DEVLEOPMENTAL ECOLOGY

The Use of Developmental Ecology on Freshman Orientation in Recreational Sports

Brianne Baranowski

Northern Illinois University: CAHE 522

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The Use of Developmental Ecology on Freshman Orientation in Recreational Sports

My first professional position was as Outreach Coordinator for Indiana University

Campus Recreational Sports. The overarching goal of this program was to connect students to

recreational sport programs and I started with freshman as my main target. Data from previous

surveys had shown that many students who did not participate until their junior or senior year

wish they would have known about our programs sooner. I was the first individual to fulfill this

role and was able to implement new programs and initiatives while also taking over other

programs that needed leadership and partnering with our other professional staff to accommodate

student needs.

We implemented a three-prong approach to connect with incoming students during

orientation and Welcome Week. This approach utilized two existing programs that we revamped,

Sneak Peek and RecFest, and a new partnership that allowed us to be present at residence hall

move-in days. While planning this approach, I took into consideration the different types of

students that we had on our campus, the concerns that students face during that time, and what

we wanted our to be our key messages so that they would not get overwhelmed. My main focus

was on our Sneak Peek event

Sneak Peek is a program that was put into place before I began working with RS. On the

first day of Freshman Orientation the students are encouraged to come to our main facility, the

Student Recreational Sports Center (SRSC), for an orientation to Campus Recreational Sports.

This event occurs in the evening after the students have dinner and before their late night tour of

campus. Before I came in and revamped the program, Sneak Peek leaders would simply take

students around the building on tours and stop in different areas to tell them about our programs.

The students had been led around all day and by the time they got to us were bored. I wanted to
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implement interactive components and fun into the event in order to leave a lasting impression

and a better understanding of what RS has to offer.

We decided to keep some aspects of the former program, we would still have student staff

greet students on the front steps and bring them around our facility. The main difference is that

instead of bringing them somewhere and talking at them, they would have a couple of key

talking points that would be delivered while doing an activity. We worked with the different

program areas to develop fun easy activities that students could try no matter what they were

wearing and that would not be a barrier for most students. Students would have a passport that

would be checked off at each location and if they completed all of the different activities or

talked to a leader at those stations they would get a free RS t-shirt.

My Bachelors degree is in Parks and Recreation Management with minors in

Marketing, Art History, and Recreational Sport Management; none of these classes introduced

me to student development theory. I heard the term student development from previous

supervisors as an undergraduate student employee and while at NIRSA conferences but did not

know about the different theories. While reading about Bronfenbrenners Theory, I realized that

I had used many components in planning this initiative.

Components of Bronfenbrenners Theory

Process

Brofenbrenner defines process as interactions between person and environment that

operate over time and are the primary mechanisms producing development. (161) Environment

played a large role in planning Sneak Peek. We wanted to create a setting that would allow the

freshman to experience something they enjoyed while not getting overwhelmed. With a large

number of students regularly in the building in the evenings we needed to plan around their
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needs while allowing the incoming students to experience a setting that was not intimidating. We

decided to have the students stay in groups and be led around by a leader so that they

experienced the setting in a controlled manner.

For those who wanted to venture out and be independent we allowed them to go back to

the stations and other areas of the facility once their experience with the leader was over. Some

students came in and wanted to simply walk around the facility with their parents or friend that

they brought, our leaders were encouraged to give these groups an elevator speech and direct

them where they wanted to go.

Person

Our theme for Sneak Peek was Something for Everyone. We then carried this theme

throughout the year in different marketing campaigns. We wanted to highlight that any

individual could come to one of our facilities and events and find something they would enjoy. I

wanted to make sure that this rang true for Sneak Peek in the offerings we had and in the way we

planned and executed the event. Instead of hiring only super outgoing people who were the most

involved in recreational sports, I hired students involved all over campus who had found their

niche in our department. These students all experience our programs differently and were able to

bring in different perspectives. We trained our staff to interact with different types of individuals

and in ways to get the conversation started and engage individuals in different ways. It didnt

matter if a student was the first to run out on the wallyball court or the student who preferred to

sit back and watch some of the short clips that we had playing there was a way for them to

explore and relate to their surroundings.

Context
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The next component in Bronfenbrenners Theory is context. In this model, context is

where interactions between the person and environment occur. The context is broken into four

different levels detailed below. All of these different levels affected the students experience with

us during their visit.

During orientation, students are placed in small groups with a leader creating a

microsystem. These groups create bonds as they spend the day together. In order to make the

students comfortable and more willing to interact we kept them in the same groups they were in

throughout the day. We found that some groups had already become close friends and our

leaders were able to navigate the groups dynamic and engage them as a whole. Some groups

were a but more timid and the leader would work to create face-to-face interactions with each

individual as they went around the building in attempts to connect them to the right offerings.

When we were lucky enough to have an orientation leader come over with the group, that

individual was able to further engage the group of students on a deeper level because they had

already created that bond.

Mesosystems came into play when students would start asking us about student

employment and sports clubs. These extra ways of being involved would connect them to our

programs in a more meaningful way. We were also able to create opportunities for them to meet

some student organizations and community partners by having sponsor booths in our atrium.

This extra layer of involvement and support allowed students to see themselves in a variety of

ways and how those interconnected with campus recreation.

Exosystems played a role in the quality and amount of time we had with some students.

Some students were already signed up to be part of different honors groups on campus or in

specific academic programs that held events in the evenings. The need for them to attend other
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events caused students to spend limited time with us, or none at all. The orientation team had to

balance the pressures from the university in order to maintain a level of control over how many

different areas were competing for the student time. We would also get several students each

evening that would come over with their parents instead of their groups. They were encouraged

to eat dinner with the other students but some would go with their families instead and then come

to us. These instances varied from being beneficial to us when the parents would encourage their

student to try the different activities or just hang out and get a tour of their own, to being

problematic when the parent would speak for the child. Each individual circumstance required

our leaders to think on their feet and try to find the best way to connect with the student with

what they were presented with during the event.

Macrosystems came into play when we had individuals from different regions of the

country or when we hosted international student Sneak Peek. The cultural experiences that

students grew up with in regards to sports and fitness would vary. Our international student

populations asked more questions about badminton, cricket club, and swim lessons than they

normally did about our intramural sports such as basketball and flag football. We also found that

students from different regions had different expectations, some of our more rural Indiana

students walked in and were completely in awe where those who grew up going to fitness centers

did not want as much guidance around the facility. We would also see social forces at play.

Some individuals were uninterested in playing the different games and did not want to be seen as

uncool. These individuals would then affect the entire group dynamic.

Time

We utilize the different events that we plan during Welcome Week in order to allow

students a progressively more complex introduction to recreational sports. Some students are too
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intimidated to come to the facility during orientation so we meet them where they are living.

Professional staff and student employees were stationed at residence hall check in and shared our

main theme, Something for Everyone. These personal connections allowed us to connect with

students and encourage them to come to RecFest and our other Semester Kick-off events.

RecFest is a fun way for students to get in our second facility and see people from all walks of

life working the event. They also are able to see everything that we have to offer without the

pressure of having to try something. We continue these interactions in the residence halls

through several different efforts throughout the academic year. These low risk interactions allow

us to ease students into a level of comfortability and develop a confidence to come in and try

something they will enjoy.

Future Considerations

Overall, I think we were able to lead students through an enjoyable experience with us no

matter their previous experience with recreation. There is still more that could be done for

students who are trying to balance their time and have several conflicting expectations for their

evening time. If I were recrafting the experience, I would connect with organizations on campus

holding these events and try to get them in our auditorium or multipurpose rooms that are not in

use. This way we are meeting students where they are at and can get more participation before

and after.

If I were planning this event now, I would include education about this theory and use it

as evidence for how important those individual student interactions are each night. We were able

to spend a lot of time training our staff in order for them to be able to connect with different

students and feel more confident engaging, this training allowed them to meet students where

they were at and could be improved using theory.

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References

Evans, N. J., Forney, D. S., Guido, F. M., Patton, L. D., & Renn, K. A. (2010). Student

Development in College. San Fransisco, California. Jossey-Bass.