Those of you who've followed my blog for a while or actually know me in real life know that 2009 marked the year of the first Invisible Children Challenge - and it was EPIC (to use a typical "Invisible Children" word...seriously, just watch some of the live feeds and videos...they say EPIC every two seconds...haha).
I'm trying to re-create that magic this Spring by hosting my second and this University's first Invisible Children Challenge. We're asking students (student organizations, residence hall floors, area councils, etc.) to form teams that will compete to see how can be most successful in their awareness and fundraising campaigns. You can get points for showing the Invisible Children documentaries, organizing fundraisers and book drives and supporting campus-wide Invisible Children initiatives.
Oh, for those of you who aren't familiar with Invisible Children: it's an organization that tries to raise awareness about the longest running war in Africa and free Joseph Kony's child soldiers. (http://www.invisiblechildren.com)
But anyway; the Challenge is supposed to kick off on February 1 and then goes until April 1, where it'll end with the traditional Benefit Concert. And as Feb. 1 gets closer, I'm getting more and more nervous. So far, we've got two teams; well, at least there's two teams that I know about even though they still need to fill out the registration form. My goal is to get at least 10 teams. That's what we had last time. And yes, granted, last time, a lot of teams didn't form until half-way through the competition and about a month prior to the Benefit Concert, but still.... This waiting is driving me crazy. I just want to know that I'll have enough teams and that this event isn't going to flop. So I spent quite a bit of time this weekend sending individualized e-mails to student organizations (service and social justice organizations, club sports - since those have to do community service, and anyone else who's mission slightly relates to Africa or human rights); I managed to send 64 e-mails in the past 24 hours. So now it's back to waiting. Yikes. I'm not a very patient person...haha.
Please keep your fingers crossed for me that we'll reach my goal of 10 teams; and preferably sooner rather than later.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Friday, January 21, 2011
Trying to be proactive
It's been an interesting week.
The residence hall opened on Sunday, but for some reason, some of our students showed up on Saturday and - for even less explanable reasons - their ID cards worked and so they got into the buidling and started moving back in. At first I was trying to figure out who was here but there were too many, so eventually I just gave up.
Sunday night was ridiculous in the building. I walked around taking pictures of RA's bulletin boards and name tags and I had to stop by a ton of rooms to ask them to quiet down. Maybe it was the excitement about being back; maybe the fact that we didn't have classes on Monday thanks to MLK Jr. Day - either way, it wasn't the way I wanted to start the semester. The week didn't improve much. Students throwing up in the bathroom, a bulletin board being vandalized, comments being made about RAs (after they tried to remind students of policies in the residence halls), and then last night we had quite a few documentations.
I spent all day today meeting with students; most of those meetings weren't in response to documentation but just focused on students on floors that I'm concerned about - proactive meetings. ;)
I tried to find a balance between "putting my foot down" but also giving them the benefit of the doubt and trying to get them to "want" to respect the policies in the future. I don't believe into scaring students into abiding to policies; I don't think it works and that's now how I would want to be treated - so I won't treat students that way. Instead I tried to explain to them what my concerns were, made it clear that I wasn't accusing them or charging them with anyone but that I wanted their help in addressing these concerns. I guess we'll see if it works...
The residence hall opened on Sunday, but for some reason, some of our students showed up on Saturday and - for even less explanable reasons - their ID cards worked and so they got into the buidling and started moving back in. At first I was trying to figure out who was here but there were too many, so eventually I just gave up.
Sunday night was ridiculous in the building. I walked around taking pictures of RA's bulletin boards and name tags and I had to stop by a ton of rooms to ask them to quiet down. Maybe it was the excitement about being back; maybe the fact that we didn't have classes on Monday thanks to MLK Jr. Day - either way, it wasn't the way I wanted to start the semester. The week didn't improve much. Students throwing up in the bathroom, a bulletin board being vandalized, comments being made about RAs (after they tried to remind students of policies in the residence halls), and then last night we had quite a few documentations.
I spent all day today meeting with students; most of those meetings weren't in response to documentation but just focused on students on floors that I'm concerned about - proactive meetings. ;)
I tried to find a balance between "putting my foot down" but also giving them the benefit of the doubt and trying to get them to "want" to respect the policies in the future. I don't believe into scaring students into abiding to policies; I don't think it works and that's now how I would want to be treated - so I won't treat students that way. Instead I tried to explain to them what my concerns were, made it clear that I wasn't accusing them or charging them with anyone but that I wanted their help in addressing these concerns. I guess we'll see if it works...
Thursday, January 20, 2011
New shift for HDs?
Next year, new Hall Directors here are going to be asked to work a 12-8 pm shift (instead of the typical 9-5) and I think it's most brilliant idea EVER. And not just because I'm not a morning person - let's be honest, those hours in the office in the morning can be good to get some paperwork and other administrative tasks done but how many students do you really see before noon? If students are out, they are eating breakfast or are going to class. They don't want to hang out and socialize; they don't want to have a long conversation with their Hall Director about their college experience.
Now, my days usually start around 9-ish. (Our office is already pretty flexible with that and there are days I don't make it to the office until a little later.) I work on random things, have some 1:1's with RAs or go to meetings. Things tend to pick up around lunch, which is why I rarely make it to the apartment for lunch - usually it's more a throw-something-in-the-microwave-and-it-eat-in-the-office lunch. More meetings, 1:1's and some student interactions in the afternoon. depending on how starving I am and how long my night will be, there may be a dinner that resembles lunch or I may decide to wait until after I get done. And then, so around 6 pm, it feels like my day really starts. Student organization meetings, staff meetings, student interactions in the building, my office or at programs; roommate mediations rarely happen before 6 pm because for students it' just more convenient to do it after they get done with classes. I try to avoid having Community Standards meetings after hours but sometimes it's just not avoidable.
Mondays, right now, I usually get done around 8:30 pm - though now that Monday Movie Nights are starting up again, I may go to some of those, which would then extend my work day until 10 pm on Mondays. Tuesday, I never get done before 10 pm before at 6 pm I go to RHA meetings (every other week) and from 8:30-10 pm I have Area Council meetings. Wednesdays, it's staff meetings from 7-9 pm and then our Global Council meetings from 9 until we get done (usually around 10 pm). Thursdays, it could be 8 pm if there isn't a program (since I have office hours a little later on Thursday and then usually an Invisible Children meeting from 7-8 pm). And Fridays is really the only day I leave the office at 5 pm.
And when I get home late at night, it's not like I can just crash and go to bed. I just spent hours with students - high-energy - I need some time to calm down, relax, have some quality me-time before I'm ready for bed. And that means I rarely get to sleep before at least 1 if not 2 am. And then getting up at 8 am is simply torture. So yeah, later shifts - that would be HEAVEN and I really think more schools need to start doing this.
Now, my days usually start around 9-ish. (Our office is already pretty flexible with that and there are days I don't make it to the office until a little later.) I work on random things, have some 1:1's with RAs or go to meetings. Things tend to pick up around lunch, which is why I rarely make it to the apartment for lunch - usually it's more a throw-something-in-the-microwave-and-it-eat-in-the-office lunch. More meetings, 1:1's and some student interactions in the afternoon. depending on how starving I am and how long my night will be, there may be a dinner that resembles lunch or I may decide to wait until after I get done. And then, so around 6 pm, it feels like my day really starts. Student organization meetings, staff meetings, student interactions in the building, my office or at programs; roommate mediations rarely happen before 6 pm because for students it' just more convenient to do it after they get done with classes. I try to avoid having Community Standards meetings after hours but sometimes it's just not avoidable.
Mondays, right now, I usually get done around 8:30 pm - though now that Monday Movie Nights are starting up again, I may go to some of those, which would then extend my work day until 10 pm on Mondays. Tuesday, I never get done before 10 pm before at 6 pm I go to RHA meetings (every other week) and from 8:30-10 pm I have Area Council meetings. Wednesdays, it's staff meetings from 7-9 pm and then our Global Council meetings from 9 until we get done (usually around 10 pm). Thursdays, it could be 8 pm if there isn't a program (since I have office hours a little later on Thursday and then usually an Invisible Children meeting from 7-8 pm). And Fridays is really the only day I leave the office at 5 pm.
And when I get home late at night, it's not like I can just crash and go to bed. I just spent hours with students - high-energy - I need some time to calm down, relax, have some quality me-time before I'm ready for bed. And that means I rarely get to sleep before at least 1 if not 2 am. And then getting up at 8 am is simply torture. So yeah, later shifts - that would be HEAVEN and I really think more schools need to start doing this.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Islamophobic much?
Wow, it's really been a while since I last posted. But you know how it gets - professional staff training, then getting ready for the RAs to come back, then the RAs are here and you spend your days training them and your evenings preparing for more training sessions and then suddenly it's time for opening and you're running around, handing out keys, trying to memorize the names of as many new students as possible, answering questions of new exchange students until 11 pm, making plans for student organization executive board retreats and and and.
But that's not what I want to talk about now because I have something else I need to get off my chest. One of my friends recently posted this article from the Blaze on his Facebook Wall: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/report-eu-school-calendars-scrub-christian-holidays-keep-muslim-ones/
Now clearly, forgetting to include Christian holidays in the new EU calendar was a pretty dumb mistake. The tiny "evil" part of me thinks it may serve all these Christians right for feeling what every othe religion had to feel like for years when they were excluded in calendars; but that kind of thinking and behavior doesn't get us anywhere and so the "good" part of me strongly believes that if we include religious holidays, we should try to include ALL of them - or at least as many as possible and clearly not forget one of the dominant religions in the EU.
But that's all not really point. When I was reading this article, the one thing that really made me mad was how the fact that Muslim holidays were included was emphasized. Start with the headline: "Report: EU School Calendars Scrub Christian Holidays, Keep Muslim Ones" - no, WRONG! On so many levels. They didn't just keep Muslim ones - they kept Jewish, Hindu and Muslim ones. Why are we singling out Muslim ones?
And it's not just the headline. Here's how the article starts,"A new 2011-2012 school calendar for children published by a branch of the European Union has omitted references to Christian holidays but has kept its references to prominent Jewish, Hindu, and even Muslims holidays, according to a Catholic news outlet." Was it really necessary to write "...and even Muslim holidays."
Islamophobic much? Jeez, if you're angry that they forgot the Christian holidays, that's one thing - but then be angry that they forgot those and included all of the others. The last thing we need in this world is more hatred against Muslims. We got enough of that already.
But that's not what I want to talk about now because I have something else I need to get off my chest. One of my friends recently posted this article from the Blaze on his Facebook Wall: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/report-eu-school-calendars-scrub-christian-holidays-keep-muslim-ones/
Now clearly, forgetting to include Christian holidays in the new EU calendar was a pretty dumb mistake. The tiny "evil" part of me thinks it may serve all these Christians right for feeling what every othe religion had to feel like for years when they were excluded in calendars; but that kind of thinking and behavior doesn't get us anywhere and so the "good" part of me strongly believes that if we include religious holidays, we should try to include ALL of them - or at least as many as possible and clearly not forget one of the dominant religions in the EU.
But that's all not really point. When I was reading this article, the one thing that really made me mad was how the fact that Muslim holidays were included was emphasized. Start with the headline: "Report: EU School Calendars Scrub Christian Holidays, Keep Muslim Ones" - no, WRONG! On so many levels. They didn't just keep Muslim ones - they kept Jewish, Hindu and Muslim ones. Why are we singling out Muslim ones?
And it's not just the headline. Here's how the article starts,"A new 2011-2012 school calendar for children published by a branch of the European Union has omitted references to Christian holidays but has kept its references to prominent Jewish, Hindu, and even Muslims holidays, according to a Catholic news outlet." Was it really necessary to write "...and even Muslim holidays."
Islamophobic much? Jeez, if you're angry that they forgot the Christian holidays, that's one thing - but then be angry that they forgot those and included all of the others. The last thing we need in this world is more hatred against Muslims. We got enough of that already.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
What should my priorities be?
The new year has started and with it our professional staff training. The last few days have been filled with intense, heated debates. I like to challenge things and I like debates, but I often feel like we talk in circles and we get stuck on issues that are outside of our control. And that's gotten me thinking about what my priorities should be - what should be the things I'm going to fight for and I'm going to try to influence/change.
I want them to be things that I will actually be able to influence - and that should be within my control. I don't kid myself by thinking that I will change our Community Standards process, for example - I don't work in that office and while I am involved in this process and get to fill out lots of lovely paperwork for it, there are other professionals in that office who take care of all this and I trust that they know what they're doing...probably a lot better than me because I'm not a Community Standards person. ;)
I think I want to make Learning Communities one of the areas I focus on. I've kind of been thrown into Learning Communities anyway since one of the two in my building doesn't have a faculty director; I've had to help out with it more than what the involvement of a Hall Director would usually be and that's helped me get a pretty good understanding of Learning Communities here. I think we have some great things: more faculty involvement and leadership than I've seen at some other programs, an office that works with first-year programs and learning communities. But I think we're also lacking some important things: clear delineation of who is responsible for what in the Learning Community, a lot of confusion on staff's side (Hall Directors and RAs) about how they could support their Learning Community. And that's where I'd like to come in. I think we can improve the relationships that exist between the different players in the Learning Communities. I think we need to focus on planning things earlier and in more detail; then we could be more intentional and we could split up the work more effectively between the different players. I also think we can increase the student leadership within the communities. Some of the communities (my two included) have returning students that live in the community. We hope that these students will take on a leadership role in the community and help to carry on traditions. This happens sometimes, but at least in my communities I've seen more of my first-year students involved and the returners are just "there" - or they support programs and initiatives but not many are really spearheading anything. And I'm not blaming the students; I think we haven't set up systems and processes that allow them to take on leadership roles. Very few student leaders (especially at a sophomore level) will feel comfortable to take the initiative and just make things happen. But if we give them a title and some additional training, they'll be there and they'll make great things happen.
I've also been thinking about my involvement in student leadership, specifically the Residence Hall Association. This is the first year since I've started college that I haven't been either involved with RHA or NRHH. And I miss it. I haven't necessarily missed it as much as I thought; I've been too busy for that. And my learning community and other student organizations have taken up a lot of that time and provided me with that student leader contact; but when I think about it, I do really miss it. I'd love to be a little more involved next year. In the Fall, I've made a point of going to RHA meetings, partially to make sure I know what's going on and how things are done now (lots has changed from the days when I was the RHA advisor here), partially just to get to know the RHA executive board and start building relationships with them.
I'm still stuck on our programming model and how I think it could be improved. I just struggle with the fact that, if you asked me right now, I couldn't tell what we, as a department, want our students to learn from living in the residence halls. Yes, we want them to build relationships and learn how to build relationships and that's great and really important - but there should be more.... So yeah, haven't given up on that one yet.
****
I'm also, once again, going to try to make having a personal life a priority. It seems like every Spring semester, I try to do that. In the Fall, I just get too busy. And with having moved the past two years, there was too much to do with settling in and adjusting. I keep telling myself that once I stay in one area for longer, I'll manage to have a personal life even in the Fall. Wishful thinking? Ha. Maybe.
Anyway, I'm definitely planning a few weekend trips to visit friends. I just wish they lived a little closer. Buying all these plane tickets is going to get freakin' expensive. Not that I don't make enough money; but I have this thing for saving money. For what, I'm not sure. Lately I've been telling myself it's for my daughters' college fund. LoL. Just need to have those daughters first. And I know it'll be girls because I wouldn't know what to do if I had a son. He'd have to become a professional dancer, because if he starts talking about football and baseball I'll be lost. Haha.
Alright, it's time to crawl into bed, read for a little while and then call it a night. More training tomorrow.
I want them to be things that I will actually be able to influence - and that should be within my control. I don't kid myself by thinking that I will change our Community Standards process, for example - I don't work in that office and while I am involved in this process and get to fill out lots of lovely paperwork for it, there are other professionals in that office who take care of all this and I trust that they know what they're doing...probably a lot better than me because I'm not a Community Standards person. ;)
I think I want to make Learning Communities one of the areas I focus on. I've kind of been thrown into Learning Communities anyway since one of the two in my building doesn't have a faculty director; I've had to help out with it more than what the involvement of a Hall Director would usually be and that's helped me get a pretty good understanding of Learning Communities here. I think we have some great things: more faculty involvement and leadership than I've seen at some other programs, an office that works with first-year programs and learning communities. But I think we're also lacking some important things: clear delineation of who is responsible for what in the Learning Community, a lot of confusion on staff's side (Hall Directors and RAs) about how they could support their Learning Community. And that's where I'd like to come in. I think we can improve the relationships that exist between the different players in the Learning Communities. I think we need to focus on planning things earlier and in more detail; then we could be more intentional and we could split up the work more effectively between the different players. I also think we can increase the student leadership within the communities. Some of the communities (my two included) have returning students that live in the community. We hope that these students will take on a leadership role in the community and help to carry on traditions. This happens sometimes, but at least in my communities I've seen more of my first-year students involved and the returners are just "there" - or they support programs and initiatives but not many are really spearheading anything. And I'm not blaming the students; I think we haven't set up systems and processes that allow them to take on leadership roles. Very few student leaders (especially at a sophomore level) will feel comfortable to take the initiative and just make things happen. But if we give them a title and some additional training, they'll be there and they'll make great things happen.
I've also been thinking about my involvement in student leadership, specifically the Residence Hall Association. This is the first year since I've started college that I haven't been either involved with RHA or NRHH. And I miss it. I haven't necessarily missed it as much as I thought; I've been too busy for that. And my learning community and other student organizations have taken up a lot of that time and provided me with that student leader contact; but when I think about it, I do really miss it. I'd love to be a little more involved next year. In the Fall, I've made a point of going to RHA meetings, partially to make sure I know what's going on and how things are done now (lots has changed from the days when I was the RHA advisor here), partially just to get to know the RHA executive board and start building relationships with them.
I'm still stuck on our programming model and how I think it could be improved. I just struggle with the fact that, if you asked me right now, I couldn't tell what we, as a department, want our students to learn from living in the residence halls. Yes, we want them to build relationships and learn how to build relationships and that's great and really important - but there should be more.... So yeah, haven't given up on that one yet.
****
I'm also, once again, going to try to make having a personal life a priority. It seems like every Spring semester, I try to do that. In the Fall, I just get too busy. And with having moved the past two years, there was too much to do with settling in and adjusting. I keep telling myself that once I stay in one area for longer, I'll manage to have a personal life even in the Fall. Wishful thinking? Ha. Maybe.
Anyway, I'm definitely planning a few weekend trips to visit friends. I just wish they lived a little closer. Buying all these plane tickets is going to get freakin' expensive. Not that I don't make enough money; but I have this thing for saving money. For what, I'm not sure. Lately I've been telling myself it's for my daughters' college fund. LoL. Just need to have those daughters first. And I know it'll be girls because I wouldn't know what to do if I had a son. He'd have to become a professional dancer, because if he starts talking about football and baseball I'll be lost. Haha.
Alright, it's time to crawl into bed, read for a little while and then call it a night. More training tomorrow.
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