As school resumed session for the winter semester and students adjusted back into their academic routines, Student Life organized various workshops to ensure clubs and associations were equally prepared.
Clubs have a high mortality rate at UFV — many students are unaware of what clubs are offered, where they meet, and what participation entails. Last year, Student Life gathered with club executives to determine how they measured their success as a club and what, if any, difficulties they faced. Executives expressed concerns over a lack of resources, skills, and knowledge of how to expand their club.
“We understood there was not enough help from UFV,” Vladislav Gavrilov, Clubs and Association assistant at Student Life and one of the instructors of the workshops, said. “Clubs were dying off because of that lack of support. When troubles appeared, they didn’t know how to solve them.”
Sustainability was introduced as a key theme in these workshops. Gavrilov noted that there were occasions when past executives graduated without hiring a replacement. In his workshop “Unbreakable,” he proposed a “Sustainability Folder” — a formal document of club policies, social media passwords and account information, and attendee feedback from club events — to keep track of paperwork. The workshops also covered topics of budgeting, event planning, fundraising, advertising, how to receive funding, available resources, leadership development, and social media. Social media is a key component for engaging with not only prospective club members but updating current members as well.
After a tumultuous brigade of snow the second week into the semester, Student Life reorganized several workshop dates, offering at least two workshops per topic in order to cover a variety of schedules. They will continue to host more workshops in the future; you can keep an eye out for these dates by visiting the myCampusLife website.
“We’re trying to teach executive members some skills that they need to run a club successfully and ensure that they’re attracting members, engaging their current members, and advertising events. In the future, we’re also planning to roll out [even more] workshops that will help not only in their success as a club executive, but in their leadership as [a part] of their community and as a student at UFV,” Gavrilov said.
As mentioned earlier, the myCampusLife website is an important tool for finding clubs and events happening at UFV. You can scroll through workshops, events, and club meetings happening on UFV campuses. The service is free to use but requires your UFV login to access. For anyone interested in developing a new club or reviving a past one, Student Life has forms to register a club on myCampusLife. You can also visit a Student Life employee in person in the Student Union Building, room S1111 to receive help and information.
Image: UFV Student Life Facebook
