Off Campus Student Activity Box

A proposal created by: Laura Kenny, Anna

Bartucca, Kyle Lazic and Peter Walker

#ICOFFCAMPUS
@IC_offhousing
★ College life will continue to be affected by COVID-19 in
the years to come, and due to the unprecedented time
brought on by the pandemic, living off campus is now
isolating, which may cause a sense of not belonging to
the campus.
★ First Year Students are often offered the most in terms of
activities that give the students a sense of community.
★ Students living off campus are typically upperclassmen
that have established social circles but may feel
disconnected from IC.
★ Creating an activity box would be a way to engage
students that are living in the Ithaca community more
than the engagement they receive from online/hybrid
classes.
 Who: Eileen Harrington

Off Campus Community Living Coordinator at Ithaca

College

The Client Owner of @ic_offcampus instagram page

 1. Instagram takeover
2. Group: um.. Maybe not
3. How can we help Eileen?
4. What can we give to Eileen for her to post on
instagram and implement?
The Process 5. Activity box!

→
The Budget
The Activities
Inexpensive and
Free Activities
 Activities with
Connections to the IC
Community
 The box will be constructed of sustainable material such as:

➔ Bamboo

➔ reclaimed wood
➔ precast concrete

The Box ➔
➔
recycled plastics
Reused news paper stands

By using a reusable/recycled material, the college would be

assured that the contents kept inside would remain clean and
dry, but yet not be a burden on natural resources or the
environment. The box should be made to a size that is
compatible with multiple activities to ensure that every
student who visits the box has access to the activity or
activities for that time frame.
What the box could look like
One of the potential
places for the box
location

The Circle and Solar apartments are

locations where a large number of
students live. While they are not
considered “off-campus”, they are
removed from where the general
population of students reside, This
central location in the Circle Apartments
would receive the most traffic,
accessible by all who live nearby and is
well lit.
 Several additional locations have been identified for the
placement of the activity boxes:

★ Coddington Road entrance: This area is located

closest to Pennsylvania ave and Kendall ave and
serves as the main entry point onto campus for
those students who live in this area.
Additional locations
★ Farm Road: This location is close to Hudson Place,
which is another major location for off campus
housing. This location is also very close to
Facilities and the Ithaca College Office of Public
Safety so it can be monitored.

If boxes can be placed in multiple locations then there

will be better access, and reach a larger population of off-
campus students.
Implementation ★ Eileen / helper / co owner of the page- posts and
introduces our activity box idea
○ 1st post: introduce the activity box, show it-the
locations, what it looks like, how to access it, how to
interact with it, etc
○ Following posts: post the activity and the instructions
of the activity, specific information according to the
specific activity
★ Engagement with community:
○ Posts people interacting with activity
○ Posts student submissions (EX-art canvas)
○ Posts “winners” (when applicable)
★ Management of box:
○ There will be someone who checks the box for
damage / other issues / refills the box
○ Switches activity each week (sunday-sunday
schedule)
 Challenges (with ★ Problem: Keeping up with a weekly schedule
★ Solution: Doesn’t have to be as rigid

the box) ○ If need be-can span over multiple semesters

★ Problem: Lack of of faculty (posting, checking/filling the

box, etc)
★ Solution: Leadership students take over the project
and help as they can, asking for volunteers

★ Problem: Damage to the box-criminal

mischief/weather
★ Solution: Place boxes in well lit locations, make
public safety aware of activity box
Challenges creating this ★
★
Challenges:
Not wanting to do original project

project ★
★
Thinking of a new idea we all wanted/could do
All can relate: being remote
○ Not engaging with activity directly
○ Not being able to see it come into fruition
★ Leadership:
○ Responsibility to be honest about our needs and
interests
○ Brainstorming together
○ Be passionate about the project
○ Creating a group vision (we couldn’t see)
 We recognize that with this pandemic, Ithaca College, may never go
back to fully in-person education and we feel strongly that this Student
Activity Box can help mitigate future social isolation that one can feel

Conclusion when they cannot form a sense of community.

We foresee that while this project may start off simply as a way to help
the off-campus community with mental health and breaks during periods
of isolation, we hope that expands to build the broader off-campus
community.

We believe that this project can also be taken on and expanded upon by
future leadership classes for many semesters to come.