Programs

Programs... if you're anything like me you want a program people will actually show up to and enjoy. You want to avoid that awkward moment when it just you and a couple other RAs at your event. The programs I'm posting I have tried and actually had residents show up to and enjoy. Hopefully they work for you, also feel free to post comments about programs that have worked for you, or how these programs worked for you!

Program Title: It's Out There!
Program Type: Social/ Learning
Program Description:
This program is my favorite and is a program I presented on with a friend of mine at the UNI conference where we received top five honors, so needless to say it works great! The program is like a large scale scavenger hunt. You start by hiding a prize (or something to take the place of a prize) out in an area you want your residents to go to like the guidance center or a unique place on campus that would be cool for them to know about. Then you post clues somewhere everyone participating can see (we have used a Facebook page and a Twitter page) at random times throughout the period of time you want them to search for the prize. Make the clues vague at first and progressively more specific to the location to make the prize hard to find. We have done this on my campus as a campus wide program for two years now and we get about 400 people involved every time. We do videos to create some publicity also signs to get peopel to join the pages we create. Here's an example of last years video...

Want to make fancy food?? But wait all we have is a Microwave...
No worries because you can make some pretty sweet stuff in a microwave! 
My residents like food (I also like food) so I decided to put on a baking program, but this wasn't just any baking program, it was one that allowed them to be involved. I had my residents pin recipes they were interested in and then I found the microwave equivalent of what they wanted. I bought the supplies and we had a night where all we did was make some microwave delicacies! The program went over really well and we got a pretty good turn out.