By Nicholas St. Cyr
Being in a college environment can make creating connections for some students difficult. The competitive and collaborative activities that are coordinated by staff and the similar pastimes students engage with on their own help young adults on campus create relationships.
Within NLSC the team advisors have administered multiple group projects and competitive games. And students in the COMM program (Graphic Design, Scriptwriting and Video Production, Newswriting and Investigative Reporting and Broadcast Journalism) have gone out of their way to play basketball, wall ball, uno and other healthily competitive games.
The group projects have helped students on campus create new relationships. One Communications student, Griffin Pressley said “Collaborative work has helped make connections on a deeper level.” Communication students in particular have been working on a blockbuster with a group of their peers. Students like Pressley feel as though the process has helped them be more comfortable on campus.
The schedules for these students are packed but with the little free time they got some of them decided to go to the Basketball and Tennis courts. The healthy competition the students engaged with has helped them interact more with people in their program and in their dorms. Scriptwriting and Video Production student Ethan Simmons said. “Playing basketball brought me closer to the people on my floor.” The connections made in the classrooms and on the basketball court have made dorm life more enjoyable for the students here.
The program brings people in from all around the world. Being from a different culture can make it harder for people to fit in and engage in friendships. Competition helped Costa Rican Scriptwriting and Video Productuction student Fabian Segura make friends in the program. Segura said “The first time I hung out with my closest friends here was playing basketball.” Sports are often the bridge between cultures so the competitiveness leading to friendship was bound to happen in this program.
The COMM program here on campus has over 100 students on campus at American University. This can make it difficult for students to meet people and make meaningful connections. Some students have spent their free time engaging in competitive games that allows them to meet people in the program they otherwise would not have. Graphic Design student Adam Perillo said “ Basketball has helped me engage with way more people than I thought I would when coming here.” Students here were able to express themselves in a more comfortable way when engaging in a healthy competition on campus.