Members of student organizations discussed ways to bring the Northwestern community together and strengthen individual groups during the Student Organization Symposium on Monday evening.
About 30 students gathered in Norris University Center’s Louis Room for the symposium, sponsored by the Center for Student Involvement.
This is the second year the center has offered the workshop, said Sameer Paroo, coordinator of student organizations and leadership development.
The symposium serves two purposes for student groups, Paroo said. Students are able to network with other organizations and also get tools they might not have access to throughout the year.
Helen Wood, associate director of the Center for Student Involvement, emphasized that student leaders should be involved in bringing the NU community together, especially in light of recent hate-motivated incidents on campus.
Speaker Dan Maxwell, who works with Western Illinois University’s student government as director of student activities, challenged NU organizations to establish community building, create leadership models and develop responsibility “in creating and defining the community in which you live.”
“Anybody in your organization has a responsibility to contribute back and move your organization in a forward direction,” Maxwell said.
According to Maxwell, organizations’ members need to invest time in getting to know each other. By creating a more comfortable environment, members will be less apathetic and more involved, he said.
“Imagine what would happen if the people in your organization or workplace took the time to get to know each other,” Maxwell said.
Justine Wardrop, a Communication freshman and freshman class chairwoman for Northwestern Class Alliance, said the workshop gave the class council an opportunity to understand each member’s leadership skills. About 15 members of the freshman council attended the symposium, she said.
“We’re just going to learn more about each other and how we are going to accomplish goals together,” Wardrop said.
During the four-hour workshop, students worked with their own organizations but also talked with other groups about building a sense of community. Participants split into six groups to discuss how NU acts as a community of purpose, openness, justice, discipline, care and celebration.
The most important part of the symposium’s impact will be taking the community-building skills learned from the workshop and applying them to campus life, said Mariola Janik, Education sophomore and representative for the Polish-American Student Alliance.
“It’s good to reevaluate ourselves and go back to our clubs and tell everyone what we’ve learned and, most importantly, take action,” Janik said.
For relatively new groups such as Nightcrawlers, an organization that promotes responsible drinking and discourages drinking and driving, the workshop opened up new perspectives on working together as a group.
“It kind of helps to gain a new perspective and see ways to achieve your goals,” said Allison Sands, a Weinberg senior and Nightcrawlers member.
The organization’s listserv membership includes about 100 people, and the biggest challenge is to incorporate those members, Sands said.
Maxwell stressed that all workshop participants have a duty to connect people to NU and make members of their organizations feel included in the groups’ activities.
“What you’re doing with your organization is taking a large campus such as Northwestern and making it a little bit smaller,” Maxwell said.
