How Can We Make Our Centers More Inviting for Students?

ACADEMIC SUCCESS EXCHANGE

During our recent Academic Success Dialogue portion of the Accudemia Weekly Session, we pondered some important questions and came up with a few ways we could make our centers more inviting for students.

What is one thing you've done in your center to make it more inviting?

Some of the ideas shared by attendees included:

• making sure students felt safe during Covid and post-pandemic by creating social distancing and implementing safety measures
• training staff to greet every student who comes in and if possible learn their names
• creating some soft, comfortable spaces for students to hang out

If you had unlimited funds, what would you do with your center to make it the best place possible for students?

This question had attendees coming up with some creative and wonderful ideas to make their center amazing, including:

• getting very comfortable seating
• replacing harsh lighting with something softer and warmer
• creating small group study rooms
• setting up a reading couch and lending library
• adding a water feature
• hanging artwork
• allowing pets or creating an event to cuddle with cats or play with puppies
• providing childcare or creating a safe and fun space for kids to play
• researching and finding the right technologies that are currently over budget
• remove windows, add sliding glass doors, and put in a coffee shop with covered patio seating for studying

Now if you have limited or no funds, what is still something you could do to make your center inviting for students?

Most attendees came to the conclusion that the most important thing they can do is make sure the students are greeted warmly and given the attention they deserve. Some great ideas that were shared by Penny Turrentine, Ph.D., in an episode of the Student Success Heroes podcast can be heard here.

Is there anything about your center that you would change that is less than inviting?

A few items came to mind:

• posters on the wall that have no relevancy or spark for students
• some equipment needs to be carted away or hidden
• making sure the safety measures like plexiglass and social distancing do not take away from the services provided

Join us Next Time

Engineerica Systems is pleased to present our Academic Success segment recap for 7/20/2021 for the weekly Accudemia sessions. We hope that these questions help you to ponder how you can ensure every student feels welcome in your center. Join us next Tuesday at 1:00 p.m. EST for our Weekly Accudemia Session and for more ideas about helping our students achieve success!