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Got Pride? An Initiative to Support Athletic Teams in Competition While Promoting Community Pride
By Kim Jones, West Virginia Wesleyan College
Creating a sense of community is vital to a residence hall environment. How you go about creating that community and how you view that community is essential to your success. Quite often we as housing and residence life staff take a very traditional approach to programming by offering activities in the residence halls that will promote interaction among residents. These approaches are tried and true. However, striving to be innovative and viewing community outside the confines of the residence hall can aid us in our effort.
West Virginia Wesleyan College is a private liberal arts institution located in the foothills of north central West Virginia. Wesleyan is a residential campus and 85% of the 1500-fulltime students live in one of the 14 campus residences. Wesleyan has a long tradition of competing both within the classroom and within the athletic arena. The student athletes represent a significant number of our residents and serve as members of our 15 collegiate Division II teams.
This past spring the staff within the Department of Housing and Residence Life piloted a new way of creating community within the residence halls. Got Pride? Bring It! is an initiative designed to support athletic teams in competition while promoting community pride. The program is being implemented in its entirety this academic year. By bringing residents together and participating in an event that incorporates campus spirit and pride we are able to support our teams while promoting positive interactions among residents.
Letters of invitation were sent to the coaches of the athletic teams suggesting their participation in the Got Pride? Program. Coaches were asked to identify one game where their team might benefit from additional audience representation and one that might be of particular interest to the spectators.
A calendar of Got Pride? Events were established by May and letters of confirmation were sent to the coaches. Publicity includes articles in the summer mailings to students along with posters and email notices prior to each event.
The Community Development Committee within the Department of Housing and Residence Life assist in the coordination of the events. Prior to each event the Director of Housing and Residence Life and the Program Assistant meet with the coach or team representative. They offer a proposal regarding the game’s activities including food, halftime activity, crowd promotion and giveaways. Committee members are given tasks such as registration, food preparation or crowd participation for the event.
The Community Assistants (RA’s) for each of the residence halls are responsible for promoting attendance. Prizes are awarded to the residence hall floor and building with the greatest number of residents in attendance at each event.
Over 400 students attended the first Got Pride? event of the year as the Men’s Soccer team championed a win over Wingate of North Carolina. Hot dogs and frozen lemonade were available. Got Pride? T-shirts, a coveted prize, were thrown in the crowd to spectators showing exceptional spirit. A tricycle race was held during half time and the winner received a $25 gift certificate to the bookstore along with a trophy.
Since the kick off of Got Pride? students have been seen wearing their Got Pride? t-shirts around campus. Attendance at athletic events has increased. Most importantly, the interaction among the residents who attend the events together has continued within their residence hall community. By recognizing a resource within our campus community we were able to strengthen the spirit of community within our residence halls.