Colleges collaborate to keep students on campus this weekend

With new students walking the halls and campuses of Heidelberg and Tiffin Universities, the two entities are working together to keep students on campus over the long weekend. Both TU and Heidelberg have been working together and are planning a variety of activities for students to participate in. These events are to take place during — what is being called — LaborSTAY Weekend. "We understand how daunting it may feel to go away to college, especially for our new first years, and how natural it is to want to go home," Jacqueline Sironen, director of Student Engagement at Heidelberg, said. "But we believe in our universities, and are confident that students can build powerful support systems here." According to Sironen, research indicates that first-year students who stay on campus the first six weeks are more likely to stay at school than those who leave campus to go home for the weekend. "That starts with being here and it needs to start right away," Sironen said. "The hope is that homesick students will find each other, commiserate together, distract each other, and eventually lift each other up. And that support will last four years, turning a timid new student into a college graduate." Sironen — along with her team — have been working with Cassandra Eschweiler, coordinator of Student Engagement and Hannah Tyson, director of Student Engagement at TU, to plan these events. Each school designed their own weekend of events and have come together for united events. TU is hosting Bubble Soccer and outdoor fun at 5 p.m. Saturday. Heidelberg is hosting its annual karaoke, co-sponsored by the wrestling team and the Student Engagement Office at 8 p.m. Sunday. Both universities are providing transportation to students who want to attend events across town. The culminating event will be TU•HU Palooza, a joint event for students from both schools, featuring free T-shirts, food trucks and lots of entertainment, including a friendly lip sync battle between Chris Abrams, the dean of Student Affairs at Heidelberg, and Mike Herdlick, the dean of students at Tiffin University. The TU•HU Palooza will be held on Labor Day, Monday from 6-10 p.m. at the East Green Amphitheater. The presidents of both universities — Lillian Schumacher of TU and Rob Huntington of Heidelberg — both plan to attend TU•HU Palooza. The event will also feature appearances by the Cheer and Dance Team, a mascot tug-of-war competition and a trivia contest. "LaborSTAY Weekend is a great opportunity for both institutions to collaborate and hopefully encourage students to engage with each other," Eschweiler said in a release provided by the universities. "Keeping students on campus is a safe way to celebrate the long weekend and it will provide a great opportunity to mingle with our friends from Heidelberg." We've had a lot of fun working together," Sironen said. "This isn't the first time I've worked with Hannah Tyson at TU but it's certainly the biggest project we've undertaken together. And it's given me a chance to meet and work with Cassie. I've also had the chance to bring some of my students in on the project, giving them the opportunity to see how other schools operate and broadening their perspectives. We've learned a lot."