By Kamryn Elliott
Emphasis has been placed on the sophomore experience as Leadership & Student Organizations and Compass aim to build a community of growth for sophomores to succeed at USF St. Petersburg.
Second-year students have much to look forward to with Compass hosting #usfspMORE, an un-Bull-ievable spring break trip and LSO’s first ever Sophomore Summit.
The summit is a soft pilot for the sophomore experience initiative and was developed by LSO graduate assistant Josh Miller.
“I wanted to create an experience that would incorporate leadership, team building and engagement for sophomores to build a successful community,” Miller said.
He brought the idea to LSO coordinator Abigail Bradley, with hopes of further development and support from other campus organizations. Compass First-Year Experience was also expanding its organization to include a sophomore experience.
“This was a great opportunity to expand our ideas and collaborate on the initiative to provide the best sophomore experience,” Miller said.
The summit is set to close the #usfspMORE week, purely based on coincidence.
When asked if this was developed with Compass’ initiative of a sophomore experience, Miller said, “We didn’t plan it together, we just had similar goals for the sophomore experience that we all wanted to achieve.”
Although the summit has a set date, the idea and development came with some struggles.
Searching for activities and students’ interests proved difficult in providing the best sophomore experience. The organizations looked into past events that were popular with the community while also considering how sophomores will benefit from the summit.
There are many events for first-year students that encourage engagement and involvement within the campus community, but there are not as many for students in their second year. The summit is the first of its kind, specifically geared for second-years who wish to further grow in the university by strengthening leadership skills, succeeding in academia and pursuing career paths.
As it is the first ever summit, current sophomores will have the chance to provide input into how they want following summits to be.
A pre-survey will be given that determines different skills or goals sophomores came in with, followed by a post-survey that shows growth of these based on activities throughout the event.
“We’ll have team-building activities that include ‘walk the line’ that normalizes experiences, juggling and minefield,” Bradley said.
The summit will incorporate new activities, socialization and development to build a sophomore community that will last throughout a student’s time at USF St. Petersburg.
Free food, as well as a chance to win an Amazon Dot and Amazon Echo, will be provided.
The Sophomore Summit is Saturday, Jan. 26, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., while #usfspMORE has events scheduled throughout the week that include food, a guest speaker and group activities. Register on PeteSync to secure a spot.
