The Office of Student Involvement introduced Tide2 as a leadership opportunity for sophomores last fall, and after one year of development, Tide2 has grown its outreach, increased in membership and reworked the structure of its curriculum.
“We recognize that oftentimes the sophomore year is considered as a sophomore slump where students start to experience various challenges and uncertainties,” said Teneshia Arnold, director of student involvement. “We want to fill the gap and be a resource to our students, help them to build community and affinity to the University, and hope that they will continue to matriculate here at UA.”
Since its introduction last fall, the organization has gained a year’s worth of results that speak to its benefits.
“We’ve had multiple students who are now serving in a variety of on-campus student employment opportunities. They went through the program last year, learned about those opportunities, and then felt confident to go ahead and pursue them,” Arnold said.
“I think it was very beneficial for me,” said Michaela McLaughlin, peer collaborator. “This led me to take on roles, even in other organizations.”
Arnold said that Tide2 has increased its visibility on campus by working with campus partners.
While only active for a year, Arnold said that Tide2 has used participant feedback to make several improvements.
For example, the organization has become more accessible by changing from a year-long commitment to just one semester, available as either a fall or spring cohort. This way, students have freedom of movement in terms of their schedule and still have the option to stay for both semesters if they so desire.
The organization is also accessible due to its relaxed schedule, as it meets for just one hour every two weeks.
The first meeting for this year’s fall cohort will be Sept. 17 at 5:30 p.m. in North Lawn room 1015. Students are encouraged to fill out the interest form found on the Tide2 webpage by Sept. 17, and for those unavailable to join at this time, the spring cohort will be available in January.
“That is our success story — students further developing their leadership skills and pursuing on-campus employment and other leadership on campus,” Arnold said.
