Student Involvement and Leadership held an open house at Weber State University’s main and Davis campuses last month to celebrate the remodeling of its collaborative offices.
In addition to the open house, the SIL’s main campus office added a corkboard calendar that extends from wall to wall in the reception area. Aaron Newman, director of Student Involvement, was the driving force behind the new larger-than-life calendar.
“It was actually something I did at another institution I worked at,” Newman said. “We just wanted to create something that was a quick and easy way for students to go to one spot and see really quickly what’s going on and what to do today.”
According to Newman, students can advertise their events on the calendar by giving their posters or information to the SIL office. Posters that are too big will be scaled down so there is room on the calendar for as many events as possible. Departments or organizations can also have their events featured on the SIL Google calendar.
“We are getting people starting to come in and look at it,” Newman said. “. . . It’s going to be a wonderful success and addition to the university.”
The calendar, in addition to new events such as Popcorn Fridays, are an effort from student leaders to make the SIL office more student-friendly.
Popcorn Fridays, debuting next week, will include music and popcorn from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Newman said the weekly event is designed to encourage students to come into the office, meet with student leaders and spend time in the newly remodeled space.
SIL encompasses many different clubs and organizations, and the WSU student government is constantly busy.
“We have 22 students just focusing on service projects,” said WSU student body president David Wilson. “We do everything.”
With the new expansion on the main campus and the new location for SIL in Davis’ D3, student leaders will be able to better assist their peers in both locations.
“We used to work out of a closet space, practically,” said Erik Ashby, coordinator of student programs at the Davis campus. “We also had to leave all of our storage in separate classrooms and in one cupboard in an office. This gives us so much more space to be creative and to plan superior events.”
In October, the Davis campus will host an event at Black Island Farms in Syracuse, and the Harvest Festival, a haunted house in Layton.
“We thank WSU for the new and occurring funding,” said Rebecca Curtis, administrative coordinator at the Davis campus. “We are so thrilled to admit that we are leaps and bounds ahead of the main campus due to the fact that WSU is funding us to create more resources for all of our students.”
SIL is planning many events for this academic year, including a special screening of “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” in the Wildcat Theater. Imagine Dragons will perform on Oct. 25 at the Dee Events Center. The annual ’80s-themed Neon Dance, which has been a hit in the past, will be held in January. The Webertown event will come to campus on April 25.
