Community in a conference room? How we built connections in an unlikely space.
In one of my old jobs, I had a lot of flexibility. As long as I managed my portfolio correctly and was ahead of schedule with scholarship applications and curriculum, I could take on additional projects. I started this job right as we were really coming out of COVID isolation. Students were returning to campuses more frequently and were staying on campus again. But everybody I knew who worked in higher education was talking about how isolated everyone was. Students weren’t talking to each other before class. They were struggling to reach out to professors. There was a palpable sense of loneliness on campus. I decided to start trying things to ease that loneliness.
In my old academic building, we had one classroom. Students would also come meet with advisors, career services staff, or drop in with random questions. But we weren’t really considered a student centered building. On the main floor, there was one medium-sized conference room. It sat 12-15 people, had a nice flat screen tv/computer, and a large credenza. There were a few meetings in there every week but it mostly sat unused, especially near the end of the semester. If you’ve ever been a college student, you know the struggle of trying to find a quiet place to study during the final exam period. We were right next to the main library on campus, so finals season would have us seeing an uptick in student visits as they were trying to find a quiet space to study. I would see students sitting on the padded benches in the hallway, asking if they could sit in a vacant office to study, or just sitting on the floor to work on a paper. Seeing those students vying for extra room, I thought about the conference room.
Dubbed the “Patterson Study Space” starting in the spring semester of 2022, I was able to get leadership buy-in to convert our conference room into a study room during the final exam period. Each semester during final exams, my office would put out pens, paper, and study cards in the conference room. We also put out snacks, coffee, teas, and waters because so many students experience food insecurity during their college years. It started out very small. The first semester, I was happy to see 1-3 students a day studying there. My metric of success has always been that as long as I help at least one student, I’ve accomplished something. We had a decent turnout that year - around 20 students over a week period. Not terrible, but I wasn’t sure if that was enough to keep it going. But I felt there was something there, and some energy was waiting to be tapped into.
Next semester, I got approval to try it again. And we saw success. We doubled the number of students using the space, and many students came back multiple times. Each semester, we continued to see the growth of the space and students using it. One semester, we had to turn students away because the room was constantly full. I got to see students come back each day and grab a snack while studying. We then diversified what we had available to them. I brought in lamps so the room was cozier and we weren’t using harsh overhead lighting. During the winter months, I turned the TV into a fireplace by using a livestream on YouTube (check out photos here). We added coloring books and a “de-stress” corner for when students needed a break. I added fidget spinners and other fidget items for students to play with during their study sessions. I found myself replacing snacks and coffee 3x more each day. It was well used and well received by students.
Beyond the usage, the best part was the response we got from students. They would leave notes in the room thanking us for making this space available. They would leave colored pages behind with their names signed. They emailed our accounts with thanks. I hung those notes and coloring pages up in my office as a reminder of why I got into higher education. Students would also bring their friends to study with them, knowing we had space available for them. When we ran out of room, we added some tables and chairs to the hallway to increase capacity and so students could still have a space with access to snacks and coffee. Other academic departments in the college started replicating the space in their own buildings, offering snacks and studying supplies. We had a small movement on our hands and students that wanted the support and community. The tradition continued each semester, and I planned the study space each semester until I left that office.
When I left that office, one of the first transition meetings I had was about who was going to take over the study space and how to handle it each semester. It felt great knowing that something I had started as a hunch would continue on for students even after I had moved on. I’m thankful for the teammates that saw the vision and wanted to keep it going.
In higher education, we talk about meeting students where they are. Sometimes that’s physically, sometimes that’s mentally, sometimes that’s academically. I think this study room was a perfect example of that. I didn’t have to spend thousands of dollars to put on a program and hope that students would show up. I didn’t have to remodel a room to make it work for students. We made due with the space, the supplies, and the wants of students. In a time of budget shortfalls and financial uncertainty in higher education, it’s an important reminder to use what we have. Of all the programs and workshops I’ve put on, the study space remains my favorite. Partially because it was successful, but also because it filled a gap. Students wanted community, and we provided that. We didn’t make them do awkward ice breakers or polite chit chat. We provided the space and the resources, and they figured out the rest. For every time I walked by and the room was quiet, I also had times where the space was lively with students studying together and helping each other out. Community was there, and I got to witness it every day. How can you create student community in your spaces?
