Events such as milk and cookies as well as the MLK Jr. March will be held again this year
The Student Involvement department organizes many programs and events throughout the year to enhance student experiences on campus. These range from a weekly invitation for students to enjoy milk and cookies in the Student Involvement office to working with the city of San Antonio to take part in the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. march in January.
“Our mantra is, “˜Do a few things really well,” said Jamie Thompson, student involvement director. “While we encourage exploration and variety, ultimately we hope students can dive deep into a handful of things so they can become experts in a few areas.”
The Student Involvement department is located in the west wing of the Coates University Center. The office houses several branches relating to organizations and student life programs on campus, including student-edited publications, fraternity and sorority life, student programs and diversity and intercultural relations. The Student Programming Board also has a space within this wing of the building. SPB will be hosting a number of events this month, including a, “Painting with Picasso,” event tomorrow evening at 8 p.m. in the Skyline Room.
Greek Weekend will also begin next week with a Student Involvement sponsored lecture from Kristin Waheed, who will speak about leadership to start off Greek Weekend. The student involvement office is open to student visitors, and students are invited to come in for cookies and milk every Thursday afternoon from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. In the past, after five visits to the event, visitors would receive a ceramic mug. This year, the mugs have been replaced by green cups, to encourage people to bring their cups back in the future.
“We enjoy the opportunity to welcome students, faculty, and staff into our space for community [and] relationship building,” Thompson said. “So far this semester, we have run out of cookies within the first 20 minutes, and we would like to increase our order [to] ensure more guests can grab a snack when they stop by.”
There are events organized by Student Involvement throughout the year, and a schedule can be found on the events calendar on the Trinity website. Annual events include the new student orientation events as well as the Martin Luther King, Jr. march and lecture, which is attended by many people within the city of San Antonio. Last year the lecture featured anti-racism activist and educator Tim Wise, who spoke on the importance of honoring the entirety of King’s statements.
Another annual event held by student-edited publications within the student involvement department is the First Amendment Celebration, which will take place this year during the Communication Day event in February. This year, the First Amendment Celebration program was recognized by the National Association for Student Personnel Administrators with a bronze award in the category that addresses civic learning, democratic engagement, service-learning, community service and related programs, services and administration.
In the past year, the Trinity Diversity Connection Diversity Dialogues on police brutality and transgender student experiences on campus were particularly successful, according to Thompson. TDC has also started a new collaborative project with University Communications called, “Humans of TU,” modeled after other programs around the world such as Humans of New York, which can be viewed on Instagram and Facebook.
The events calendar on the website has listings for events throughout the semester, including those organized by Student Involvement.
“We welcome feedback and ideas,” Thompson said. “Students can e-mail [us], make an appointment with a staff member, or stop by to brainstorm [or] give program feedback.”
