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"It really is worth more than anything in the world to meet people who know what we do to help out." Jen Trinidad, the newly elected president of the Circle K Hofstra chapter, sees the need for students to volunteer their time and energy in order to get the satisfaction of changing things by helping out. "Circle K provides that medium to participate with other students to make people's lives better. It actually opens our eyes to see what is really going on in the world. I believe that most people really want to help but they don't know how to go about doing it, they don't have a means of getting involved." The club supports many organizations throughout the year, offering members information and companionship to participate in many events, including some of their own. Walkathons for breast cancer, leukemia and lymphoma research and awareness, the March of Dimes, and community building activities like the One Brick Foundation and New York Cares are just some examples. They also sponsor a camp in upstate New York for cognitively delayed and needy children, and have an opportunity to work at the camp with other students and professionals. "Community service has helped to open our eyes to how many people deal with homelessness, disease and hunger", says Jen.

This year members went to work with the New York City Public Schools for "New York Cares" Day. They were assigned with students from other area Universities to try to improve the environment in the schools by cleaning, painting and repairing the classrooms of public schools in New York City. Jennifer remembers her own experience when she was assigned to her own grade school. "I actually got to see some of my teachers from when I went to grade school. It was a wonderful day and it made us feel great! I even painted a mural on a wall of the school."

Members of the Hofstra chapter of Circle K, an international community service organization, will participate in the first Hempstead Cleanup on Saturday April 24. The event begins at 9:30am on the intramural fields and students will spend the day improving the outdoor areas of the neighborhood surrounding the University. The event was initiated by the club's current membership and will be the trial run. By making arrangements for clean up supplies, some breakfast, a meeting place and transportation for students, their goal is to provide safety and to keep everyone organized. They have asked other friends to join them, such as members of other clubs who have a need to meet their own goals for community outreach.

What makes a student organization with an active membership, chapters in 550 colleges and universities, 13,000 members and a history of good works? Jennifer explains: "It takes just a couple of strong willed people who can inspire others to just go and do random acts of kindness for absolutely nothing in return. I think we are a bunch of extraordinary people that can inspire other students who see what we do."

For more information contact Jen Trinidad at x36914.

Click for the Circle K International Websites »

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Frank Hablawi, the current leader of the Hofstra University Gamers (HUG), tells about the club's incredible success story. Since September, membership has expanded from five to 150 members and continues to grow. We asked Frank to explain the concept of the club and increased student interest. "We pretended we were a club for a day to show everybody what it would be like. I gathered a group of about five people who were interested and we brainstormed possibilities. I think we started off with a strong niche that wasn't being filled, a network of people who wanted to get together and have fun. Initially it grew by word of mouth, and I soon found that we had a choice to make. We discussed it and decided that we wanted to make something that would still be here four years from now, that would still exist for others after us. It would be more work and we would get less immediate gratification, but we decided to aim for longevity."

Frank loves the concept and knows how to explain it to others. "You have to keep it fun, make it interesting, and watch out that it doesn't become an insulated group. We invite new people all the time and tell others to do the same. When people come and they are shy, we have the momentum to open up to them. We calculate our numbers with a sign-in at each meeting, and every few months I tell the officers to bring in ten new people." They have actually made the membership work a sort of game, with raffles and prizes. Games are chosen by all of the members and posted on a message board that provides daily activities for members. As for the choice of games, which Frank and others review, he says: "I am aiming for games that encourage interaction and communication, games in which you have to read another's expression, learn about others, predict what they would say. It gives us an incentive to get to know each other."

How do the "gamers" attract new members? Incentives, approaching people, walking around with a game and talking to people about it, as well as asking new members how they heard about the club (flyers, talking to other student groups, the website are others) have been successful strategies. Frank has found that students are "saturated" and a personal approach is usually the best. He has also found that talking with some of the Cultural Clubs who have a traditional game (the Chinese Club were asked to teach "Go", which is Chinese checkers) or combining a movie with a game, such as Lord of the Rings and Lord of the Rings Trivial Pursuit for prizes, are great ways for students to have fun and get to know each other. There is also a mascot that helps the students recognize messages and flyers as being from the official HUG club.

"We think attitude is important. We are not elitist; If you can't walk into any meeting and feel that you are part of the group within a few minutes then I feel it is not a good club and is not being run well. You have to force yourself to talk to newcomers, remember their name, be sure to be nice to them and be consciously aware of it. It is really hard to do. I say treat them very, very well! A number of students have said that joining the club was 'the best thing that has happened to me' since they got to school. Most new students feel that they are not happy with their school, no matter where they are, because they don't have any connections."

For more information or to become a member of the club, contact the "gamers" or Frank at Hofstragamers@hotmail.com.

Click for information about the Hofstra Gamers Club »

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"They go to one place, it is on line, and they can just observe or participate. They can even print it out and read it later!" Pauline Saavedra is the Acting Dean of the Office of Graduate Admissions at Hofstra University. She and her staff have been scheduling monthly "Chat" sessions on the Graduate Admission's website since the fall semester of this year. The online meeting is an increasingly popular way of helping prospective students navigate the process of exploring Graduate Programs at Hofstra and admissions requirements.

The department purchased a software program called Chat University to provide the framework for the chat itself, which includes a side window for quick access to frequently asked questions and control devices for keeping the conversation on track. Program directors from the Graduate Schools are informed of the scheduled times by Dean Saavedra (she also sends them a couple of reminders!) and their voluntary participation has become an important part of the communication. Prospective students receive e-mail announcements as well and are only required to log on (with their choice of user name and password) to participate. "It is usually a Graduate Assistant, a representative from the Financial Aid Office and me. Graduate Program Directors also come on and chat with the applicants. We don't have to be in our offices but can be anywhere with internet access. In the future, Program Directors could plan mini-information sessions about their programs. These can be easily tailored for the individual programs needs."

Managing the conversation is simple when planning beforehand takes place. Pauline's staff answers questions that they feel best about answering or that they are available for. Private rooms are set up, to remove a conversation that may be too detailed (say about transfer of credits) or are of little interest to other chatters. The staff also likes to open another window to communicate amongst themselves during the chat. Evenings have proven to be the most popular time, but the Graduate Admissions is still experimenting with various times during the day. "Helping students gain access to people and application information is our goal. Most of the potential Graduate Studies students do not have the time to come in and meet with us between 9am and 7pm and so we enable them to participate in a 'meeting,' and we can also give specific information about where to get information beyond the scope of admissions." Dean Saavedra sees potential for newly accepted students who want to get to "know" each other before beginning to attend Hofstra, sharing concerns and information, and for other departments such as the Computer Center and Residential Life logging on to answer questions as well.

"The individual attention that participants receive is the idea that they are most pleased with. They have direct access to us!" says Dana Cheshire who is the newest Graduate Assistant and a Graduate Student in the School of Education. Recently she decided to give up life and work in Manhattan and work toward her dream of becoming a teacher. Dana went through the process herself when she chose to make the decision to come to Hofstra and she understands the needs of students like herself. "Finding the commonality among other potential students is very, very helpful to them. It seems that students love to communicate with each other and it creates an excitement about Hofstra!"

For more information about the "chat" or Graduate Admissions at Hofstra, contact the office at x 34723.

Click for Graduate Admissions Website »

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"This is a great series of extremely knowledgeable speakers and timely topics. The speakers present lectures based on their experience along with some research. The information is presented in a very general sense as not to overwhelm the audience with too much scholarly information. The events are very interactive and there is always a question and answer session after the lecture. The speakers really appreciate the opportunity to interact with the audience, and the audience appreciates their opportunity as well," says Deborah Lom, the Assistant Director for Conference and Special Events at the Hofstra Cultural Center. As the Lecture Series Coordinator, she begins to look at dates, based on the Holiday and Class schedule, and chooses at least 6 dates though they usually only need four or five. When the Director has confirmed the speaker's availability, they will release some dates. Deborah will then work with the speakers, for special requirements such as setup, display, lighting, projection and other presentation equipment.

"Every semester the series presents a different theme related to the Italian-American experience. We choose general topics like food, wine, travel or music, which are of interest to our audience. The Lecture Series Director Stan Pugliese is an Associate Professor of History at Hofstra and has published several books. The audience has been very loyal through the years and they are very interested in learning as well as being entertained. Stan does a great job with making sure that there is an exchange of ideas and wonderful speakers who know the interests of our Long Island audience." Focusing on Italian music, The Musica, Maestro! Italian and Italian-American Traditions the 2004 series will be held in the Leo A. Guthart Cultural Center Theater on April 29th, May 13th and May 20th at 8pm. "I like to see and hear our speakers with an audience before I invite them to participate", says Professor Pugliese. "I have been able to get to know many speakers and audience who come to the events and I learn from them. Our audience is very well-read. Many of them are not Italian-American. Our challenge is to keep them involved and I believe the secret of our success is that we have been able to present events that engage the audience."

The event is promoted by the Hofstra Cultural Center via all of the available methods at Hofstra, including Hofnews e-mail announcements, It's Happening at Hofstra and the Hofstra Chronicle and the distribution of flyers throughout campus. The Cultural Center has developed mailing lists over the years that are specifically targeted to individual audiences that attend events. Visitors can add themselves and friends to the mailing lists at events. A staff member is always present to keep audience members interested and well informed about the program they are attending and others presented by the Cultural Center. Deborah feels that the Cultural Center's website address, which appears on all of the promotional materials, has been a very important source of audience support for all of the events. In addition, flyers for every event are sent to a central distribution point which gets them to the local Libraries in Nassau and Suffolk counties. "We are always looking for new ways of getting the word out to our students and professors as well", says Deborah. And as Professor Pugliese confirms, "We attempt to connect with the community and I think people appreciate that."

For more information about the Italian-American Experience Lecture Series contact Deborah Lom at x35293.

Click Here for the Hofstra Cultural Center Website »

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