SEAHO Report - Spring 2024 - 26

College Engaged Students
By Jillian Webber, Appalachian State University
It is no secret that post-COVID-19, the college students who live on campus have been less involved in the
ways they had been previously. In my experience, students come to campus (and parents/families/supporters
along with them) with an idealized version of what their experience is going to be like, the friends they will
make, and the parties they are going to attend. Housing and Residence Life professionals work hard to
create programs and events that students will love: taking the time to buy the perfect items, snacks, and
displays to lure students out of their rooms. Students, however, do not flock to these programs and we are
struggling to comprehend what we are doing wrong.
Talking to individual students, they tell their Resident Assistants and Hall Directors that they want to make
friends or what their interests are; but when we offer programs designed specifically for community building
and engagement, they walk right by or generally ignore what we are doing. Flyers are not working, the vast
majority of students do not read emails, and they are not willing to be vulnerable in talking to new groups
of people. So how do we meet students' needs, while also being overtly aware of their general avoidance of
social interactions we are offering? I honestly wish I knew and had the perfect solution.
The lack of student engagement in positive community events is one of the most glaring concerns I have
witnessed on campuses around the United States today. More and more, people are questioning the value
of higher education and the cost-benefit analysis looks a lot different than it did a decade or two ago. My
first two years working professionally, post-masters, there was a push for curriculum-based programming,
becoming a Student-Ready Campus, and meeting our students where they were. We took charge and
implemented many high-impact practices. Then, COVID hit the United States and we went into crisis mode. I
would argue that, even four years later, we are still working in this chaotic state.
Students have spent so much time isolated in their own education. They spent the last four years shuffling
between remote schooling, limited in-person education, and then back to a " normal " that many individuals
did not remember or understand. Who we were as a society prior to March 2020 is not a reality that our
college students have a true understanding of. Us, as practitioners, however, think they do and operate
accordingly.
The call we need to make on our institutions is to go back to the drawing board and reevaluate who students
are and what they need. If we immediately address what they want without first addressing what they
need, we are setting them and ourselves up for continued lack of engagement and more disruption to our
communities. If they are coming to our college campuses without the ability to understand what a community
is and who they are as a member of the community and their impact here, they are not going to engage
with us the way we know they need. This is especially important as many states and institutions are attacking
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives that will continue to alienate our most vulnerable populations.
We know, through theory to practice and education, that college is about so much more than an expensive
piece of paper. It is actually the journey to that expensive piece of paper. It is the classes you attend, the
papers you write, the research you do, the friends you make, and the experiences you have. When students
are unable to show up to a space with the social skills to make friends, do not engage in programming
offered, do not attend classes, and use AI to research and write papers - what are they paying for? This is
where we need to reevaluate our engagement techniques. We need to break the ice for them and help them
where they will not help themselves make friends by engaging with others.
Those first six weeks of a semester, especially in the fall, are very important for helping students acclimate to
the realities of living and learning on a college campus. This is not a new theory. We also need to train our
Resident Assistants and Hall Directors to be awkward and vulnerable in order to help our students realize it is
OK to be awkward and vulnerable. We also need to directly address AI: on all levels we need to educate on
proper and improper use of AI.
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SEAHO Report - Spring 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of SEAHO Report - Spring 2024

Contents
SEAHO Report - Spring 2024 - 1
SEAHO Report - Spring 2024 - Contents
SEAHO Report - Spring 2024 - 3
SEAHO Report - Spring 2024 - 4
SEAHO Report - Spring 2024 - 5
SEAHO Report - Spring 2024 - 6
SEAHO Report - Spring 2024 - 7
SEAHO Report - Spring 2024 - 8
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https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2024fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2024summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2024spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2024winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2023fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2023summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2023spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2023winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2022winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2021fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2021summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2021spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2021winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2020holiday
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2020fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2020spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2020winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2019fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2019summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2019spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2019winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2018fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2018summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2018spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2018winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2017summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2017spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2017winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2016fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2016summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2016spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2016winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2015fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2015summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2015spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2015winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2014fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2014spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2014winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/50thanniversary
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2013fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2013summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2013spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2013winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2012fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2012summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2012winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/spring2011
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