Loyola’s Common Ground leadership team said it would like to see more students involved in campus life. The student group helped organize and lead last weekend’s Leaders of the Pack retreat, that drew nearly 100 students from various organizations.
The third annual retreat was held at the Paul B. Johnson State Park. Stemming from the Common Ground program, the theme of the retreat was creating community among student organizations.
Members of campus organizations such as the Student Government Association, Black Student Union, University Programming Board, the Greek governing councils and Loyola University Community Action Program got together for three days to discuss how each organization would contribute to achieve the Common Ground’s vision for the student body.
In its mission statement, Common Ground asks, “What do you see for Loyola? We come on Common Ground and choose a better Loyola.”
James Jarc, communications senior and UPB member, said that the main question is whether students are going to complain about problems or help fix them.
The 15-member Common Ground team presented its mission statement to the larger group Saturday, and then the group split up to discuss their ideas about implementing the mission.
“Most people seemed to really appreciate it,” Jarc said. “I’ve seen students bringing it back with them and talking about it.”
Among the main goals was increasing student involvement on campus and encouraging student leaders to increase communication among their groups.
Since its inception three years ago, the retreat has been responsible for a huge improvement in relations between organizations, director of Student Activities Chris Cameron said.
“We have seen an increase in collaboration and a decrease in competition between the organizations,” he said.
The retreat not only gives the students a chance to get to know other leaders and advisers of other student organizations, but it also strives to stress the importance of Jesuit values, diversity and multiculturalism within each individual organization.
“It’s a good way to start the year off,” said Caryn Winters, political science junior and court of review justice. “You can explore so many issues you wouldn’t normally get to with people you wouldn’t normally talk to.”
“This is the first year LUCAP has been able to attend, and our executive board got a lot out of seeing how other organizations work and spending time together working on issues within our organization,” Mirya Holman, political science senior and LUCAP external affairs chair, said.
“It was, as always, a positive experience. It’s always amazing to watch people’s minds open in front of you,” BSU president Tyrone St. Junior said.
“Not to mention, this is a two-way thing. In watching other people learn, you realize that you’re learning as well,” St. Junior said.
