Beyond the Syllabus: Pedagogy and Purpose
Beyond the Syllabus: Pedagogy and Purpose explores how teaching transforms identity, confidence, and purpose, not just content. Hosted by Dr. Tiffanie Turner-Henderson, each episode features authentic conversations with educators, students, and changemakers on self-efficacy, belonging, AI in learning, service-learning, mentoring, transferable skills, and persistence in higher education.
Join us as we explore what happens when learning goes beyond the syllabus.
Beyond the Syllabus: Pedagogy and Purpose
Bridging the Gap: Why Extracurricular Engagement Matters in Higher Education
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How much of the college experience happens outside the classroom? On this episode of Beyond the Syllabus: Pedagogy and Purpose, I am joined by Amanda Ailing, Director of Campus Involvement at Wingate University, to explore how active participation in campus organizations serves as a cornerstone of holistic student development.
Together, we break down the practical benefits of student involvement, including the soft skills employers look for, strategies for boosting student retention and belonging, and ways to overcome barriers for busy or commuter students. Whether you are an educator, student affairs professional, or higher ed leader, this episode offers actionable insights into bridging the gap between academic learning and real-world personal growth.
Explore episode extras and more at Behind the Mic: www.gobeyondthesyllabus.com.
On this episode of Beyond the Syllabus for pedagogy and purpose, I look at the holistic student development almost as the opportunities to develop beyond your GPA in the classroom, but take advantage of those opportunities. Strong data that shows that students who are involved in at least one organization or one affinity, and that affinity could be a student club, it could be a work study opportunity, it could be doing research. But it shows that a minimum of at least one affinity shows that those students are likely to have higher GPAs, more likely to graduate, more likely to graduate on time because those are two different things, and then are overall more likely to be satisfied.
SPEAKER_00Come on in, take a seat, join the conversation on this episode of Beyond the Syllabus, Pedagogy and Purpose. I'm your host, Dr. Tiffany Turner Henderson. And today we are joined by Amanda Ailing, Director of Campus Involvement at Wingate University, to discuss the role and the vital role of extracurricular engagement and how that enhances the student experience. So before I forget, begin, as I always say, I can't do you justice on what you do in your journey. So, Amanda, if you want to take a few minutes and talk about your journey into this role and what you do and how that interacts with the students.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be chatting this morning. I've been looking forward to this for weeks. So thank you. So, like you mentioned, director of campus involvement, you know, that is a wide spectrum of roles that that encompasses. But for my specific journey, I myself am also a Wingate University alum. And so I have been here for a very long time. But I knew by the time I was a sophomore student, maybe, that I cared deeply about student involvement and engagement and that I they were never getting rid of me here at this university because I was able to see exactly not only what I enjoyed and wanted to do for others, but I also saw what could be changed and what could be improved. And I was like, let me put myself into a position where I can affect that change. So wide journey from graduate assistantship in campus involvement and community-engaged learning. I care deeply about both of those topics. But I was a graduate assistant at Wingate. And then I applied and was accepted into the role of assistant director of campus involvement many, many moons ago, many years ago. But I now serve as the director of campus involvement. So I'd love to share a little bit about what that even encompasses the program areas, because I think that will definitely guide a lot of our conversation today. Because we also encompass a lot more in campus involvement than I think you would just assume when you look at what that office title is. So campus involvement has student activities in it. So all of our free and fun events on campus for students. We have the registered student organizations happening under us as well. So our six different areas of student clubs, right? All these different categories of opportunities. We also oversee Greek life, so our 12 active Greek organizations, lettered organizations on our campus. We also oversee the commuter experience. So we have hundreds of commuting students. And so what can we do to really make their experience worthwhile as well? And then we also oversee student government within campus involvement. So the ability to be difference makers and you know influencers on campus through a positive and effective change. And then lastly, in campus involvement, we have new student orientation. So after they make their deposit and we're bringing them over the summer to really get them, you know, I hate to use the word, the definition in the word, but oriented at Wingate, right? Where they find opportunities, they realize all that they can do to connect. And then in campus involvement, we marry that idea with we now are offering those things to them. We've told them what they could do, and now we're doing it with them. So that is just like the briefest monologue about what is all underneath campus involvement. And I mean, truly, I give presentations, I talk to courses of first year students all the time. And I actually did one yesterday. I was just 20 minutes straight, and that's like the barest of minimum of all the different things that campus involvement has to offer our students. I mean, I really get jazzed about it. You know, like I was an involved student and I know how deeply it impacted me in such a positive way. And so I'm like, let's get it moving, freshman, all the students, actually. So that would just be a very brief description of what we do. But yeah, I think I went on a little bit too long.
SPEAKER_00But no, no, no, that's fine. No, that's that's fine because a lot of times there's a question of because titles can vary from university to university and and what that encompasses. So that kind of gives an idea of what's happening uh on Wingate's campus. And I always have to say you are full of energy, even when we're outside in the blazing hot sun, you have a full attention to the activities and attention to making sure that everyone is involved and learning about the organizations. So let's let's move on a little bit from there. So you're wearing many hats and we just keep turning the hat to the new brim, like you know, yes. So we'll we'll do that during this whole conversation, just like keep turning the hat where it where it applies. So speak my language. Exactly. So what we do is try to make this kind of bridge into this holistic development of our students. Yes, we have the academic side, but there's a lot of learning and growing and partnerships that happen outside of the classroom and and quote unquote beyond the syllabus. So, how would you define like holistic student development, like in the context of the university? Like, what does that mean to you?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, absolutely. You know, we talk about the holistic student experience all the time, right? Because they are coming here for an education to get their degree. They're coming here to ultimately be one day placed into a job, you know, and to become a functioning, well-adjusted citizen. That is the end goal. But they're not just getting that development from inside of the classroom. When you think about going from high school to college, especially for our first-time freshmen, you're going from what, like seven in the morning till 3 p.m. Honestly, it's been a while since I've been in high school. But, you know, so they're used to that structure day in and day out where you're going to one location and you're staying there and there's constant stimulation throughout the day. And but then they come to college and maybe there's a three-hour break between the class. How do we begin to fill that? And that's where you start bringing in the conversation of, well, we're providing social experiences, we're providing service opportunities, we're providing development situations where maybe there's an ethical or moral quandary where we're now providing them the development to be able to solve those issues through other development that we've given to them. So I look at the holistic student development almost as the opportunities to develop beyond your GPA in the classroom, but taking advantage of those opportunities. And so when they come to you saying yes or on the other opposite end, learning how to say no, which is also a really tough thing for some people. But I would I ultimately see it as, you know, all of these different areas that contribute to creating a well-adjusted citizen and employee in the future. So I look, I think about these categories of what we also care about as like wing gate students, right? Or wing gate employees, where we care about service deeply. We care about our community. And I think you can't forget those things when you're talking about student development, because that is what gives us that real world experience. It's what gives us that personal know-how because I can learn how to do something, but until I'm actively out there doing it and working with others, it doesn't mean anything. And so I think a lot about what it means to only be able to speak to one aspect of your of your life, right? Like, oh, I only wake up and I only go to class. Well, that's not that's not really gonna help you now, sure. But also when you're talking to a future employer, when you are looking to find a future spouse, right? Like all of these things that matter deeply to us as part of the human condition, you know, need to start somewhere. And so I think it starts with that student development.
SPEAKER_00I like that. That actually can I filter it into that next part. I was thinking about, you know, what is that continuation? What does what does involvement on campus do outside of the learning experience, I guess, academic learning experience? And you're right, it's giving them those transferable skills, it's allowing them to apply some things that maybe they're learning in the classroom, but then they have the opportunity to serve as we as we say we have our three pillars of of uh of the university. So it is all we we are really all about, I'm being biased right now, but we really all are about service and knowledge and faith. We we apply it, we say it in our mission and vision statement, but we actually do it and we encourage our students to do it as well. Okay, so I'm being well no, you're so right.
SPEAKER_01Because it also it also means like because there's no one set formula for development, right? Like what works for one student may work for somebody else. And so when you're just like kind of looking big picture at like faith knowledge service, it doesn't always mean necessarily like religious faith doing well in the classroom and going to a food pantry and serving one evening. Like service could be, you know, service to yourself. Like, are we are we doing what we're called to do? Knowledge is more than just academic classroom, it's uh application, it's how to take what you've learned and apply it to real world scenarios, you know, and same with faith. It doesn't have to be a religious base, it's faith in yourself, faith in others, faith in your community that they have your back here, and you you can you can have that opportunity to make a mistake and you know, still learn and still grow from it. So I yes, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00That is such an important, such an important concept of student development. Exactly. And and it does, it really works, works hand in hand, it just gives them a different perspective. So as you were saying, you actually you you kind of alluded to what question I was going to kind of follow up with, with we talk about getting involved and we want students to have that extracurricular experience. We want them to apply some of the skills, we want them to feel like, okay, I'm learning more about myself and my community and my contributions. And you you mentioned how to say yes to involvement and then also how to say no, right? And we see this from time to time. So what trends are you seeing in students as they balance this involvement on in campus activities, the requirements they they have for their discipline, for their courses, and sometimes they have other things they do with their family or work responsibilities. What what balance are you seeing or what challenges you think they're seeing?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, there are many, um, for sure. And so I always like to look at this as well from my lens, you know, outside of the classroom are things that they're choosing to do, right? So I already give them such a pat on the back for choosing to do things that can sometimes be hard or challenging that they're not required to do because I think that's where we see the most growth ultimately, right? Like this is something that you are making time to do. You are making time to be involved. There is no graduation requirement for you to join a club. And so I hold a lot of respect for these students and these student leaders because this is something that they have chosen to do and chosen to do for others. So, first, I think that that's a wonderful trend in general of these students want community and they want to be able to create community and to provide for their community. And they are so, I hate to use the word better, but they better themselves when they know that it's for their peers because they care so deeply about the community that they've created amongst themselves that they want everyone to be healthy, happy, safe. And they're doing that through their involvement and really caring deeply about their peers. So, in that same vein, I look, I think a lot about how our students are more willing to speak about their mental health and the approaching of burnout. I mean, I think the the stigmas regarding mental health have been something that have really been a barrier for a lot of people. It's hard to sometimes talk about needing help, or it's hard to sometimes talk about like, I have so much on my plate. I love everything that I do, but it's really hard to sometimes manage it. These students have built such a community of strength around themselves and with each other that I find it very often people aren't willing to ask for help, or they aren't willing to lean on their executive board members, or they aren't willing to lean on their club members. They care so deeply about each other. And I think it's like a very positive sign of our young, young people, to be quite honest, for one. But it also is helpful for me because, you know, we have a lot of expectations for our organizations and our for our student leaders because they are getting so much out of it. But ultimately we want to see them getting the benefits from it and not start to resent it or start to burn out or you know, it because that's really easy when you aren't communicating and when you aren't working with others. But we so we so rarely see it almost, or maybe I shouldn't say rarely see it, but we we're trained to see the signs and to do intervention when we do, I guess would be a better way of putting that. But ultimately the trends, I mean, they're they're seeing the benefits of being part of a community and what that could do for them for their their clubs inside of the classroom, even as well, but just their general time as a Wingate student, you know, they're leaning on each other, and I think that's a wonderful trend to see.
SPEAKER_00That is, it really is. I I hear sometimes they they talk in in between classes and they're talking about their agenda and who's covering this and sharing that responsibility, and it's lovely to see that they take on that responsibility on their own. And you can have me as a faculty advisor, I watch how our executive team and our members they run with it. And they have crossed their T's and dotted their I's. And if someone can't fill in, someone's there to jump into that space. And it's like, oh, that's perfect, that's teamwork. You're gonna need that in life. Very good, very good. I'm excited about that that activity. So let's talk about those skills then, right? Yeah. So let's get into yes, they they have this tangible impact on them, and they are exercising skills. What are some of the, I guess maybe this the major skills that you see with being involved in some of our campus activities? And then how can they articulate that into that resume or that interview process?
SPEAKER_01Yes, that is what you just said, that is what I am about. I because we know our students are getting all the soft and the hard skills, they're learning all the ways or all the things that employers want, but can you articulate what you can do? One of the things that I actually require is a heavy word, but I do require my student workers at the least to do is to track an accomplishment spreadsheet. So every time that they do something for a certain area, they track what the accomplishment was, like what the results were, whether that be an attendance number or a different type of outcome. And then during our one-on-one meetings with my student workers, and I also make my executive board members that I help advise do this as well. During our one-on-one meetings, we're reviewing the tasks that they've accomplished, and we're talking about how that is something during an interview for a future employer that you can turn that into an example. We're talking about how that's a cover letter point, that's a resume point, because it's not just that you organized a spreadsheet, it's that you were taking context clues of the assignment, you were looking at all of the different categories and you know, making natural assumptions or whatever the case may be. These are now transferable skills, just working on a spreadsheet. And I'm using air quotes here. You know, and so you so I think about things like that, where even when I'm looking at a resume, even, you know, whether it's an assistant director that I'm hiring or a student worker that I'm hiring across the board, I look at what it when I see that you are a member of a Greek organization and you led recruitment or that you were the vice president of a biology club, I look at that and I automatically know that you can manage conflict. You have developed as a leader, you know how to delegate, you can handle logistics and event planning. I know what that means because I'm in the field, but how can we get that extra step for you to now articulate those experiences? And so I often do like real-world interview practice or you know, whatever the case may be of like, okay, now talk to me about what you just did. Like, I am a layman, like I don't know what you're talking about, I don't work in this field, but explain to me what you do within the Greek life community, right? Because there's when you get rid of those niche terms, the things that you're doing are still like everybody knows what it means to, you know, send an email, of course. But did you follow the proper etiquette? Can you write a beautiful thesis email if you want? Right, like all of those different things that have been developed, can you talk about them? And so I, you know, that's sometimes a pretty pretty big barrier for students. They know all the wonderful things that they've done, but just how do we polish it just slightly to be something that is appealing?
SPEAKER_00Do you see that when they they become involved and they have this kind of light bulb moment of oh, this is what I'm doing? Do you find that they because we already said they they're really involved, do they they figure out this is where I belong? Do they does that help with retention when they are kind of seeing how this helps them and the community and the campus?
SPEAKER_01Yes, that light bulb moment, I love that you said that. I've often talked about how there's nothing more rewarding than finally seeing a student kind of realize why all of the behind the scenes stuff that happens happens for their student success. There is nothing more rewarding than that. But you know, we we have some pretty strong data that shows that students who are involved in at least one organization or one affinity, and that affinity could be a student club, it could be a work study opportunity, it could be doing research, but it shows that a minimum of at least one affinity shows that those students are likely to have higher GPAs, more likely to graduate, more likely to graduate on time because those are two different things, and then are overall more likely to be satisfied with their time here at Wingate. So, I mean, the proof is in not only the numbers, but their graduation rates, their retention rates. Getting involved not only creates affinity with your peers, it creates affinity with your alma mater, and it makes you want to give back on things like our service days, on admissions events, like become a bulldog, because you're able to recognize someone did that for me, I'd like to do that for someone else. I remember my backlaureate from my senior year when I was getting ready to graduate. The theme of it was, how can I unless someone guides me? I really internalize that, right? And so it's like, how can we do this without seeing someone else modeling the way for us? And so we're looking at our student leaders to see, oh, that senior was just in my shoes three, four years ago. I can do exactly what they did. I need to stay, I need to do what they did. I want to be like them. But we are too small of a campus to not appreciate those types of like full circle moments.
SPEAKER_00Mm-hmm. That's true. I I've had some students who have asked, Well, do you know such and so who's a who's a a fellow student? And they said, I really would aspire to be like that student because of their involvement and what they've done and the impact and the confidence that they see from from that individual student. And that's always like, oh, yes, our leaders have become role models for that next generation. I I love that. Speaking of that, without names or any identifying information, could you share maybe a story of like a success story with a student?
SPEAKER_01There is an individual who immediately comes to mind, but this also I want to be clear isn't totally a unique situation because Wingate does such a great job about finding those students who maybe just need a little bit extra attention or a little bit extra care, and suddenly their entire trajectory of their path here at Wingate has changed. Like that, you know, we talk about being a lab of difference making on this campus, and I think that is what we do, right? At the end of the day, that is what we are called to do here. But I think about one specific example of a student who first semester, you know, they are joining organizations, they're getting settled, membership, you know, are joining this XYZ, I'm joining ABC. I'm just, you know, testing the field, I'm seeing what I'm interested in. There were a few academic struggles as well, which I think is very common with some of our students before they learn how to ask for help and find those resources. But this specific instance I'm thinking of had a few major changes. But what really changed was applying for work study and finding that one specific organization that really called to them. And so I think about the the Student who changed their major several times, who went through these academic struggles in that sense, but then found their one fit on campus. And by the time they graduated by senior year, they were the one of the most well-known people. They were a resource. They were the person who clubs knew that they could go to for help or just as a mentor and as a resource. But this was somebody who their first semester was so shy and so in their shell that by the time they were a senior, they were having work study, they were on executive boards, they were doing research, they were, you know, willingly going and talking to professors and putting themselves out there and asking for references and to be connected with people in the workforce. And that's something that they shared with me that they would have never been able to do as a first-year student if they hadn't taken those steps to put themselves out there. So I think about all the time the students who sometimes just need to be encouraged to take that step to go talk to a professor, to go to the interest meeting. And I think about a lot, I reflect deeply about what would have happened if I wasn't in that role specifically myself to be that mentor, to encourage that student to go to those clubs and to apply for whatever the case may be. Because I think we sometimes see so much more in them than they see in themselves, because no one has just taken the time to tell them that like you can do this. And if you feel like you can't, we can get you to a point, we can teach you, we can train you to where you are able to do this. And so I think about her, their college experience, where through that participation in all the opportunities that came across their way, they have such a deep affinity for Wingate now, and they really believe in what they do. And they're still now, after graduation, actively looking for ways to come back and to help support, whether that be through alumni engagement, time, financial resources, right? And so if we're looking to build strong alumni who still care about our alma mater and our university, we need to care about them from their first step onto this campus, right? And so that's where I think involvement really plays a strong role in if not providing all the opportunities, connecting them with the ones that still exist. Because it doesn't matter if you work for me or work for somebody else. I just want you to be doing something, right? And I want, and so if I can, if my office is able to help facilitate that in any way, we consider our job done.
SPEAKER_00I love that. I love that. And and so that kind of talks about what is that first step. Uh, you may have some students, especially like in their first year, they may say, Well, I don't know if I need to get involved. I'm just gonna fully concentrate on on academics. And then, as you were saying, there's some students who may be a little hesitant about going to the meeting or hesitant about raising their hand and saying, Hey, I have this talent, can I contribute that? So, like, what are some of those barriers that you see? And then, you know, how can we encourage them to really step out of that comfort zone and get involved?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Oh, that's such a tough one because we're we really like to be able to meet students where they are, because there are, you know, often real world reasons why a student might not get involved. Or, you know, I mean, I think about our non-traditional students who maybe have family at home. And so they need to, they need to head out, right? Like they can't stay for a club meeting at nine o'clock at night, right? And so I think I think about those types of barriers that exist often and deeply because you know, that that is a student just as important as any other student. And I would never want anyone to think that they're not getting out of their, you know, time here what they deserve or what they what they have offered here. And so I think about that as a really big barrier, but I also think about, you know, a lot of times with our young adults like extra steps that aren't really needed are a barrier, right? And so campus involvement, we're our kind of internal philosophy is that we never want, like, for example, financials to be a reason why club can't have an event because so we offer funding requests. I think about, you know, the process to making a new club, all you need are five people, a president, a treasurer, and an advisor, because we don't want to create these barriers, these millions of steps that, you know, and we're all guilty of this, sometimes that one extra thing is just not what you are able to do that day. And so, you know, I think about what we can do to still have standards of excellence, but to remove some of those barriers. And we we try to really let our clubs and our orgs and other entities really know that they have the autonomy to build what works for them. If it, if you need to have your club meetings at 8 a.m. on a Monday, because that's what accommodates everybody, we don't have policies that prevent you from doing that. You know, like we are not trying to create an environment where people have to walk and jump through a bunch of different hoops in order to feel like they belong on our campus. And so we we do our best to try and remove a lot of those barriers, make things really easy, make things really clear, because something that you're choosing and volunteering to do shouldn't be something that now feels laborious and you know, you start to resent having to do all of these things. Anything that you're being asked to do through involvement, there's a genuine reason. It's usually to do with like health and safety and risk management, to be quite quick. Um, but ultimately we want we want students to feel like they have the autonomy to plan and do and encourage as they wish, right? Like there's very bare minimums to just make sure that that, you know, something as simple as the number of members you have in your organization isn't a hurdle for you to be able to cross to be successful. But to the second part of your question about like how are we encouraging students to do that? My biggest thing is, well, I guess there would be two biggest things. One, time management, right? It's really hard sometimes to really manage the full day because there's so much that we want to do. And I think that also goes back to the ability to say no sometimes, right? Like we only have 24 hours in a day, and there are some things that have to get done. And so, how are we, how are we picking and choosing what serves us best? And so I think a lot about, you know, I had a mentor when I was an undergraduate who used the phrase a lot of time, love uh, what fills your cup? And so I like to reflect back on that a lot. Of she always said, you can't pour from an empty cup. And so, how are we filling ourselves with things that we're passionate about that bring value to our lives, whether that helps our future careers or not? Because ultimately she's right in that you can't pour from an empty cup. You can't do well in and outside of the classroom if you are not feeling fulfilled in other aspects of your life. Like these things don't exist without the other. And so I remember an activity that I did in undergrad, and I frequently have some of my more very highly engaged and involved students do, where we are kind of making a time map in a day. How many, how much or how often are you dedicating time, energy, and resources to all these different groups that you're a part of? And is it time to pick a big three, right? Like, do we have to let something go in order to devote more time of something else? And I think helping students realize that that's okay. We don't need everyone to be a superhero, you know? Like you can do really well on one thing, and that is what we would prefer. Then you stretch yourself thin over 20 different things that are pulling you in all these different directions that we're now starting to see effects in everything else, right? And so we're we're trying to mitigate those experiences because ultimately they aren't positive, right? Right now, there's positive things they may be getting from all of that, but ultimately we'll see you more likely to be burned out than you know, being the smiling, happy student engaged that we know they can be. Exactly.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. And I I I like that to have this this that time management map. So you talked about time management map. We gotta circle back to a couple of these topics again. And you talked about work with your work study students having kind of that accomplishment or articulation list or yeah, excel spreadsheet. We'll have to come back to that because I think those are really good tips that are are generated from their involvement, but then how that can migrate over into how they handle their classroom experience and time management and involvement in sports and community, and then how that then translates into you're in a workspace, there are priorities, when to say no, so that the quality of that one project or report or event is higher than spreading, you know, yourself thin in your work life. And that happens, right? That also happens as well.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I'd be so happy to talk about any of this at any time. I personally feel so fortunate to have had the mentorship and the ability to figure out those things, right? I know I appreciated that ability when I was a student, and so I try to kind of keep that energy when I'm working with students now, where it's like I was really given the space to figure out what was best for me, you know. Like I I remember those moments, and so I try to try to think about that. And now I'm never trying to replicate my exact experience in undergrad. That is not what this is about, but there's principles of the of what we had learned and what I was taught that I am so grateful to be able to now teach to others. And so I I mean, I thought about you know, having a learning, a lunch and learn, learning lab about some of those things because I I often also, you know, not to get on my own personal soapbox here, but I don't often celebrate these things, right? Like I know we're doing them, and whenever I talk to people about them, it's a similar reaction of like, that's an amazing idea. We should all be making them do this. But I'm like, why have I never told anyone about it? Right. That's but that's something I know I need to work on, is kind of celebrating the wins because we we're just we we do so much of that on such a large scale that sometimes I'm like, okay, should I should I humble brag about this amazing accomplishment or should we just start focusing on the next thing? And so that's something I know I need to work on, though. I am very self-aware of that.
SPEAKER_00But those are those are those are great opportunities for collaboration across the the campus, how that can be pulled into other initiatives that are happening and it reinforces like if I'm saying that and then they hear it from you and they hear it from someone else, and they're like, oh, I guess I should do this, right? There's something there's something about this that might be a little important, right? So yeah, and those are great, great ways to have this collaboration where students are hearing the same message in different perspectives of this holistic, you know, growth environment. So yeah, you know, toot your own horn, right? Well, again, we'll we'll talk about this later on, how to pull that all together. Um oddly enough, we've covered, um, I think we've covered a lot of stuff and a lot of good information and and those examples of what's happening. So I I was I know this sound it sounds like it's too early, but I think we've really covered a lot of information that would be beneficial to the audience. Um, because we're we're talking about not only our students, but also other professionals who are in student involvement or whatever their their term may be on their college campus and for faculty as as well. Like, oh, well, okay, I I didn't think of like you were talking about the two uh spreadsheets and activities. I'm like, I can blend that in. So when they're you know they're coming back and saying, you know, we did that with Amanda. I know that's where I got the idea from, right? And I'm like, okay, I know how to do this, and they're just translating into a different environment. But let's talk about if you could give advice to a first year student who is saying, I'm not sure, like what piece of it, one like one, I say one, but it could be multiple pieces of advice would you give to them on how to get involved, not just on our campus, but any college campus. How can they start to get involved?
SPEAKER_01So, one of my personal life philosophies that I like to live by is life's more fun when you play along. And so I I tend to encourage our students, you know, who maybe are shy or hesitant to take that first step to lean into it, right? Like there is so many things that are going on that you don't need to know a single person in a room. But if you walk in and you're willing to talk to a stranger and say hi, hello, how are you? The all the doors are open from there. Sometimes the hardest thing to do is walk through and say hi, but just having the confidence and the ability to do that will open so many future doors for you. I often think about something that we talk about at Wingate and specifically in campus involvement as well, where we say, whether you're looking to fit in or stand out, Wingate has a place for you. Because ultimately, not every single person has to be a leader front of the front of the classroom, front of the meeting space. We also need people to support those people, you know? So we need we need folks who are, you know, who maybe want to fit in. And I say fit in the sense of find a place to belong, right? So it, but then we also talk about standing out, really choosing that leadership journey and that leadership path. For our first year students, if they're hesitant, think about that starting point where you can just maybe find a place to fit in, and then you can work towards standing out. There's no set path or set trajectory for every single person, right? And so I think a lot about that there's no wrong way to do college. The only wrong way to do it would be to limit yourself and limit your own opportunities. And I think the only person who can only person who can do that though is your own self. And so choosing every single day to get out of the dorm, to stay a little bit longer if you're a commuting student, choosing every single day to speak to someone new, or choosing to stay after class and speak to your professor to get to know them. You have to choose a million little acts every single day that will ultimately get you to where you want to end up. And so if you're not making those choices, you are hurting yourself and you're hurting everybody else to by keeping your own personality and your own gifts from them too. Now, I really do believe that because I really also think that our students have so much to offer, not only within their classes, their majors, and their clubs, but also just to the community at large. I think about specifically at Wingate, the impacts that we've made through service, through education, and um within the community. Like we talk about the six degrees of Wingate separation because we truly have made that sort of community and global impact. And so I think about a student who maybe take looks at that and it feels daunting, but ultimately I want them to know that you're already a part of it. Exactly. You're already here, and we are already willing and ready to bring you even further into the fold. I mean, I felt that way when I was an undergraduate student, and ultimately that's what really influenced me to want to continue to be here because I really believed in the mission, and I felt that that mission believed in me as well. And I want to be able to pour that into other students because that is what made me who I think I am today. And so I'd like to be able to help other students get to that point point as well.
SPEAKER_00So, Amanda, if our audience wants to continue this conversation with you, like they have some more questions about getting involved, or you have colleagues who are at other universities and said, No, what was that spreadsheet again? What was that Excel? Actually, how can how can they continue the run the conversation with you? How can we reach you?
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. So I am very much a always on my email type of person, also something I have to work on. But I will say contacting me by email is definitely the best way to get in touch. But so my email is a.al i-n-g at wingate.edu, a.alling at wingate.edu. But you can also find me by searching my name on the wingate directory and the wingate website. I think at the bottom of very many pages it says questions, contact the director, and you can absolutely get in touch with me there. But I also would be remiss if I did not plug the campus involvement social media Instagram page as well. We are very proud of the number of followers we have to the content that we post. And so we you can find us on at WUStudentorgs, so Woo Studentorgs, that encompasses all campus organizations, clubs, and other involvement initiatives. But our other claim to fame on the Instagram is we follow every office and club on campus that has their own Instagram page. So I also like to give everybody else their own little like gentle plug as well.
SPEAKER_00I love it. I love it. I love all the content that's put out there. Yes, good. Can we find you on LinkedIn?
SPEAKER_01Yes, you can also find me on LinkedIn, Amanda Alling, MBA.
SPEAKER_00This brings us to the end of today's episode of Beyond the Syllabus Pedagogy and Purpose. Thank you for listening. Until next time, keep learning, reflecting, and growing beyond the syllabus.