Penn State University

Patty Klug

Belonging Pathways Voice

When we develop programming to increase student engagement, we think foremost about how to get students in the door, both literally and figuratively. We focus on designing programming and spaces where students can see themselves and their values reflected. When it’s working, students feel drawn to a community where they belong. However, many underrepresented, low-income and first-generation students urgently need opportunities to build connections with peers, faculty and staff; network with alumni and professionals; and identify leadership opportunities that create academic and professional pathways to post-graduate success. Mattering holds the potential for students to build social and institutional capital.

Our work as student success practitioners is not only to create structures that foster belonging, but also to guide students in exploring the unique contributions they want to make to their campus communities, so they experience “mattering.” That sense of mattering propels students to confidently seek additional ways to contribute and expand their academic and professional networks beyond their peer social spheres. Mattering is the fuel for their success. 

There are intentional steps we can take to create “mattering.” First, we need to design opportunities with scaffolding. Once students choose a community—an organization, club or identity-based group—we can provide roles aligned with their interests and strengths. Those roles can remain flexible. In our First-Gen committee’s student leadership, we allow roles to change and evolve each year. Rather than relying on static titles and responsibilities that leave little room for representation of individual strengths and desired contribution, we allow students to propose their leadership title and role. One student identified communication skills as her strength, so that year we created a “Communication Chair” role. She excelled at crafting emails to committee members, including staff, faculty and students, as well as leading outreach efforts. The next year, she went on to seek other roles in the wider University First Gen organization including a vice-president of outreach position and then president the following year. 

"Treating students as collaborators and partners sparks them to envision what is possible for themselves."

Guidance within our engagement structures must also be customized and accessible to students seeking ways to contribute. As advisors and mentors, we need to listen to students’ aspirations and desire to give back. One fourth-year student mentor in our success center came to me during her final semester expressing a desire to leave a legacy. I shared an idea that I had for a college-wide event focused on undergraduate research experiences, and I explained that I lacked the capacity to organize it myself but would support her if she took the lead. The opportunity aligned perfectly with her interests in event planning and undergraduate research as a Psychology student. I had seen her reliability and trusted her leadership. 

That inaugural Liberal Arts Undergraduate Research Expo was a tremendous success and has since doubled in size. She later returned as an alumna to speak about her role in establishing the event. That first-generation student is now employed as a programming manager and data support role for the alumni office at a top university.

Treating students as collaborators and partners sparks them to envision what is possible for themselves. They begin to see themselves not only as passive recipients of an education, but as active participants in shaping their educational and professional paths. Mattering happens at the intersection of engagement with their chosen campus community and mentorship from student success professionals. Students begin to recognize new opportunities and connections because of their accomplishments. Many students I introduce to faculty, staff and administrators later reach out independently to those individuals to offer additional ways to contribute their talents in partnership. They create their own opportunities. For example, this same student later secured an internship with our director of institutional research to hone her skills with data assessment and analysis.

Others have connected with external constituents recommended by faculty and staff, including alumni and professional contacts. Our pre-law group, initiated and developed by students associated with our success center organized an evening networking event connecting students with local attorneys, judges and faculty members who were formerly practicing attorneys. The student leaders of that group are helping the new members learn how to network and build these connections as well. 

At the Chaiken Center for Student Success in the College of the Liberal Arts at Penn State, all our programming originates from student ideas and is implemented by students themselves. Our role as staff is to guide students through the creation and development process, but more importantly, to highlight their value to our community. We show students how and why they matter not just to us, but to their communities and to the world they are about to step into with the investment of partners in their success.