Search Reslife.net				Tweet
		The Passages Program By Joan M. Schmidt, Associate Director of Residence Life Central Michigan University Central Michigan University is located in Mount Pleasant, Michigan in the heart of the Lower Peninsula. CMU has approximately 17,000 undergraduate and graduate students. There are 5,279 residence hall beds and 488 family and single student apartments on campus. The Office of Residence Life reports directly to the Vice President of Business and Finance and not to the Dean of Students as is the case on many campuses. Reporting to the Business and Finance Division works extremely well for our department and has not limited our ability to work in partnership with student service offices. We could not have as successful a program as we have without these partnerships. In the summer of 1999 a group of residence life professionals met with student affairs partner office staff members to discuss tossing out programming and the wellness wheel and putting the educational learning back on the community. From those discussions came the concepts of Community Builders and PASSAGES programs. Bringing faculty and staff in to discuss pre-established topics had been the mainstay for our residence hall educational programming for decades. Staff members dragged their roommates to the lobby so there would be a presentable number of people for the speaker. That is not to say that some speakers were not wonderful and very well received, but it did provide a discussion that perhaps that was not the only way to meet the needs of the residence hall students. Community Builders It has long been the contention of the central staff that having lunch with a room on your floor, taking a group to a play on campus, having an impromptu discussion in the hallway, going to an intramural softball game or a quick trip to a snack shop have been important community builders. These activities may provide more memories and may better benefit residents than a typical speaker. Referred to as "Community Builders", these activities will give credit to staff for taking the time to get to know their residents, for being available to them, eating meals with them, listening to them, and helping residents get to know each other. In essence, they are given credit for doing their job. Our residence hall students need to feel that they matter to others. One strength of Central Michigan University has been the perception that it is a very friendly campus. That friendly, warm feeling especially needs to be felt in the student's home. It is our staff's responsibility to welcome all students and help them feel a true part of their community. Community Builders are certainly an excellent way to begin. Each time a Community Builder is completed it is noted on a Community Builder Registry form. The registry asks for the date of the community builder and a quick synopsis of what occurred. The registry is a helpful tool for both the staff and their supervisor so they can see which residents or which rooms of residents, the staff member is spending more time with and which residents or rooms may need more attention. PASSAGES Programs In addition to the myriad of Community Builders staff are expected to complete, there is still a need for more formalized programming in each residence hall community. Presentations on alcohol and other drug use and abuse, sexual assault and harassment, discipline matters and subjects of educational and personal interests are issues still very much needed. As a result, the unique CMU PASSAGES programming model was designed to assist residents in the many transitions they will encounter during the academic year. PASSAGES is an acronym for selected theme months. They are: P (late August/September) is for Personal programs. Many of our students are away from home and doing many things by themselves for the first time. They need a sense of belonging. They are going though many feelings: homesickness, loneliness, etc. and need programs catered toward their many personal needs. A (October) is for Academic Initiatives. Residents will be preparing for midterms, understanding what it is to be a college student, and getting ready to register for classes. They may need a better understanding of alcohol, should be developing a positive relationship with faculty members, and learning about a million new things. S (November) is for Self-Awareness. Who are your residents becoming, how and why have they changed, or may be suffering from academic pressures, struggling with wellness and nutrition, having suicidal thoughts or feeling tortured because of a sexual assault. S (December) is for Seasonal programs including learning how to celebrate all people. Preparing to go home can be a struggle or students may be dealing with depression or excitement for the holidays and preparing for exams. A (January) is for Acceptance programs. We celebrate the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., celebrate diversity, deal with post holiday blues, resolutions, and perhaps overcoming a poor semester with grades. G (February) is for Growth programs. Special month celebrations, preparing for spring break, community service projects, summer job search, and sibling's weekend. E (March) is for Emotional programs. It includes spring break, internship opportunities, preparing to graduate, managing stress and the emotional changes that have taken place in this transitional year. S (April/early May) is for Send-Off programs. Closure for the year, preparing for final exams, and finalizing summer plans is all part of the send-off. Programs in PASSAGES are very broad and we are very accepting about which programs fit into which categories. For instance, it is very acceptable to present an academic program in a month other than October. The program should be presented when it is needed, regardless of the particular theme month. Every staff member is responsible for one program each month that fits into the PASSAGES categories. If the hall director or staff member believe there is no true feeling of community on the floor, then more programs may be required. Although we are only one academic year into our program we are pleased with the results. Staff understands the PASSAGES concept and has embraced the notion of getting credit for helping to build community. We will do a thorough assessment of the program this summer and determine whether changes need to be made or whether we will keep the PASSAGES program the way it is currently. About the Author Joan M. Schmidt is Associate Director of Residence Life at Central Michigan University. She has both her Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Recreation and Parks Administration from CMU. She has been very active in the ACUHO-I organization and particularly with the Apartments group. She has served on the faculty of the ACUHO-I Standards Institute and the National Housing Training Institute. In July 2000 she will be inducted as ACUHO-I President-elect. I would like to give special thanks to Claudia Kamhi, one of the co-creators of the BASIC (Building a Strong Involving Community) Journal. Without her vision, it would have been much more difficult to develop our programming model.