5 Engaging With Your Community

Community engagement can be on a social level, especially when talking about friends . Friends are the biggest factor in a person’s social life. Who someone connects with says a lot about their character and values as a person. Friends also have the ability dictate the community a person will be involved with on campus. Retention rates for colleges can be effected by the ability for the students on campus to make friends. The amount and quality of friends a student makes at a college can lead to students wanting to stay at the school. The article INTENTION TO PERSIST AND RETENTION OF FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS: THE IMPORTANCE OF MOTIVATION AND SENSE OF BELONGING states, “Specifically, she found that both social and academic adjustment was related to persisting at that university”(Morrow 483). This quote shows how the social aspect of college life is important to retention rates, which allows us to conclude friends the biggest socializing agent would affect retention rates. The same article also use the quote, “How connected students feel to their university is an important construct to consider when looking at why students may or may not persist at an institution. Sense of community, or sense of belonging, can be defined as the sense that members of a community feel that they belong and that they matter to one another”(Morrow 484). This quote emphasizes the idea of a community being important for students to feel connected to a school. The more connections or friends made at a college increases the student’s feeling of belonging, increasing the feeling of community. The author Tinto says, “Students leave a university for a variety of reasons: academic difficulty, adjustment problems, uncertain goals, lack of commitment, inadequate finances, lack of student involvement, and poor fit to the institution ”(Morrow 483). This quote identifies reasons why people leave the school they are attending. Lack of student involvement and poor fit into the institution are two factors of why students leave that can be practically fixed with good friends. This idea of an established community though friends is a major factor of the idea community engagement, since friends are one of the biggest socializing agents out there.

Since community engagement is such an important aspect of a school’s retention rate,smaller factors such as clubs affect the retention rate. Clubs allow student to be engaged in extracurricular activities, that introduce them to people that share the same interests. Clubs are the easiest way to get involved, because everyone is welcome. Clubs are a sort of sub community, because of their structure. The structure being referred to creates a hierarchy by establishing  a president, a vice president, a treasurer, and other positions created by clubs to set up a power system. This type of power structure is necessary to ensure a club runs smoothly and efficiently for all members. The article College Extracurricular Activities – Impact on Students, Types of Extracurricular Activities, “Specifically, a student’s peer group is the most important source of influence on a student’s academic and personal development.” This quote highlights the fact that peer groups are very important to a student’s development and character. The same article also states, “Extracurricular activities provide a place for students to come together, discuss pertinent ideas and issues, and accomplish common goals.” This emphasizes the ideas that clubs make a social connection for people to ensure they are involved inside the community. This also shows how clubs provide an outlet for students to get involved through common goals. Another source titled Involvement matters: The impact of involvement in student clubs and organization on student retention and persistence at urban community colleges addresses clubs saying, “Student participation in campus clubs and organizations has been shown to be a contributing factor in both student retention and persistence at other institutions of higher education.” This identifies the fact that clubs and other organizations improves the retention rates for colleges. Clubs allow students to be a part of the social culture of a campus, a factor that increases the overall positive feeling for students about the school.  Another article says, “Participation in clubs and organizations is one form of involvement associated with a host of learning and developmental gains”(Case 166). This statements highlights how students not only  learn through clubs and organizations, but develop as people as well. Since colleges are looking to increase the retention rate, the amount of clubs and organizations tends to be large, in order to keep all students happy and involved.  Allowing it to be concluded that clubs create community involvement, allowing students to feel a part of their school and increasing the retention rate.

College locations also affects a college’s retention rate. Lots of students attend a college not only for their education, but what the local area provides around the school. For some people that could mean it close to home, or very far from home, it could be a region where it is very warm all the time or cool and just right for skiing.Whatever the case may be a school’s location is very important. Colleges recognize the need to utilize the resources around it to attract more students and eventually improve the retention rate. This use of the resources that surround the campus also leads to community involvement, because you are going into the town and surrounding areas. This is an example of school created community since they are creating attracting a specific type of student to attend a college. The town community is also involved since its resources around the campus, and not the campus created community.

The article The 10 Best Colleges for Ski Buffs says, “And if you’re a college-bound ski buff, regardless of where you’re from – Alaska, Illinois, Rhode Island – we’ve got 10 schools from the Rockies to the Appalachians that deserve a serious look.” This source specifically targets skiers and their desire to use the recreational area around a college to determine where they should attend. By targeting these individuals using resources they are creating a skier

Obtaining a job in college helps you acquire skills that benefit your career. Studies show that during your time at college you can still maintain good grades while working up to 15 hours a week. These studies also prove that you become better acquainted with staff, students and faculty. Jobs help the student gain better time management skills that are necessary for academic success. Perfect time management skills will benefit your workflow throughout college and will help you maintain your goals. Grades are not the only thing students are stressing about now days, student loans are becoming more of an issue over the recent years because of the increase in college tuition. Jobs help the student reduce their student loan and give the student some spending cash aside from meal plans.  Working for a company before you graduate is a good look on your resume when applying for a job. Most employers look for people that have experience before anything else. Employers are looking for students that either worked during their years at college or as an intern at a company over the summer. Jobs and internships will benefit the student when trying to acquire his dream job that they have been working so hard for. Students who hold jobs throughout their academic years have better connections once graduated then before. Connections allow the student to have a better chance of getting a job right out of college. Companies are looking for people that have the experience and dedication to work long hours while still maintain a good time management skill. Students that are obtaining these jobs tend to have a higher GPA than students who aren’t involved in social activities. A study by the (NCES) states, “The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), which is run by the U.S. Department of Education, found that students working 1­-15 hours weekly have a significantly higher GPA than both students working 16 or more hours and students who don’t work at all.” This quote proves that students success rates are higher based on working on jobs that benefit the student. Students are also saying that when holding a job, they are forced to become more efficient with what they are doing. Having a job is another way to meet people in your college, this makes the student more involved on what is going happening on campus. Being involved on campus improves the student’s success rate in graduating in four years.specific type community. This would create a common interest for many people, leading to easily finding people who share you interest. An article titled The 35 Best Outdoor Schools in America states, “Many of our nation’s top colleges see nature as a natural complement to the thinking life. A great place for reflection, personal growth, and experimentation; there’s a reason why many top schools are buffered by parks, natural reserves, and great views.” This quote proves colleges use surrounding areas to attract students. Students who love an area where their college is, and are invested in the community around them are more likely to stay. Resulting in happy and active member of a community, that will want to stay at that institution.

The impact of sports benefits the student’s success rate more than any other activity. Students that are involved in sports have been known to have more skills and higher grades than ones that don’t. Being involved in a sport helps the students time management, leadership skills and their dedication to getting their degrees.A study by Parkus state’s “student-athletes across all three divisions generally identify very highly as both students and as athletes … High athletic identity is not itself an indicator of potential academic trouble, but low academic identity is” (Berson). This quote is targeting the students that are not involved in sports, or ones that question if sports affect student success while in a sport. Students are required to maintain a certain GPA throughout their four years at college to help them stay focused while still playing sports. According to the NCAA, it states, “Increasingly, the business world is focusing on creating a team environment with employees, as evidenced by constant discussion of teamwork in publications like the Harvard Business Review.” This quote supports that student athletes are more prepared for life after school than students who are not involved in sports. According to Bloomberg, “Seeking accomplished jocks with good grades, especially women, for entry-level positions is becoming de rigueur on Wall Street, where New York-based Drum Associates in February opened what it describes as the first division of an executive search firm that caters exclusively to current and former college athletes.” Employers are now looking for students that can maintain good grades and time management skills. No longer are prestigious companies looking for the best or top class students. Firms are looking for the ones that have the experience that these student athletes are getting being involved in these teams. In recent years according to the NCAA, academic success has been increasing, stated in an article, “The NCAA’s most recent data indicate that more than eight out of 10 (82 percent) Division I student-athletes are earning their degrees. Overall, college student-athletes graduate at rates higher than college students in general.  As part of the NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate, more than 11,500 student-athletes have returned to campus and completed their degrees since 2005.” This quote is supporting the fact that students that are attending sports are completing their degrees at a higher rate each year. Alluding to the point that sports allow students to be inducted into the community, leading to a higher retention rate.

The idea of community is very important to establish a good retention rate of students every year.  With a lot of factors contributing to a working and well developed community. The major factors contributing to the retention rate were identified to be clubs, sports, recreational activities, friends, and jobs. These factors identify a social community such as friends, clubs, and sports where there is daily interaction with community members. Community is also broken down into the college created community, and the community that is created by the town itself. Students are able to enter whichever type of community they desire through what activities they choose to be involved in. Since community has a direct effect on the retention rate the better the community is, the better the retention rate for the school will be.

Sources:

Beron, Kurt J., and Alex R. Piquero. “Studying the Determinants of Student-Athlete Grade Point Average: The Roles of Identity, Context, and Academic Interests.” Wiley Online Library. N.p., 23 Feb. 2016. Web. 21 Nov. 2016.

Case, Kimberly F. “A Gendered Perspective On Student Involvement In Collegiate Clubs And Organizations In Christian Higher Education.” Christian Higher Education 10.3/4 (2011): 166-195. Academic Search Premier. Web. 21 Nov. 2016.
MORROW, JENNIFER ANN, and MARGOT E. ACKERMANN. “Intention To Persist And Retention Of First-Year Students: The Importance Of Motivation And Sense Of Belonging.” College Student Journal 46.3 (2012): 483-491. Academic Search Premier. Web. 9 Nov. 2016.