Northwestern Student Affairs launched its Community Kudoboard this past January, working to connect and empower students and faculty in the community. The Kudoboard serves as an online platform where users can create virtual boards or post messages on these boards to recognize students and faculty.
Daniella Feijoo, the assistant director of the Leadership Development and Community Engagement team, said she began creating Kudoboard after conducting an audit of Student Affairs.
“We wanted to find a way we could really encapsulate more students because we know that students are doing such amazing work through engaging with the local community and through leadership development,” Feijoo said.
Feijoo added that Kudoboard has been used in a variety of ways, including campus-wide campaigns, such as the monthly Purple Praise board, or individual student or faculty shoutouts.
Widespread accessibility is an emphasis in the Kudoboard initiative, as anyone with an NU email can contribute to boards, Feijoo said.
“We have an opportunity for every single person at Northwestern to utilize this platform,” Feijoo said. “It’s just been a really fun, awesome way for more people to be engaged in spreading gratitude.”
Assistant Director of Student Organizations and Activities Haley Kretchmer has created two Kudoboards so far and has posted on about eight other boards, she said.
Kretchmer said she encourages community members to use Kudoboard and not “overlook” their gratitude.
“It is a good habit to practice sharing gratitude with others,” Kretchmer said. “Seldom do we actually pause and think about the wonderful things that have happened in our day and the people who have made those wonderful things happen.”
Assistant Director of Employer Strategy at Northwestern Career Advancement Alyssa Thompson said she also appreciates Kudoboard’s convenience and accessibility.
Northwestern Career Advancement employees frequently use Kudoboard for occasions including retirements, new staff arrivals and personal events in employee lives, Thompson said.
“It really brightens your day just to see someone’s mentioned you or even to give a kudo,” Thompson said. “You can really change someone’s whole trajectory of their day just by taking a minute or two to do it.”
So far, Feijoo said the greatest success of Kudoboard has been encouraging people to express more gratitude.
She hopes the initiative will spread even further to community members outside of Northwestern.
“Our goal as a student recognition committee is to connect and support students to give shout-outs more regularly and to build that into the ethos of the campus,” Feijoo said. “We hope that this platform allows that and facilitates it more regularly.”
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