Food and Films help create campus connections

By Jodi H. Beyeler

GOSHEN, Ind. – Baking isn’t in her official job description as a resident director (RD) at Goshen College, but Susie Lambright has written it in. She bakes so much that she burns out the motor in her mixer every six months. But she keeps cooking because she has learned it is one very effective means of connecting with college students.

Chad Coleman, another Goshen College RD, is a film aficionado. And he knows that the students in his residence hall love movies too. So a large TV and home entertainment unit in his apartment have made his place a prime campus hang-out.

As veteran RDs for Kratz, Miller and Yoder residence halls – which are primarily home to first and second-year students who are new to living away from home and with their peers – Lambright and Coleman have many responsibilities, but the opportunity to get to know students one-on-one though is what both of them enjoy most.

“It is all about the relationships. Getting to know the students on an individual basis is the stuff that keeps me engaged with my job,” said Lambright, who started in her position at Goshen College in 2001. “I want to be part of their lives and the campus community in ways that matter.” She often attends campus athletic events, theater or music activities, stops by students’ rooms to chat, hangs out in the student-run campus coffee shop, Java Junction, and invites students into her home.

To read more of this article by News Bureau Director Jodi H. Beyeler click here.