to estab lish a culture of discovering art and entertainment beyond our radios.

A Theory Based Viewpoint Of Campus Activities With a humble nod to Alexander Astin, I completely agree that our campuses must consider the input of our student populations and offer them a transformative and encouraging environment in which to experience their own particular levels of involvement and develop desirable outcomes from college (Astin,1993)1. What has changed in more recent years is that we have experienced a drastically altered input. We have student populations consisting of more technologically aware and social media involved students than ever before.

Fighting the constant din of Pinterest, Twitter and Facebook, we are faced with a more daunting challenge than ever before to produce events that grab student attention and create involvement that can effect meaningful change on campus. The fact that participation in the co curricular can help to improve student retention and academic performance is well documented (Kuh and Pike, 2005)2.

Yet making that meaningful connection has become more about fighting the distractions of economic pressure, federal regulations and corporate marketing blitzes for scraps of student attention and involvement.

APCA’s Practical Approach To Purposeful Programming So what are we to do to promote meaningful and purpose driven programming that anyone cares about attending? Well, it all starts with you, the advisors, the student boards and the administrations and how you consider yourselves. Presumably you agree you are there to affect a meaningful, intentional and transformative campus environment. If so, what are your learning outcomes? What aspect of the campus environment do you want to affect and how will you do that?

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We at APCA propose an aggressive approach to purposeful programming, with the goal of aiding retention and matriculation efforts for our institutions. We believe that campus activities programming should be engaging, should incorporate student learning outcomes and also be FUN. Because if it isn’t FUN, the first two don’t matter. The extracurricular is a choice. It’s a choice between spending your time isolated in social media, online gaming or some other distraction and getting involved in your campus and community. We have to be more interesting than the competition to get them to participate.

Campus activities event programming should be aimed squarely at positively affecting retention and matriculation on campuses. Students who are more integrated into the campus community tend to increase their commitment to the institution and are more likely to graduate. (Tinto, 1994) With that in mind, APCA proposes programming training that increases student participation at on campus venues, connects them to the institution at highly engaged levels and encourages the student population to interact in supportive social gatherings.

Events that incorporate learning outcomes like civic engagement, interpersonal and intrapersonal skill development, practical competence, exposure to the humanities and aiding in academic persistence have been designed, and training for those programs will be made available at all APCA conferences and in a limited fashion online for our members. We are also developing assessment models for not only those programs but for our own conferences to ensure our students are absorbing and retaining the instruction on those programs from our conference training sessions.

We are also adjusting to the new realities of increased federal regulation and compliance issues of Title 9, the Clery Act, VAWA, FERPA and HIPAA and other required training by incorporating them into our training at conferences at no additional charge. Beginning this fall in 2015, we will be including Clery act mandated CSA compliance training for staff and students, student government training and more. APCA intends to decrease the cost of training your staff and student leaders by providing as much educational value as possible at our conferences.

In short, we are stepping up to the challenge of utilizing campus activities programming to affect real, measurable change on our campuses and in our student’s academic lives. We view student activities as allies in our institutions efforts to retain students and help them achieve the future that a college degree offers. It is the best investment of our efforts and time.

We look forward to partnering with your institution to create agents of positive change for your campus!

1 Alexander Astin, 1993 - “What Matters in College?

Four Critical Years Revisited) 2 George Kuh and Pike, 2005 - http://cpr.indiana.edu/ uploads/Pike,%20Kuh%20(2005)%20A%20Typology%20 of%20Student%20Engagement%20for%20 American%20Colleges%20and%20Universities.pdf 3 Vincent Tinto, 1994 - Leaving College – Rethinking the Causes and Cures of Student Attrition

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SAVING MONEY!

Mike Wacksman SUNY Cobleskill

WHAT DO YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT BEING ABLE TO PARTICIPATE IN COOPERATIVE BUYING AT APCA?

There is a teamwork mentality in the cooperative buying room. Every advisor/student leader who is committed to co-op buying works cooperatively to find the best deal for everyone involved. Excitement is brought into the room when a 3 in 5, 5 in 7 and higher blocks are formed and everyone involved (buyer, agent, performer) are appreciative of efforts made.

Everyone is a winner when co-op buying is involved!

HOW DOES THE COOPERATIVE BUYING PROCESS BENEFIT YOU AS A BUYER OF ENTERTAINMENT FOR YOUR CAMPUS?

SUNY Cobleskill enjoys co-op buying because when it’s time to leave the regional conference, we have acts BOOKED at amazing prices while saving a significant amount of money. Prior to arriving, we do our prep to set dates in advance, so when it’s time to caucus and eventually co-op, we walk away from the experience happy.

CONFIDENTLY BOOK!

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TEAM BUILDING! Josh Curtin

Georgia Southwestern State University

WHAT DO YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT BEING ABLE TO PARTICIPATE IN COOPERATIVE BUYING AT APCA? I like the ability to work with people in my region on co-op buying. This allows me to reaffirm that I am making the right decisions when it comes with who we wire in the entertainment/ leadership market.

HOW DOES THE COOPERATIVE BUYING PROCESS BENEFIT YOU AS A BUYER OF ENTERTAINMENT FOR YOUR CAMPUS? With the money that I save from co-op buying, I am able to send my board to APCA, allowing me to save money, and learn upcoming trends within the field of student activities. I am also able to give my leaders some leadership opportunities in the process, and travel opportunities that many of my students have never experienced. It is a great eye opening experience for my rural south Georgia students.

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SAVING TIME!

When Life Hands You Lemons, Make Pink Lemonade

By Yonna Pasch, Director of Student Activities, Northwestern State University of Louisiana Sleigh bells, eggnog, holidays and most of all, presents. Who doesn’t love presents? I certainly do; however on a quiet day at my home I received a present that would change my life forever. I received a call from my doctor that the lump I found, was cancer. I was now part of that statistic, I was that 1 woman of 8 that was diagnosed with Breast Cancer.

My family and I were devastated. We went through all the stages of grief. We were shocked, angry, sad, depressed at times, then positive feelings came over us due to one solitary thing.

The gift of family. I had such amazing support from everyone, from co-workers, to church members, to strangers to friends. All of the support that we received was remarkable.

As I mentioned earlier, I received a present from my doctor. Most people would think that receiving such terrible news couldn’t possibly be a gift. Well, I’m the glass is half full kind of girl. When life hands you lemons, make pink lemonade. You never know what impact you make on someone’s life until your life is challenged. I took this as an opportunity to continue to live my life to the fullest and also share my experiences with others. I wanted to show the world that regardless of what you may be facing, with the right attitude and determination, anything is possible. I opened up my cancer journey to anyone.

I answered questions, I educated students about early detection, and I even started a blog to connect to people on a broader stage. My hope was to educate and enlighten people who may think they can’t fight.

So yes, I may be slightly crazy to think that cancer news would be a gift, however, it has opened my eyes, heart and mind to another world. A world were ordinary people make extraordinary and challenging decisions, a world where “I can’t” doesn’t exist. We are all fighters of something, I was able to find out what I could do with a deadly disease…kick it to the curb!

I am very blessed to continue to have the support of so many. Everyday I see something, hear something or see someone that inspired me through my cancer journey and all I can do is smile. We all make a lot of decisions in life, I chose to be positive, I chose to share my journey, and I chose to fight!

October is a month that I will forever keep dear to my heart. Do you dare to wear pink?

Do you fight for something?

BE THE POSITIVE INFLUENCE ON YOUR CAMPUS!

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A New Approach to Enhance & Assess Your Conference Experience Theresa Radley, APCA Northeast Regional Area Coordinator, created an APCA Assessment Tool for APCA Regional and National Campus Events Planning Conferences. Before registering for an APCA event, Theresa meets with the Executive Chair of the Student Activities Board and discusses what the students will learn while attending the event. They open the application process up to any student involved in an organization on campus, not just their Student Activities Board. She has each student apply and reviews each application during the selection process.

Once students are selected, they meet to discuss expectations and a goal for each individual student to achieve throughout the event. Here are a few highlights from Theresa’s assessment tool:

By Theresa Radley, Northeast Regional Area Coordinator

TOOLS OF MEASUREMENT

Ways to measure the students learning outcomes can be done in a variety of ways: • During the Trip 1.) Observation of behavior from professional staff attending 2.) Evaluation- written on a post trip survey 3.) Evaluation- verbal at the final trip group meeting • After the Trip 1.) Produce an example marketing plan for an event 2.) Expression of how their experience has impacted their involvement *All data collected will be used to place students on the rubric that will identify what the student has accomplished by attending this event, and areas of opportunity for further growth and development.

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Learning Outcomes

AFTER ATTENDING THE APCA CONFERENCE, STUDENTS WILL: • Be able to plan and produce an affordable event for the entire Ithaca College campus • Identify different events/practices presented on other campuses

• Plan and produce creative and affordable events for their campus

• Demonstrate new leadership skills to assist their student organizations

• Create networking connections with participants from other schools and agents • Learn new methods to build a strong team unit • Develop unique and creative marketing techniques • Understand methods to utilizing their own campus resources

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Making a

Positive Change

in Your Campus Community

by Del Suggs

Campus community is a vital part of a vibrant school. While we often relate community to meaning our city, our town, or even our neighborhood, campus community is similar. It is that common bond that holds us together.

I think of the sense of community as that feeling of togetherness that brings us comfort. We are all alone in the world, so we strive to form bonds with others to eliminate that sense of feeling alone.

Look at the world around us. Individuals come together to form families. Families extend into clans. Clans join to become tribes. Tribes form villages. Villages grow into towns. Towns expand into cities. Cities link together to create states and countries.

We always seem to be reaching out and extending our bonds.

You’ll find that community is so important, it’s likely in your school’s mission or values.

That’s because a sense of community is vital for productivity, for well30

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being, and for the overall success of the school and its citizens. A lack of community leads to social disintegration, or a break down in the traditional support systems.

Members of a society tend to feel connected, and to look out for each other.

They work together-- and separately- to promote the common good.

The same idea applies to campus community. It’s that feeling of togetherness, that sense that we’re “all in this together.” It often results from tragedy, and you’ll certainly recognize the phrase “We Are Marshall.”

That phrase came about following the plane crash which took so many lives, and reflects the shared loss and reaffirmation. Schools with a strong sense of community seek to

reinforce it, because it leads to powerful bonds. Florida State University coined the term “Seminole Nation” to name its nationwide community of students and alumni.

Humanity, blood drives, food drives, and any other service opportunity. These interactions help students to see faculty as more than just “talking heads” at the front of classrooms.

Community building begins by breaking down barriers. We have dissimilar groups of people on campus-- or they at least they think that they are dissimilar. Students tend to group with their peers, and these peergroups are often based on ethnicity, age, interest, declared major, or other self-identified groups. Breaking down barriers brings these groups together.

And nothing breaks down barriers on campus like student activities.

The most popular organized campus activities all serve to unite various groups of students. Dances, concerts, comedians, interactive events and programs, all of these things bring students together and build campus community.

Reach out to faculty and staff, as well. Barriers need to broken between students, but they also need to broken between the students and faculty and staff.

Consider ways to get your faculty involved with students away from the classroom.

Encourage faculty to serve as advisers to clubs and organizations. Have faculty serve students at informal meal functions like cookouts and midnight study breaks.

Bring faculty and students together for charitable events. Assemble teams for walkathons, Relay for Life, Habitat for

Campus community also means pride in your school. The Beach Boys had an early hit called “Be True To Your School,” and it is a clear reflection of school pride.

If they don’t exist already, create a list of shared campus values. These should be the values that all members of your campus community (students, faculty, staff, alumni, and self-identified) share. I’m talking about values such as integrity, character, service, sacrifice, diversity, unity, and more. These values aren’t exclusive to your campus community, but are the values shared by your campus community.

Publicize and popularize your campus symbols. I don’t mean your mascot or team emblem. Nearly every school has a campus symbol. Look at your school seal or logo.

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mater has three torches as its symbol, each one standing for a different ideal: strength, skill, and character. Identify your symbols, and use them to help your community identify with your campus.

Promote your school colors. Schools with athletic teams often wear the school colors on “game days.” Promote your school colors as a way to identify your community members. You might even declare a School Spirit Day (like you did in high school) in which everyone will wear school colors-even if you don’t have athletic teams.

Establish rituals and ceremonies on campus. Many schools have events like convocations, and use these to share school traditions. At the fall convocation, all new students should learn about the campus history, traditions, and even learn the school alma mater and fight song. It creates an instant bonding with your new students, and brings them together with your existing community.

Provide public recognition for successful and distinguished alumni. The school alumni association may already be doing it, and it’s a great way to keep members aware and involved with your campus community.

You should also establish a means to recognize and honor faculty and students.

How about a “Faculty Member of the Month” and “Student of the Month” award? Present these honors on a regular basis, to keep the concept fresh and up front.

Work to create projects with a lasting value to your campus. If you attend an older, established school, you likely see these 32

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projects all around you. Often there are benches or patios or walkways with a label such as “Gift of the Class of 1988.”

Organize students to contribute to such projects, and to create programs that nurture them. It doesn’t always have to be an expensive building or renovation. It can be as simple as a flower garden. I’ve seen lovely butterfly gardens on campuses with signs that read “maintained by the class of 2005.” It could easily be maintained by this year’s Senior Class, if they simply agreed to do the gardening.

Lastly, consider ways to create community and enhance the community by expanding it. One simple way is to establish scholarship programs.

Scholarships certainly help students by providing the funding they need for school.

But in addition, scholarships also assist in expanding the campus community. Those that contribute to help fund a scholarship feel a bond to the campus. They obviously believe in the mission of the school, and the ability of the school to produce graduates with the qualities they admire.

A strong sense of campus community brings student, faculty, staff, and locals together. It is a bond that produces pride and honor. Community leads to a more successful campus as those members work to better themselves, their fellow community members, and their school.

Contact Del at Del@delsuggs.com

TO BOOK or NOT TO BOOK? SSION!

That is the MI

Advisors share reasons why they book acts and why they don’t.

KEDRICK A. NICHOLAS, M.S. McNeese State University

SETH VANDER TUIG Kirkwood Community College

WHY I DO • Our student leaders were entertained or felt it was a great message for our student body.

• The type of activity makes sense logistically with how our campus operates.

• The per student cost of the event is within range (based on projected attendance for this type of event) • The rider makes sense to what we can provide without more work that what it’s worth.

WHY I DON’T • Our student leaders didn’t feel it would be the right fit on our campus.

• The type of activity doesn’t really fit with what we do on our campus.

• The per student cost of the event is too high (based on projected attendance) • The rider is more work than what it’s worth.

WHY I DO • My students are very receptive to the product they provide.

• They have experience performing at many institutions.

• The agency is easy to work with and very understanding of institutions parameters such as budgets, resources, time factors, etc.

• The performance would be of interest to multiple sectors and cultures of my campus community.

WHY I DON’T • The agent or performer is unprofessional.

• It seems like it would be impossible to negotiate.

• The product is not applicable to the interest of my average student.

• I don’t see any uniqueness.

• I don’t believe I could trust the act alone with my students (mostly males with females).

• Too expensive compared to what is being provided #APCACLT 33