Finding "Your People": Social Justice Community Building Circle for First Year Students
This event is designed for first-year students who care about social justice and want to connect more with other first-year students who share their values and passion for changing the world. This circle is an opportunity to meet students outside of your dorm, hall or classes, and to connect on a genuine level. The community building circle will be peer-facilitated by current undergraduate facilitators with the Community Engagement Advocates.
About the Event:
College is weird. You meet so many new people all at once, and yet, it's easy to get "lost in the sauce". Sometimes we make connections right away, and other times it can take awhile. Maybe you connected with people on your floor right away, but as time goes on people start to grow apart. OR maybe it's YOU who is growing and changing now that you are on your own, and you want to find some new community, a chosen family, or people who share your passion and your values around social justice. Whatever the case, it's awkward, frustrating and downright confusing at times.
*that's where community building circles come in*
Community building circles (sometimes called "story circles") are as old as human civilization, and they vary across cultures. But the basic idea is the same: we sit in a circle so we all can see each other and be seen by each other, we each have time to share and time to listen. In circles, we foster human connection and deeper understanding. We find similarities and learn across difference.
About the Community Engagement Advocates:
The Community Engagement Advocates are student leaders trained to facilitate anti-racism and anti-oppression workshops, dialogues and trainings. These interactive workshops are designed to create brave spaces for students to explore a wide range of topics race, class, gender, sexuality, able-ism, religion, and community engagement. The CEA program works to foster a campus culture of inclusion, equity, justice and empathy, to prepare students to navigate some of society’s most pressing challenges related to power, oppression, and identity. This program is co-run by the Center for Public Service and the Office of Multicultural Affairs.
