Kindling Camaraderie

Illustration by Noelle Mitcham

Article by Lea Olivares Raudes 

NEWBERG, Ore. - Many students struggle connecting to peers in their major due to the focused nature of the classroom. This raises the question: how do they accomplish genuine connection and relationships within their major, students and faculty alike?

Everybody’s college experience is unique, but one thing students have in common is their field of study. Since majors are a significant component of each student's life, some faculty are prioritizing bonding through major-based retreats.

Some departments, such as the Honors Program and the School of Arts, have held on to this tradition for a while. English and Communication are following in their steps. 

This year, Kevin Jones, the department chair of Communication, made his department’s first Communication retreat possible. From Sept. 12-14, several majors and minors spent the weekend up in Ocean Park, Washington.

“We wanted to make it truly a reward, a treat, for being a comm major,” said Jones. “We will…have our first supper in October and we're going to continue doing things and going out like when the new students arrive on move-in day.”

Through activities like sharing testimonies and midnight hikes to the beach, each student who attended this retreat now exists in each other's lives as more than a nameless face. “I wanted the whole afternoon to go kart racing and shopping and laser tag,” said Jones, “so school isn't always just working together.”

The Department of English and Languages hosted their day-long retreat on Aug. 30. It began with a ‘get to know the department’ activity, a discussion on “Pride and Prejudice” and ended with students splitting into activities such as shopping and hiking.

“If we're going to have a program that is trying to be high level and make value…where everybody, especially the students, are really bonding, how do we promote that?” said Brooks Lampe, associate professor of Language and Literature. “I believe that students need friends and they need to be forced to have friends a little bit. There was a sense that we needed more quality and high profile events to make it worth people's time, and to start making community-building happen.”

The English and Communication retreats this year highlights how such events positively impact their attendants. Retreats boost students' knowledge and connection with their major, introduce new faces and allow students to enjoy their department’s community outside of the classroom.