COMMONVU SESSION 1: INTRODUCTIONS & EXPECTATIONS (8/21)

FOCUS: Your first Visions meeting occurs on the day after the students' arrival. It is intended to: begin building group cohesion, orient the first-year students regarding upcoming events during CommonVU, and provide an overview of Vanderbilt Visions.

Your session is scheduled for two hours, beginning when you meet your group on the lawns of the Peabody campus. After an initial activity as you wait for everyone to arrive, you will pick up a boxed lunch in The Commons Lawn Tent and proceed to your meeting room.

Visions is designed to focus on three main outcomes: providing a bridge to campus resources and services, fostering personal growth in a supportive environment, and developing tangible academic and professional skills for use throughout a student’s collegiate career and beyond. This session is meant to allow you a chance to dive into getting to know one another, laying the groundwork of a supportive environment, so that your group is better prepared to jump into more difficult conversations in the near future.

WHAT TO PLAN IN ADVANCE:

(1)As a pair, select several icebreakers or team building activities to use both on the lawn when you first meet and throughout your first session. For a listing of possible icebreakers, see section 5 in the Student VUceptor binder. You are also welcome to come up with your own icebreakers. We would however, caution against those that require touching one another, especially in groups with international students.

(2)You may wish to prepare information for your VUceptees that includes everyone’s name, your contact information, and the places you will meet during CommonVU. Make sure you plan to meet 30 minutes before a scheduled event if the event is on the other side of 21st Ave and you are meeting on The Commons; plan to meet at least 15 minutes before the scheduled event if you are meeting nearby. (You may want to prepare a folder for each student.)

(3)If you wish, you may bring something with which to welcome your VUceptees (such as leis, cookies, or other treats, or little presents; just be aware of dietary restrictions).

(4)VUceptors should wear their black and gold VUceptor shirts and their VUceptor nametags (provided during Fall Training).

(5)Be sure to bring your copy of InsiderVU, your VUceptees’ cell phone numbers, anything you have prepared for the students, and the garbage bags that were provided in the Student VUceptor bag to collect lunch trash.

DURING THE SESSION:

(1)Congregate about 10–15 minutes before your scheduled meeting time at your number sign on the lawn. (Peabody Library Lawn is near Peabody Library; the Peabody Esplanade is near the Cohen building.)

(2)When students start appearing on the lawns, hold up your sign so they can find you. Wait until your group is complete; work in an icebreaker or two. While on the lawns, as part of your introductions, ask students to share their name, hometown, and if they would like to, their personal pronouns. Asking students to identify their own pronouns allows space for students to identify outside the binary. It also ensures that VUceptors do not mistakenly identify students with the wrong pronoun. Finally, it provides VUceptors with an opportunity to indicate their ally-ship and to begin a conversation about gender identity.

(3)When directed by a VUcept Executive Board member, move toward The Commons Lawn Tent. All groups file through The Commons Lawn Tent to pick up their lunch boxes and then move to their assigned locations. If anyone has specific dietary needs, simply ask a Campus Dining employee and they can procure a meal that meets those needs.

(4)Take your signs to The Commons Lawn Tent and leave them with a board member. Then proceed on to your assigned meeting location (see Master CommonVU Room Assignments in binder).

(5)During your session, continue working to build group cohesion. The importance of using this session as a way to frame your future conversations cannot be overstated. We would encourage you to open your group’s time together by framing your goals for a supportive group that respects and uplifts one another. You may want to set some ground rules with your group to help them take ownership of the space. One model for doing this is PROCESS (See Appendix A on page 29), though there are many other ways you might do this as well.

(6)In addition to building group cohesion, there are several things that we would ask that you cover with your VUceptees, including:

  1. Make sure all VUceptees have the Student VUceptor cell number stored in their phones.
  2. Make sure they have all downloaded the free Guidebook App and the Vanderbilt First-Year Move-In 2016 Guide. Emergency alerts (including inclement weather) will be sent through this application.
  3. Highlight InsiderVU as a resource (CommonVU schedule, maps, guides to restaurants and stores, resources on campus for supporting students, etc.).
  4. Walk through the CommonVU schedule in InsiderVU. Highlight not only Visions programs and their purpose, but also House-based and other fun and/or informative activities.
  5. Highlight the times where and when you will meet for your various Visions-related activities.
  6. Introduce them to the purpose of Visions and discuss some of your ideas for the group.
  7. Mention that in addition to discussing Strong Inside and its themes in multiple Visions sessions, we will also have a special opportunity to hear directly from Perry Wallace, its main subject, and his classmate Godfrey Dillard as well as the book’s author Andrew Maraniss on the evening of Tuesday, September 27.

(7)After you have completed your session, dismiss your students and tidy up your room; especially if you are in the first cohort, there will be another group using your room immediately after you. Collect the trash from lunch in the garbage bags that were provided to Student VUceptors. If you meet in any of the building on The Commons, leave the full bags in the lobbies. If you meet in Peabody classrooms, leave the full bags outside next to a trashcan.

INCLEMENT WEATHER PLANS:

  • In Case of Light Rain: Please come with rain gear and be prepared to meet your groups on the lawns.
  • Heavy Rain/High Winds: VUceptors will receive a message from Natalee Erb and they, in turn, will contact their individual group members to go straight to the Wyatt Rotunda to pick up their box lunch and not meet beforehand. They will then proceed to their meeting spot.
  • Lightning/Tornado: If groups are already gathered, they will proceed to the Wyatt Rotunda to pick up lunch and wait for the storm to pass and continue to their meeting spaces. If not, the group meetings will be postponed and lunches will be held until they can safely come and pick them up. If weather is sustained the event will be canceled and lunch held as long as possible for students to pick up.