Miscellaneous

Hog Tees

For our Welcome Week activities this year the Chancellor wanted to add a few new “wow” events to the schedule that would make the new students feel part of the University. No additional funding came with this request. We began searching for existing resources and decided to call on those leftover t-shirts in everyone’s storage! Student Affairs offices donated 1,000 t-shirts left over from previous years’ programming. We set up tables on our mall lawn, divided the t-shirts by sizes, and created a swap meet! For $1 students could purchase a University t-shirt to start their college collection. All proceeds collected were donated to a family shelter in the community.

The event was scheduled to last two hours but finished in 90 minutes as students loaded up on tees. Many asked if we would be there all week and some even bought shirts as a donation or in place of doing laundry. Connecting the swap with a local non-profit allowed many students to donate to their new community and many chose to let us ‘keep the change’ on their larger bills. We used resources we had to make signs and capitalized on joint Welcome Weeks advertising for the event - bringing our total expenses to $0.

Arbor Day Program at Texas Tech

Arbor Day at Texas Tech University serves as a good example for others. Arbor Day has been celebrated regularly on campus since 1938 when horticulture professor O. B. Howell received permission from President Bradford Knapp to hold a tree planting event on the dusty campus. 20,000 trees were planted by students and faculty on that first Arbor Day and the tradition continues to this day. Arbor Day is the one time of the year where everyone on campus comes together to celebrate Texas Tech and what a beautiful campus we have. It’s the one occasion where all of the organizations – Greek, academic, multicultural, even (academic) departments – are out planting side by side.

Today the annual event includes planting flowers and sod, as well as trees. It also builds community and school pride. The observance begins before noon with the band playing, short speeches, and recognition of various campus organizations for their accomplishments during the school year. In addition to the ‘work’ of planting, there is food served by volunteers, free t-shirts and the opportunity for students, staff, faculty and town folks to interact informally in an enjoyable and productive way.

Most recently, a number of organizations have joined forces to promote a greener environment with a week of events leading up to the Arbor Day Celebration. Alternative Transportation Day; Energy Conservation & Sustainability Day; Water Conservation Day and Recycling Day have each been added to the schedule to celebrate the importance of taking care of our environment.

Strengths Round 2

The purpose of the Strengths Round 2 workshops is to offer students new ways to have conversations about strengths from perspectives that they have not considered before. Through dialogues about pop culture, gender, multiculturalism, careers, and much more, students who attend these free programs can understand their strengths in new and different ways. Each workshop has its own unique focus, but all are fun and provide numerous activities and resources for participants to take away with them.

During Strengths and Pop Culture, “The One Where We Talk About Strengths”, students learn to better identify strengths in themselves and others using the popular TV show Friends. Through evaluating the antics of Ross, Rachel, Joey, Chandler, and Monica, students learn more about the meanings and behaviors behind each strength, and how to best recognize them in others.

In Strengths and Gender, students face the question of whether or not there are such things as “girly” strengths or “manly” strengths. They also discuss gender dynamics and how to be one’s best based on personal talents, regardless of gender stipulations.

Participants in the Strengths and Teams workshop learn how to better utilize Strengths within his or her student organization or academic team. Additionally, students leave with multiple additional activities to help keep Strengths as a tool to be used from week to week in their organization or group, rather than just at the beginning of the semester.

Students attending Strengths in a Multicultural World analyze how the characteristics valued by different cultures impact how people embrace and understand their strengths, and what can be done to make the most of each strength in various cultures. Exploring StrengthsQuest through the lens of culture, students walk away with a new understanding of their own and others’ perspectives.