The 2020 academic year was indeed a tumultuous one, but due to the hard work and boundless optimism of the Student Outreach and Engagement Committee (SOEC), we can look back on it with pride in our accomplishments. The SOEC is charged with building connections with undergraduate and graduate students to cultivate library engagement, but we do insist on sprinkling in a little fun along the way. Historically, the SOEC has sponsored an ice cream social for incoming first year students, participated in move-in day, research fairs, and other campus-wide events. We even break library stereotypes by bringing edible books competitions and an African dance and drum troupe into the library!
Prior to the pandemic, 824 scoops of ice cream were serves to 624 students, while fostering connections between incoming students and their personal librarians. We like to think that all of those students came out to see our smiling faces, but the 98 degree day certainly helped as well. SOEC members and subject librarian partners also staffed a table for International Students Day and the undergraduate and graduate research fairs. To help students take study breaks during exams, we hosted origami, coloring books, and kinetic sand stations in divisional libraries.