Hey @BSC!
This past summer we started our adventures into the new land called Twitter. During Orientation we experimented with new uses for Twitter in our office including an Off2BSC Twitter account for freshmen and their families as well as an OL staff account to offer better communication among our staff. Besides our venture, our colleagues in Athletics started@BSCBears and our friends in the Campus Center are tweeting as well.
We had some fun stuff happen:
- we got the chance to instantly communicate with our OL's and used it as a "group text messaging" function as they linked Twitter to their cell phones.
- we recruited some freshmen into campus programs through our Off2BSC links that we publicized.
- we answered questions about Orientation that incoming parents had and gave them quick, concise responses to their questions.
So the question remains, where do we go from here with this? We need to hear from you ON THIS BLOG about whether you are using Twitter and what uses you think it could have for OSIL in the future.
We're tweeting up a storm... but is anyone listening?
Follow us: @BSC_Involved
If we can get our followers going... we'll offer you a Tweducation about the wonderful world of Twitter!
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Bridgewater Beginnings...and endings?
It's the first day of classes! Hooray!!! The campus is buzzing with questions, ideas, interests, and motivation for a great new year. We've been working all summer to prepare for this and now the day is finally here. However, something is unspoken...
I was contemplating the excitement of a new year when spending time with the incoming students at our Bridgewater Beginnings events yesterday. They attended IN DROVES to learn all about this new chapter of their career and the excitement was palpable while we listened to administrators, faculty, and students who offered advice for success. You look around the room and you can tell something new is beginning, but there are also some endings.
We focus a great deal on the excitement of coming to college for freshmen, but we sometimes lose sight of the fact that freshmen are also leaving a lot behind. A chapter in their lives is just starting, but another has ended and I'm sure that for many, managing the closure is tough.
I was contemplating the excitement of a new year when spending time with the incoming students at our Bridgewater Beginnings events yesterday. They attended IN DROVES to learn all about this new chapter of their career and the excitement was palpable while we listened to administrators, faculty, and students who offered advice for success. You look around the room and you can tell something new is beginning, but there are also some endings.
We focus a great deal on the excitement of coming to college for freshmen, but we sometimes lose sight of the fact that freshmen are also leaving a lot behind. A chapter in their lives is just starting, but another has ended and I'm sure that for many, managing the closure is tough.
What do you do about high school friends that want you to come
home every weekend when you just want to stay on campus?What do you do when the person you dated in high school just
doesn't seem to be as fun to hang out with anymore?How do you navigate things at home when your parents just
don't seem to be catching on to how to help you manage your lifestyle in
college?To all of my first year student friends out there, I know that these endings might just be as important to manage as the beginnings have been this week.To all of my experienced students out there, how about some advice for our new Bears? Got any tips on how to manage the high school life that you've left behind?Have a great first week... and post some comments please!
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Summertime and student organizations
I love when my friends ask me, "so, what do you do all summer when the students are gone?"
Summer is a wierd time in OSIL for sure. We are just finishing up the past five weeks of the Orientation "process" because once those seniors walked across that stage, orientation has been our entire world here. All of the administrative staff and all of the support staff in OSIL play some kind of role in pulling off one of the biggest "events" that happen on our campus. This also includes our 31 OL's who we have spent a great deal of "quality time" with for sure!
On Monday night we will bid farewell to the orientation season and then move on to the rest of our summer. We'll be taking a lot of vacation days for sure, but that's mainly because the academic year doesn't provide a lot of time for vacation days to be used.
Other than vacation, summer provides some great time for us to evaluate the previous year and work on annual reports. I know, that sounds about as much fun as watching golf on tv... but it's a great way for us to organize our thinking about the year's past events and accomplishments. We know that some great things have happened this year and I personally look forward to the chance to sing the praises of the hardworking students and staff affiliated with our department.
We're also working on some cool new things for the fall. We already have an upgraded version of the Involvement Network and all of us will be learning about its new features and what that will offer us. (check it out.. it looks COOL). We're working on supporting a new program on campus called the Portfolio of Excellence where 100 freshmen will be selected to be matched with a mentor who will help the student plan their goals for their BSC life. We're also spending some time on a great new wiki site for student organizations that will bring you all of our policy info in an easy to use and easy to update format.
Beyond that, there's time to clean out files, actually take lunch breaks, and get re-energized after gaining some distance from the craziness of the academic year. We'll be around for sure this summer, so please contact us if you want to work on your fall events or if you just want to say hello. We also just bought a new webcam... so we can "meet" with you even if you can't come to campus! We're so techie..aren't we?
We'll be blogging it out all summer... so check back frequently!
Cindy
Summer is a wierd time in OSIL for sure. We are just finishing up the past five weeks of the Orientation "process" because once those seniors walked across that stage, orientation has been our entire world here. All of the administrative staff and all of the support staff in OSIL play some kind of role in pulling off one of the biggest "events" that happen on our campus. This also includes our 31 OL's who we have spent a great deal of "quality time" with for sure!
On Monday night we will bid farewell to the orientation season and then move on to the rest of our summer. We'll be taking a lot of vacation days for sure, but that's mainly because the academic year doesn't provide a lot of time for vacation days to be used.
Other than vacation, summer provides some great time for us to evaluate the previous year and work on annual reports. I know, that sounds about as much fun as watching golf on tv... but it's a great way for us to organize our thinking about the year's past events and accomplishments. We know that some great things have happened this year and I personally look forward to the chance to sing the praises of the hardworking students and staff affiliated with our department.
We're also working on some cool new things for the fall. We already have an upgraded version of the Involvement Network and all of us will be learning about its new features and what that will offer us. (check it out.. it looks COOL). We're working on supporting a new program on campus called the Portfolio of Excellence where 100 freshmen will be selected to be matched with a mentor who will help the student plan their goals for their BSC life. We're also spending some time on a great new wiki site for student organizations that will bring you all of our policy info in an easy to use and easy to update format.
Beyond that, there's time to clean out files, actually take lunch breaks, and get re-energized after gaining some distance from the craziness of the academic year. We'll be around for sure this summer, so please contact us if you want to work on your fall events or if you just want to say hello. We also just bought a new webcam... so we can "meet" with you even if you can't come to campus! We're so techie..aren't we?
We'll be blogging it out all summer... so check back frequently!
Cindy
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