Academic Programming

Well well well your time has finally come… Muah ha ha!

Sorry, just felt like changing how I started the conversation. Anyways. Focus. Game face.

So you are about to start to planning your next All Area in academics and it has you feeling similarly to Emperor Kuzco here. 

And i'm here to tell you that the building block of Academics actually is a lot broader than a lot of people think.  Whenever we ask someone to plan a program about academics (at Ripon, at Kenyon, at Colostate, at whatever school Jill went to) the first thing that instantly comes up… we all know it; STUDY SESSION WITH PIZZA. Or some sort of variation where students can come do homework in a somewhat relaxed environment. Or maybe we instantly jump to talking about how important it is to go to class. And this isn’t to say that those things are not important to talk about. But I’m guessing it probably has your residents looking a little bit like this? 

So we want to move beyond the simplest form of academic programming and start brainstorming outside of the box. So here are some great ideas that I’ve found about academic programs that have been successful!

1.     What does a liberal arts degree even mean?

A.) See you’re now focusing on the broader context of education; you bring in Jody Roy or Prez Mez to talk about the value of a liberal arts degree.

2.     What is Grad School?

 A.)    Bring in the wonderful people from the McNairs Scholars program to learn about different graduate programs. Learn what the GRE is, how to study, when to start looking. Great program for your sophomores and juniors.

3.     What is text anxiety?

A.)  Do some research about what test anxiety is and how to work through it? You could research ways in which to combat anxiety before an exam. 

4.  Tutor hot spot during finals week

A.) Why don’t you use some of the programming budget and bring in like five                 tutors into your common lounge? During finals week students could come in and have quick access to a tutor in a variety of subjects.

5.) Syllabus planning party 

A.)  This could be a cool opportunity at the beginning of the school. You get all of          your residents together and map out all of the important dates. 

See those are just fives examples that are quick and easy. Don't pigeon hole your programming block to just a "study party," when there is SO many things you can do with this programming block.