As students begin returning to the new campus life, Academic Affairs has collaborated with Student Affairs to promote events, mostly virtual, for students. To facilitate this, a shared calendar has been created, highlighting events offered by both Student Affairs and Academic Affairs,
Faculty members and program and club/organization advisors can connect events to a new incentive program designed to encourage student participation in campus life.
Titled “The Owl Advantage Program,” this student engagement initiative is offered by the Office of Student Activities, Involvement, and Leadership (SAIL) in collaboration with academic departments and other campus organizations. To earn incentives through the Owl Advantage Program, students will attend events and complete a “Wellness Wheel,” encouraging participation in a wide range of academic and social programming. (Students will receive the Wellness Wheel and details about the incentives soon.)
To reduce scheduling conflicts, a new shared calendar for Academic and Student Affairs was created. If you would like to schedule an event for students, we encourage you to check out THE EVENT CALENDAR on the SAIL website, then use this EVENT SUBMISSION FORM to include your event in both the calendar and the incentive program. Event schedulers will be asked to code the event according to Wellness Wheel categories:
- Intellectual: Expanding knowledge of the world, opening yourself to new ideas and experiences
- Social: Making connections with your community, maintaining positive relationships with friends and new cohorts
- Social Justice: Empowering yourself to build solidarity and community that leads to transformation
- Environmental: Learning to be good stewards of the Earth by understanding the effects of human activity and by promoting sustainability
- Emotional and Spiritual: Developing self-knowledge and strategies for coping with challenging circumstances; striving to attain peace and harmony in one’s life
- Professional: Focusing on personal fulfillment from work and prospective educational and career paths
- Physical: Adapting a healthy quality of life, minimizing physical stress and fatigue
After students attend your event, they will report their attendance to the Student Activities office. If they attend seven events (in a total of five categories) this semester, they’ll be eligible for a prize and be entered into a drawing for bigger prizes (Owl Bucks, Fitness Club Membership, etc.).
If you have any questions about this new initiative and our shared calendar, please contact sail@westfield.ma.edu, and don’t forget to submit your event for the calendar. We hope this program provides students different ways to engage in our community this semester.