Programming Resource Center

Admitted Students Day is always an exciting time – it makes the returners excited for the coming year or nostalgic for the last four years and, personally, I don’t think you could have come on a better day.  Our campus is beautiful all the time but there is something about a spring day that makes it so much better.  Hopefully you’ll be able to experience that more fully next year!

So, are you still trying to make your decisions, newbies?  I admit that our weather is… special… but WM is really awesome, especially our WM community.  I’m sure you have heard about the community a lot already (if you haven’t I can guarantee you will) but it truly makes us unique.  A big part of your early community here will be your freshman hall – really take advantage of these early friendships you make.  They will stay with you.  Also, just as importantly, take advantage of your RA.  They are here to help you transition to college life – whether it is academic or social.  If you have a question or there is an activity you want to do, ask your RA!  We don’t want you to fumble – we want you to love it here as much as we do!

So, once again, welcome!

Look outside: flowers are growing and students are peeping out of their rooms and Swem like the munchkins in the Wizard of Oz, uncertain whether the sunshine is a reality or another cruel joke from the Williamsburg weather gods. It’s April, and while April brings the the possibilities of lounging on the Sunken Gardens or chatting with your friends on the terrace, it also brings two less healthy changes of behavior. The first is the acknowledgment of innumerous final project that you know you should be working on but can’t seem to find the motivation for. Students are burnt out, and unfortunately it takes a lot of energy and focus to get through this last month of schoolwork. That means a lot of excess stress, less sleep, and general unhappiness. The second is the desire to live it up in the remaining days before you part from your friends for this summer. This means more drinking and more careless drinking, and may include other risky behaviors (there’s no denying that some students are going to think participation in 4/20 is a grand idea). As a student, you may be experiencing some of this yourself, but as an RA you’ve almost certainly seen it on your hall or heard of what seems like an unusually high number of write-ups. As an RA, it’s also your responsibility to try and meet your residents’ needs as best you can, and these are needs. Stress relief programs, or advice on how to focus and study more effectively will help the first group I described. Mocktails, a visit from the WM police (did you know you can have them perform a fake arrest?), or other information on drug and alcohol safety may help the second. Check out the Programming board in the PRC (the one next to the poster printer) for a cool programming idea on Alcohol education.

Remember that you can always browse the programming database for inspiration from other RA’s past programs or check out the Programs at Your Fingertips that are next to the Bulletin Boards in a Bag in the PRC.

Let’s be real! When your brain is at capacity with the theories and concepts you have memorized for midterms, it is hard to focus on programming. So, here is an idea for an ongoing, month-long program. This program is doubly efficient as it serves as a bulletin board and a program. It does not require any money from your programming budget.  The program is inspired by a social networking trend—the photo a day challenges! You can call the program the April Photo A Day Challenge.

For the board, you will simply need to print out the image of the challenge. There are several versions for April. The image embedded in this post is just one example. You can find more by doing a Google search—“April Photo A Day Challenge.” Your residents can refer to the board to figure out the theme of the photo for the day. For example, if the first day is “fun,” one of your residents might decide to take picture with you (because you are such a fun RA!) or of one of your programs (because your programs are the best!), or of them frolicking across the Sunken Gardens. After they take pictures, have them send them to you. On a weekly or biweekly (twice a week) basis, you can print them out and post them on the board for everyone to see! That way, the board is evolving throughout the month. If necessary, you can easily change the days on the challenge so that they correspond with the first day that your board is up. It will be fun to see each resident’s different interpretation of the theme.

With that, I think we all need a pep talk! We are a month away from finals and this is the time when things start to get tough. We must not forget, though, that we are William and Mary students and we have done this at least once before. I hope this video makes you smile and puts a little pep in your step. As kid president says, “We were made to be awesome!” Good luck with

Did you ever have that fear when you were a little kid that noone was going to come to your birthday party? Maybe you feared that even your own parents would forget. That’s how it feels when you put hours of work into a program and then nobody shows- not even your own roommate. And instead of just being a five year old nightmare, this time it’s for real. Suddenly the 30 cupcakes you baked and had to resist eating don’t taste so good.

Unfortunately, this scenerio may be all too familiar for upperclassmen RAs, and especially RAs of apartment-style housing. Programs serve the purpose of building and educating a community, but in order for them to work, you need to have residents who are interested in being a part of that community. Otherwise, they’ll just grab some food and run, maybe making some awkward small talk along the way.

The good news? You’re not the first ones to have this problem, and Brian McGowan, a Residence Life Coordinator from Rutgers University has created  a six-step approach to programming specially designed for aparment RAs. If you’re not an apartment RA, don’t stop reading though– these steps have some great ideas for other RAs as well.

1. Collaborate: You’re not alone when it comes to programming, so why try to go at it alone? Collaborating with other RAs, hall council, organizations, or offices on campus both divies up the work of planning for a program and increases attendence by drawing people who are associated with the partner organization

2. Relate: Realize that the people who choose to live in apartments are different from those who live in halls. Find out why your residents decided to live in apartment-style housing and program to that. Is it because of the extra parking? Do a car maintence program. Because of the kitchens? Do a cooking program. Because they’re sophomores and it was the only place they *could* live? They’re probably missing the hall atmosphere, so maybe try a passive program that encourages them to meet the other people in their building (like ghosting, or apartment buddies).

3. Educate: Unlike many other RAs, educational programs may actually be some of your most successful programs rather than the bane of your existence. Those people living in Ludwell aren’t going to want to walk all the way to the Career Center, so see if you can bring someone from the Career Center to them. The seniors living in the Randolph Complex and Tribe Square are freaking out about how to survive in the real world, and so a representative from the Career Center could be helpful to them as well, or perhaps a budget workshop to help them learn how to manage that grad school dept (and FAFSAs and tax returns, and all that other stuff they need to learn how to do, if they haven’t already). Think to yourself “If I were a busy upperclassman, what would I think was useful enough to take time out of my schedule to go to?” and you’ll be golden.

4. Advertise: Things people don’t pay attention to: bulletin boards in stairwells. Location of most of the public and RA posting boards in our apartment housing: stairwells. What this means for you is that you’ll have to be more creative in your advertising as well as more aggressive. If you think you’ve advertised so much that even the maintence people know exactly where and when your program is, advertise more. Put it in e-mails, post it on Facebook (be really annoying and friend all your residents, then post it on their walls), put it in the apartment/hall council email, put flyers on the door hanger of every single door, heck, maybe even create a catchy YouTube video about it. Most importantly, start advertising as early as possible so that residents can put the program in their calendars before they get booked up.

5. Timing: You may have a stellar program idea, but it’s not going to be successful if it’s at a time when no one can come. Try to avoid programming around midterms or days of major campus events (this will help you as well, since who really wants to plan a program when they have 3 exams to study for?) and take into account what the whether might be like when picking a location (program outside as much as possible during late spring and early fall in order to attract passers-by). Of course, also pick a time of day that makes sense for what you’re doing. If you’re serving a meal, choose dinner time. Educational programs should go right after dinner so that they’re not an interruption to homework, and dessert programs go later so that they are that perfect homework break snack.

6. Evaluate: After you have your program, don’t just move onto the next thing. Think about what worked and what didn’t so that you can adjust as necessary for next time. And don’t forget to put it in the programming database as a suggestion for other RAs.

Do these things:

10. Make a snow angel.

9. Make hot chocolate.

8. Play board games.

7. Have a pajama party.

6. Go to the Blue Talon for free hot chocolate.

5. Go to Bruster’s for a free scoop of ice cream.

4. Work on your favorite coloring book.

3. Host a book club.

2. Stay warm.

1. Make a snowman and put a hat on him and watch him run around and play with him and be nice to him.

0. Look at pictures of cats.

After taking a great deal of time to decide what to write about, it hit me, why not blog about ways of expanding your mind: simple steps to thinking outside the box. I feel this blog is definitely applicable to users of the PRC, but in many ways it can be used in the fast moving world of creative thinking. What do designers, engineers, creatives, and futurists do to help themselves think outside the box? Here are a variety of techniques:
First, exercising! Research shows that aerobic exercise helps to unlock our creative potential, so go for a walk or run. Work up a sweat instead of consciously working on your problem and your brain will make the missing connection.
Secondly sleep, sleep, sleep! You’re probably thinking that college permits the exact opposite. Well time management will just have to be another blog entry. Studies show that the way our neurotransmitters behave during dreaming sleep helps our brain make new connections- rack up those REM cycles!
Third, think like a kid! Kids will sometimes throw up some pretty left-field answers to standard questions. If you could reformulate your problem so that a kid could understand it, you might see a different way around it.
Fourth, brainstorm or free- write to find new ideas or links between old ideas. The first ideas we tend to think of are usually the obvious, clichéd ones, so for the innovative solutions, we have to push on through.
Fifth, shack your mind out of its established grooves. Get a hobby and hopefully you might kick-start a mental revolution. Try pottery, knitting, orienteering- or join a book group, a film group, a debating society! Attempt anything that will push your mind in a new direction.
Critics out! When you’ve got a new idea, or you’re setting out on an untested path, it’s easy to be discouraged and give in to negative thoughts. But there is no change without risk, so you’ve got to learn to plough on regardless. Idea generating does not stop in this life. Don’t be discouraged or hesitant to think outside the box. All I ask is for you to take these steps into consideration, and who knows you may knit up your best idea yet!

Source: http://conversations.nokia.com/2012/09/25/expand-your-mind-7-simple-steps-to-thinking-outside-the-box/

I was talking to Goddess Holly yesterday and we came to a conclusion: everyone should be a kindergartner. Not only are kindergartners cute and surprisingly athletic, they are also consistently creative and happy. Seriously, how many kindergartners do you hear say, “I’m just so stressed out. I’ve got 45 minutes of tracing letters to do and then I have to go play outside and be back in time to watch a repeat episode of Dora the Explorer! I just don’t know how I’ll ever get it all done?”  Unfortunately, people have the tendency to think that this mystical magical state of being is somehow undesired and that instead they should go to college and get jobs. Now, while I’m pretty pro-education, the stress that poisons the air when it’s exam time or even almost exam time makes me think that everybody could use a little time travel back to kindergarten. So, without further ado, today’s blog post is a list of 10 kindergarten programs for your residents:

1. Leaf rubbings seem lame but they’re actually awesome

2. The tactile sensation of using your fingers to paint a tree, a dinosaur, or just a whole slew of colorful ridiculousness is incredibly soothing. Until you consider how much money you could make from that finger painting if you were a famous artist.

3. Make paper snowflakes and string them together to decorate rooms or the lounge.

4. Play with play-doh. If you want your residents to be able to keep their play-doh, creations, here’s a recipe for homemade play-doh*

5. Make lava-lamps. Because lava lamps should never go out of style. Ever.*

6. Bubbles! See who can blow the biggest bubble.

7. Make marshmallow/ pom-pom shooters and hit each other with them.*

8. Make and race paper airplanes

9. Play board games. The new Chutes and Ladders is particularly recommended because it has pictures like this:

10. Watch your favorite cartoons. Rugrats is on Netflix, but there are also plenty of sites where you can watch the Nickelodeon classics for free.

So there you have it, 10 ideas that will make boys and girls, freshman and seniors, remember how awesome it was to be little and wonder whose brilliant idea it was to be a double major, write an honors thesis, or just come to W&M in general.

*designates activities for which not all of the necessary materials are available from the PRC.

In the PRC, we are all about figuring out ways to work smarter, not harder. One of the best ways to do this is by creating interactive boards. Instead of working separately on a board and a program, make a board that serves as a month-long program! How does this work? Let me explain.

Critical to your creation of an interactive board is your awareness of the fact that a board that can be manipulated by your residents also serves as a program. In some cases, it is an extension of a program. Even better! You must also be aware of the crafts that we have in the PRC that can be used to make your board more interactive. Here are the top 15 interactive mediums (in no particular order):

1. Velcro
2. Laminate
3. Binder clips
4. Yarn
5. Envelopes
6. Clothes pins
7. Chalk
8. Markers/Sharpies
9. Push pins
10. Sandwich bags
11. Brass fasteners
12. Rubber bands
13. Paper clips
14. Chart/table (made with Publisher)
15. Magnetic strips

I hope that list has gotten the juices flowing. In the off chance that it didn’t, let me share with you a couple ways you would combine these interactive mediums to make your residents do a double-take as they are walking through your hall. I am going to use yarn, a brass fastener, push pins, and a marker. The broad purpose of this board/program will be to strengthen the community that is forming on your halls.

Ask all of your residents to send you a picture of them that they wouldn’t mind being on the board. You could also use their Facebook profile pictures. Put all of the pictures (including one of you) on the board. Make a spinning wheel with a brass fastener. On the wheel there should be a place with each person’s name on it. Orient the spinner on the board. When your residents interact with the board, they will spin the spinner and land on the name of the person that they should try to make a connection with. The connection might be that they both have a younger brother or play the same sport. Using the marker (that can also be attached to the board using yarn or Velcro), the residents can write what the connection they made was.  Using the yarn and push pins, you residents can connect their pictures. Use the push pins to keep the yarn in place. The program extension would be to encourage your residents to have a meal or hang out with the person or people they land on. For example, If Kiara lands on Maisoon, and Maisoon lands on Clay, and Clay lands on Blakely, and Blakely lands on Lauren, and Lauren lands on Kiara, then Kiara, Maisoon, Clay, Blakely, and Lauren could go on a cider walk together. This might help people who would not have hung out together otherwise to get to know each other. They would, of course, decide what they would do to hang out. You could possibly use RA funds to subsidize their hanging out.

To spark some of your own ideas, come to the PRC at some point in the next couple of weeks to play inteRAction. Do you get it? The “R” and the “A” are capitalized to stand for resident assistant! Move through the spaces and land on (an) interactive medium(s) (e.g. Velcro, push pins, etc.), a program type (e.g. survey, game, etc.), and a theme (e.g. futuristic, “pick a decade”, Charlie Brown, etc.).

All of you are about to flip your calendars to the next month. You’ve probably spent your whole life calling the upcoming month “November.” I’m here to tell you it’s true name is Movember (or at least since 2003).

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Election Day is 16 days away! For most students, this will be the first Presidential election in which they are voting. Here is what you should do on Election Day! Scroll to the bottom for Program Ideas!

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