College life has so much more to offer then just registering for classes or experiencing living outside of home for the first time. Every day there are many ways for students to get more involved and engaged in the campus community by joining or starting a club, attending events, watching a theater performance, going to a sporting event and so much more. Of course, with all these options, students can feel overwhelmed with where they should start. That is why Kean University has places like the Involvement Center and their events like the Involvement Games to help students out.
The Involvement Center is located in the Miron Student Center (MSC), Room 303. There, people will find involvement specialists ready and willing to show them how to get involved on campus.
Bria Williams, a senior involvement specialist for programming and outreach said, "We define involvement as participation, membership or leadership of a student on campus and in this way students can really control how they get involved should they choose to do so."
The main goal of the Involvement Center is to get students on their way to finding what interests them on campus in the hope that they continue on that journey after they have been pointed in the right direction. One of the big ways the Involvement Center gets students involved and engages the student groups is by hosting Involvement Week and Involvement Games events.
Traditionally, these two weeks come on the heels of each other, which is why they are often thought of as the same event. In reality, they are two separate events designed to get the Kean community involved on campus. Involvement Week comes first, usually during the third week of each semester. This semester it was from Sept. 15 to Sept. 21. During this week, the Involvement Center had two different ways of getting students involved, either through programming or outreach.
Programming was accomplished through events and activities that got students involved, but this semester they decided to focus especially on outreach by tabling. During tabling, involvement specialists met students one on one and helped the students find places they would enjoy spending their time.
Each day of Involvement Week, they had a different activity at the tables for students to participate in and enjoy. This year they had events like Involvement Trivia and Minute to Win it. Students were able to win prizes for participating in or winning games.
After Involvement Week ended came Involvement Games. While Involvement Week is geared more toward the students, Involvement Games is focused on student groups and organizations competing against and bonding with each other. This semester, Involvement Games will be from Monday, Oct. 21 to Saturday, Oct. 26.
There are point systems involved in these games, where people who participate can get into either first, second or third place. Participation and winning the games is the number one way to earn points for your team.
Points will be calculated at the end of Involvement Games and prizes will be given to the first three winners of the games. Prizes include $500 toward an organization's promotional items for first place winners, $200 toward food for a group event for second place winners and a paid for pizza party for third place winners.
The more Involvement Games events student groups win, the better their chances of getting first place. This year there will be a mix of physical as well as strategic games, so no one should feel like they will be unable to participate. This year's games can be found on Cougar Link, but a few of the games people can look forward to are an Adventure Course on Monday, Oct. 21, on the MSC Green from 12 to 4 p.m. and a Deal or No Deal competition on Tuesday, Oct. 22, in the MSC, Room 303 from 12 to 8 p.m.
To participate in any of the games, students may register by visiting the Involvement Games in MSC, Room 303
Getting involved on campus can be fun if one knows where to look and what they are looking for. The Involvement Center is the gatekeeper to helping people be more involved on campus, so joining of this upcoming Involvement Games is a great idea. It is a time not only to see what the Kean campus has to offer, but also a time to make friendships, professional connections and have a fun time.
