Some ideas for advertising ResLife events:

Chapel Slides. Send PowerPoint slides to Diana Tocheff or Abby Scott.

Posters. You can have an RD print a 11 X 17 color poster for 80 cents or 11 X 8.5 for 40 cents.

Email. If you want to learn how to send pictures or backgrounds on an HTML email, come by Student Development some day and ask Ryan. Make sure you add a catchy subject line.

Word of mouth. Always works well for smaller events, especially just before an event.

Word of many mouths. Communicate with other RAs and have them spread the word.

Announcement at another event. Attend another RA's event and ask them (in advance) if you can advertise your program.

Coupons for free food. Use the coupon as your promotion of time, date, place and theme.

Make Faculty Aware. Specifically get faculty involved with any educational programming that may relate to their subject matter, they can advertise for you and you may suggest that they offer extra credit to their students that attend.

Channel 24. This is a new option for advertising of campus events. This is open to ResLife events that are being advertised campuswide. Posted below is the policy for anyone interested in this option:

Channel 24 Policies

1. Channel 24 will post PowerPoint slides that advertise student extra-curricular activities that are general in nature, applying to all MVNU students, and officially sponsored by Mount Vernon Nazarene University.

2. Only one slide may be posted per event.

3. Event sponsors desiring to advertise on Channel 24 must submit an appropriate PowerPoint slide at least 7 days before the event. Please email the completed slide as an attachment to Ryan.Schmitz@mvnu.edu.

4. Slides will be posted on channel 24 no earlier than 2 weeks in advance of the event, unless registration information is needed earlier than the event date.

5. Slides must be submitted in an MS PowerPoint format only. The Student Development office will not create PowerPoint slides or be expected to edit slides. The Student Development office reserves the right to edit the content of any slide submitted.

6. PowerPoint slides will run for 10 seconds only, so animation should be limited or not included on submitted slides.

7. A legible font, large enough to be viewed clearly, should be used on all slides. Avoid having too much writing on a slide; limit information to the most important details.

8. Backgrounds will not always transfer properly with the current software. Also, not all backgrounds submitted will be available for use on Channel 24.

9. It is the responsibility of the party submitting the slides to notice any mistake, or outdated slides, or if a slide is not on Channel 24 when it needs to be. Please notify Ryan.Schmitz@mvnu.edu about any corrections that need to be made.

PS 3conomics

Note: I try not to double up on posts unless my personal post is about MVNU. So if you have already read this, no need to read it again, it is the same.


So by now most of us have heard about the crazy events that took place last Friday (November 17, 2006) with the Release of the Sony PlayStation 3. There was the guy that ran into a pole, the guy that got shot, the several robberies and don't forget there were several PS 3s that were sold for over $2,000 on Ebay.

Well you may not have heard the less dramatic, but equally interesting acts that happened throughout the country, including here in out-of-the-way Mount Vernon, Ohio.

It began a few days ahead of the release when a group of MVNU students started scouting out the local Wal-Mart Supercenter. They found out that there were going to be 6 PS 3s and 4 vouchers for additional PS 3s that were guarenteed within 3 weeks. They found out that the longest anyone every waited for anything at our Wal-Mart had been 12 hours.

They spoke with professors and received semi-official excuses, they had friends promise to bring them food and they planned to show up about 24 hours prior to the 11/17/06 12:00AM release date.

Of the 10 people waiting in line, 7 were MVNU students; here is where it shifts from a stunt to capitalism at its best: one student paid another student $50 to shift from a voucher to an actual PS 3 because he heard the voucher was for a better hard drive (60 gig instead of a 20 gig). Another student paid 2 student $200 each to wait in line for him so he could get the PS 3s without missing class or sleep. Finally a man came in on Thursday evening, right before the release and saw that he would not be able to get one of the first systems and he gave one of our students $1,000 cash for their spot in line.

The other six PS 3 systems are expected to be sold on line and should continue to fetch a nice chunk of change for the students that put in the Wal-Mart all-nighter. What an interesting society we live in.

Current PS3 Ebay listings

PS3 Shooting

Sen. John Edwards is a line jumper

PS3 Theft



Craig Weston running into flagpole

Post-Confrontation

Question: "How are we helping students by ignoring or minimizing our responsibilities to ourselves, the institution, but mostly to the students choosing to violate a campus policy?"

Answer: "We aren't!" But relationships do not begin and end with confrontation.

We all know by now that one of the toughest parts of being an RA or even a ResLife Professional is when we need to confront someone about their behavior and their choices. We tend to want to avoid the confrontation or second-guess our opinions, actions or reactions, when we are simply doing our job by enforcing what is already known (most of the time). Most of us like the nicer side of Student Development: the relationships, the activities, the food and the fun.

An even bigger problem is when we put all of our time and effort into addressing problems and then focus on catching them again.

When a student makes a mistake it is important for correction to take place, but even more important is showing them that they are still important and that you still care.

A couple of good examples from MVNU:

A. The Maplewood and Elmwood staff have been intentional to reach out to any of their residents that are on social probation. They engage them in discussion, invite them to spend time with the staff and they make sure they understand they are important.

B. Lee Yowell tries to meet with many of the students who have received major discipline schedules from his office. Although this is done in a formal setting, he tries to make it more relaxed and informal by asking about the student's opinion of the process, adding humor, and asks questions about how things are going since the discipline occurred.

Here are some ideas for dealing with someone after any time of confrontation (large or small):
1. Respect their privacy; don't make them feel awkward in front of other people.
2. Don't bring up the issue very often; move on to new subjects.
3. Smile and say hi to them by name when passing each other.
4. Genuinely care about them and show them that.
5. If ever possible, invite them to participate in activities. Build a relationship beyond discipline.
6. Invite them to a meal.
7. Pray with them.
8. Even if they give you dirty looks or the silent treatment, don't give up on them, just work harder on the relationship and pray even harder.