Hood dorm events

By Josh Wagner

Hood College students have several opportunities to engage with their peers through dorm-hosted events, including social gatherings and game nights.

Resident Assistants are at the heart of this effort, organizing events that bring students together in creative and meaningful ways.

Taylor Gist, associate director of Residence Life, said, “These events are across the entire spectrum. It can be anything with the Hood programming model: hope, obligation, democracy, and social.”

One of the most popular events this spring semester was a bingo night hosted by the RAs of Coblentz, Meyran, and Shriner Halls.

Gist said, “I can say that all of the RAs from Coblentz, Meyran, and Shriner collaborated together and put on a bingo night. The Pergola Connect stated that there were a number around 60 attendees.”

Gist said she was excited to see the RAs collaborate on this event. “They came together, put this together, executed it beautifully, and you see so many folks come,” she said. “It’s not an easy thing to do.”

The key to creating successful events is finding a balance between the structured Hood programming model and understanding what the students are interested in through interaction, she said.

Gist said: “All of our RAs are expected to program specifically for their floor and building residents. They are required to do at least two floor programs a month. They collaborate with other RAs, and outside of that, they are free to continue to program.”

One of the most recent events was the chess tournament hosted on the second floor of Coblentz Hall on Thursday, March 6. About 30 students showed up for this event.

Gist reflected on how this idea came about.

“Two of my RAs, just through having conversations with their residents, found out there is a common interest in chess. It started as something informal, and they realized it was generating more interest, so they decided to make a program to meet the needs of their residents.”

The chess tournament was open to the public and brought together students of all skill levels.

Gist said, “Our RAs are determined to come up with ideas to not only reflect what the residents are interested in, but they’re also trying to anticipate and respond to student needs as the year progresses.”

This constant checking-in from the RAs helps build trust and, more importantly, a community at Hood College through communication, she said.

Planning these events comes with challenges as well, Gist said.

From coordinating schedules to ensuring enough participation, the RAs sometimes struggle with getting attendees at a consistent rate, especially when students have busy academic workloads or conflicting commitments.

Gist said: “One of the greatest challenges I get back as a supervisor is, we were hoping for more people to attend, but this was happening in their lives, and we understand why the attendance wasn’t exactly what we were hoping it to be. It can happen the opposite as well.”

But sometimes, it is not about the numbers; it’s about building a connection or relationship, even if one student shows up, she said.

“I always remind the RAs that we don’t measure success in numbers,” Gist said. “We measure success in how we have been able to build community or build a relationship. If one person shows up, that’s a success to me because it means you have an opportunity to talk to someone.”