Dorm life fosters friendships, community
Residence leaders look to ‘hook’ students with fake proms, raffles, charity events
Graeme Morrison credits his college residence experience with a lot more than parties and inventive twists on Kraft Dinner.
“Being in residence is probably one of the things that kept me in school,” says the 21year-old Humber College student. “I knew nobody coming in and then instantly, it’s like a big community here. It’s really easy to make friends.”
Morrison liked it so much that after living in residence during his three-year bachelor of music program, he returned to dorm life for his current public relations program. To make the most out of it, Morrison didn’t just sit in his room. He got involved.
“Getting involved is the most important thing,” says Shari Walsh, manager of residence life at Humber’s north campus. “The research in our field demonstrates that when students are engaged, their retention rates are higher, they will typically articulate a deeper connection to the institution just because they have more of a connection to the people and the opportunities.”
Amanda Howlett, a 21-year-old psychology student at the University of Guelph-Humber, is proof.
“(Residence) helped me get involved in my school’s campus,” Howlett says. “I’m president of a club, I’m vice-president of (a residence building), and I sit on the GuelphHumber student association as well. I don’t think I’d have the time to do all that and be a student if I didn’t live in residence.”
Both Howlett and Morrison were motivated to take on leadership roles after having such positive experiences living on campus. In addition to her role as vice-president of a residence building, Howlett is also a member of residence council on the Guelph-Humber campus. Morrison is a residence community assistant at the Lakeshore campus. They’re now tasked with making sure new students are enjoying their experiences — and finding those who aren’t.
“It’s pretty easy to tell in the first few weeks if someone isn’t engaged,” Morrison says. “You can generally spot what we call ‘fringe dwellers’ — people who keep to themselves and stay in their room. We try to learn these people’s needs and what they want early in the year, so it’s easy to cater to their needs.”
Walsh says it’s important to hook students right at the beginning, starting with move-in date and orientation week.
“That’s a crucial time for us. If we miss the ball on that, the research shows us that it’s harder to get them back because they’ve established a routine outside of us,” Walsh says.
And those students who don’t get engaged have a very different experience.
“(Engaged students) usually get more out of their experience because they’re aware of more, versus the students who are commuting and don’t have that opportunity to connect, or those residence students who just don’t leave their suites and choose not to engage in their community,” Walsh explains.
“There’s a common myth that as soon as you live in residence, you’re automatically going to have this super engaged experience,” she adds. “Unfortunately that’s not the case. You as a student still need to choose to go to the program, choose to interact with your community members.” To boost engagement and a sense of community, student leaders such as Howlett and Morrison offer programs and events — Morrison says there about 240 during the school year at the Lakeshore campus — to bring students out. Past events include fake proms, raffles and charity events. Turnout varies from event to event, but the fact that opportunities exist is what’s important. “The philosophy we have is that as long as one person shows up and has a good time, then it’s a successful event,” Morrison says.
Building a sense of community and interaction is something Humber does well, Walsh says.
“It’s an all-hands-on-deck approach to student engagement,” she says. “Whether that’s part-time student staff all the way through to deans and vice-presidents — everyone is involved. They might not be at the 12 o’clock movie night, but there are questions on how it went.”
“That really speaks volumes to how engaged our faculty and staff are,” says Walsh, “which translates to positive student experiences.”