CEO Hosts a Networking Dinner for Student Orgs Working in Outreach

By Marissa Taylor

CEO hosted an event for student organizations to promote networking and collaboration among groups interested in youth outreach. That evening 10 students representing seven different organizations attended, including Society of Women Engineers, Michigan DNA Day, Association of Multicultural Scientist and Health Equity High School Summit to name a few. Catering from Jamaican Jerk Pit allowed the student leaders to break bread with each other before the event kicked-off.

It was our hope student organizations would gain a broader understanding of the differentoutreach efforts taking place across campus and share insights about resources they have utilized at U of M in the past to accomplish their goals. One activity to facilitate this outcome was called Speed Dyads, in which the students were paired up and asked to answer a series of questions around perceptions of their student group, strengths they bring to their community and areas of growth.  

Students expressed their excitement throughout the event and also shared how surprised they were to see that other groups are “in the same boat” when it comes to challenges around funding and transportation. This led to intentional conversations about how CEO can help connect the dots. There appears to be a strong desire for us to host more events in the future focusing in on how to tap into resources both on and off-campus.