Target Groups and Programs
Residence Hall Students
Best Practices
Dorm programs at Stanford are a wonderful way of reaching students in their home environment, and students here certainly spend a lot of time in their dorms. If a dorm program is going to be really successful it either should be very substantive (yup, Stanford students like to learn), or a Study Break style program (Just food with some relaxed games, info. sheets, or TV clips). Students here do not get into semi-structures arts projects and the like.
RA’s are your ticket to successful dorm programs. Forming relationships with RA’s is really important, since they are the ones with access to the space, the dorm staff, and the students. You only really need one good RA contact in a dorm to do a program. If you cannot find this contact, Jewish students in that dorms can be especially helpful. .
At the beginning of the year, before students arrived, Joel and I made up a flyer that we delivered to the mailboxes of the all the RA’s, introducing ourselves and suggesting ideas for dorm programs. We also had a chance to meet RAs at an RA program fair held before students for to campus. While these opportunities did not bring on a lot of inquiries, they at least let the RA’s have a point of reference before we got in contact about our first programs.
At the start of the year, Joel and I tried to give RAs a lot of options for programs, but this lead us to have to run many different programs at one time. As we got more experienced, we just offered everyone the same program at once.
Students tend to identify mostly with their dorm rather than their whole building (e.g., with Donner or Larkin, not all of Stern). Dorm programs are most successful in either a central dining hall or lounge.
It is very suseful to find one or two students in each dorm to help publicize (hang up flyers or send emails), set up, and clean up. They can also generally spread the word to their friends. This is a nice way for students, especially engagement students, to contribute to the program in an easy, low-stress way.
Other useful tips:
Starting times for dorm programs are usually 9:00 or 10:00 PM.
It is a good idea to plan dorm programs in dorms with lots of freshman
and/or Jews
When talking to RA’s about dorm programs, emphasize the program
is cultural, not religious. RA’s are much more likely to approve
a cultural experience than a religious one.
Ask Jewish students (even if you don’t know some of them) who live in the dorm to help you set-up for dorm programs.
Contact RA’s to schedule dorm programs at the beginning of or before each quarter. Once it gets to be around midterm time, it will be hard to get in touch with them and to get dates confirmed.
Advertising with flyers in the dorms, and emails to the RA’s to send to the dorm email list are ample advertisement for dorm programs.
Keep it simple. Free food always attracts lots of students.
Have a sign-up sheet/guest list and encourage people to sign it. I was always a little timid about doing this, but it is extremely effective and useful., especially at the beginning of the year, since it allows you get a count of how participants and a way to get in touch with new students you meet after the program.
Once there are a large number of students at a study break, introduce yourself, explain why you’re there, what they are eating or celebrating, and announce any special upcoming Hillel events.
Having little cards/signs with the names of the unique traditional, Jewish foods you bring in Hebrew and English is a quick, easy teaching method. It is also a good idea to compose info. sheets about the theme of the program, holiday, etc.