Meeting Minutes: 21 April 22

Our second meeting of the semester was all about learning how to empower our fellow students on campus. The meeting began with a video we will include below about a 102 year-old runner and how participation in sport even over a century of life continues to give her purpose and drive well into her elderly years. Members Eric and Tomoya both let me know ahead of time they had scheduling conflicts and would not be able to attend the meeting. (But that's what these are for! So no sweat!) Just so prospective members are aware however, the procedure for when no members can attend a meeting in person is that I will hang around the seminar room until 1815 and if no one is there, I'll pack up and head out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PKj5-OgTyk

The agenda for the meeting also included lessons on the importance of creativity as a tool for empowering fellow students, so if members have ideas on how to boost creativity both in and outside of classrooms- let us know! This was broken down into two sections: the development of harmonizing interests vs mandatory attendance and then moving from engagement to empowerment. Oftentimes, schools and universities require mandatory attendance for classes and events, but this is a relatively shallow approach to engaging and empowering creativity.

Instead, one should encourage students to attend events and classes through learning about their interests and finding a way to bring together everyone's diverse interests and needs to provide a class or activity that can appeal to everyone. Once students engage with a class or activity, then the teachers or professors or etc can empower those engaged through giving everyone an equal voice in decision making such as what topics to learn about and discuss.

To close out the agenda, I shared some brain games that test individuals' ability to remain unique in a group setting. People often sacrifice their individual identity and personality in order to fit in to a group- and many times they don't even do it consciously. Nu Beta is committed to creating a campus where students should take pride in their individuality and to create a campus culture where individuals with unique experiences and personalities and harmonize rather than conform and feel comfortable on campus and beyond.