Game Nights

Objectives

• Build community
• Interpersonal bonding
• Hanging out and spending time together
• Encouraging team work
• Mix residents with people they don't usually spend time with

Summary
Game night is an awesome way to encourage residents to interact with one another in a team work capacity without having to get personal. You can arrange the teams yourself to put people who don't usually spend time together in the same team or you can just play as a whole house. Depending on what you are wanting to help build within your community to can pick any number of games. The key aspect of game night is your residents need to buy into the event otherwise it will be you and the same people who get involved in everything. Sometimes a reward or prize is incentive enough to get residents to attend.

House Hike/Walk

Objectives

• Get people outdoors
• See more of Acadia National Park
• Build Community
• Release endorphin
• Hang out casually

Summary
Hikes and walks are a great way to get residents out of the house, into fresh air and see more of the park. It's also a great way to get some exercise in and force residents to put away their phones, tablets and laptops. Ah, there's nothing like nature and conversation.

Conversation Traditions

Objectives

• Encourage conversation at house meals
• Sharing information without being too personal
• Updating others on your current life situations
• Positive thinking
• Low key resident check-in

Summary
These conversation traditions are a great way to encourage everyday in the house to have a voice. Everyone could have a turn or you could just let people volunteer. This allows residents to share information about themselves, their lives, what they see as important etc. without having to get too personal. By creating a tradition, you can also build conversation when things could get strained, weird or awkward. You can have things such as a a word of thanks - a thankful for _____ - peach, fuzz, bud - a good thing, a difficult thing, a thing you're looking forward to - or simply a good thing about the week. Another idea is to think about impact - who have you impacted someone positively this week?

Community Dinners/Meals

Objectives

• Build community
• Feed yourself and residents
• Check-in  with people
• Help residents bond

Summary
Community Dinner is almost considered part of the RA job description. It is often used by RA's to build community from the start of the year until the end. Sometimes it works wonderfully and sometimes your residents would prefer to feed themselves. Community dinner can be adapted in various different meal times and locations e.g. dessert, brunch, picnic, potluck, afternoon tea time.

Registration Parties

Objectives

• De-stress residents
• Help with registration problems
• Hangout with the community mid-term
• Chat with and check-in with residents about classes
• Eat food or drink tea - Yumma!

Summary
Registration parties became a huge hit with residents. They come in all types from pancake extravaganzas to small tea times around midnight. The trick is to cater to your community within reason and have a supportive time during what can be, a very stressful process. Depending on what you want to do with your residents you will need to prepare accordingly. Also if you are wanting to speak with residents about what classes they are planning on taking or how they feel their current classes are going this is a great time to start the conversation. It can encourage residents to help one another (all being in similar situations) and you to check with residents when in the coming weeks it will become difficult to pin them down!

Kitten Cuddling

Objectives

• Get residents off island and out of COA for awhile
• Stress relief around weeks nine and ten
• Bond together as a community over kittens!

Summary
Kitten cuddling is actually an outing to the SPCA to play with their kittens for a period of time. It was a great stress relief for residents during week nine of winter term which is always very difficult emotionally. There isn't a lot of sunlight, it's cold and people stay inside more. This can create a lot of tension and sometimes stir crazy energy from being around the same people, in the same space for ten straight weeks. The SPCA was in Ellsworth so it got residents off island and the kittens were cute and fluffy, nuff said.

Secret Valentine

Objectives

• Celebrate Valentines Day
• Community building
• Encourage positive interactions between residents

Summary
Secret Valentines were created to celebrate Valentines Day. They are an anonymous way for residents to do something positive for others. It can generate better inter-resident relationships and help build community. This program doesn't have to be solely Valentines Day, it can be adapted for Christmas, Easter, Summer and Winter Solstice, whatever you think will work.

Movie Nights

Objectives

•  Get to know people
• Hang out without expectations about conversation
• Activity that could include homework as well as hangout

Summary
Movie Nights were a way to get to know residents in a way that didn't put pressure on anyone to make conversation. It was also created to allow multitasking so that during the busy periods of the year residents could complete homework as well. Snacks were offered and there was some conversation before the movie as people grabbed food.

Wall of Positivity

Objectives

• Focus on the positive contributions of others
• Community building
• People become aware of their own as well as others impacts

Summary
The Wall of Positivity was a way for people to recognize, anonymously, the positive things other people in the house do for them. This was to steer away from the negative comments surrounding what people haven't done. It was also to build a better positive energy and community in the house between people who don't usually interact with one another. The anonymity focused the notes solely on the person being mentioned and the action of writing a note didn't take much effort to complete.