Raychel Payne -- Center for Student Activities Week 6

Activities:

• Miss Mississippi Pageant 
• Lyceum Series Ticket Sales
• 1-Hour Meeting with Supervisor

Experience:

This week was really quick for me because we are in full out Residence Director training mode. I did however have my supervision time that ended up being more than just the one hour requirement. I was very happy when I got to the office and several people were excited to see me. I had not been to the office for a week and several people mentioned that they had missed me. It was a very humbling experience because I had not been a part of the office for very long and I had already made that kind of impression on people. 

In my supervision meeting, my supervisor updated me on the events from this past week. The two main things happening within the office were continued ticket sales for the Lyceum Series and the Miss Mississippi Pageant. The winner of the Miss MSU pageant held on campus, Laura Lee Lewis, competed in the Miss Mississippi Pageant over the past weekend and was the 1st runner up of the competition. My supervisor was able to fill me in on the details of the competition and how the pageant brings positive publicity to Mississippi State University. Many of the 41 competitors were Mississippi State Student Leaders and the winner is a current student as well. It amazes me how many projects come out of the Center for Student Activities office. In the few short weeks I have worked in the office I have helped with anything from freshman orientation, to an art gallery, then to the Miss Mississippi Pageant contestants. The diversity of the pieces of this office make it an incredibly unique resource for students. 

The topic in Chapter 3 this week focused on ethics and social media. What I can take away from this chapter has to do with the many student organizations that come out of the CSA office. Many of them have there own social media accounts and post frequently on them. My supervisor talked about stressing the importance of positively representing the institution and the specific organizations when student leaders manage those social media accounts. I think that it is very easy for someone to make posts based on an emotional reaction without considering how it may affect others affiliated with the student group. For example, many student disagree with the musical artists that are brought to campus and openly post there feelings on twitter and facebook. There have been a few cases in the CSA office where students have caused problems between organizations based on social media posts.