By ALICIA FEYERHERM
Tiger Media Network
Homecoming is an exciting time. Between the creative competitions, parade, football game, and royalty crowning, campus is brimming with Tiger pride during Homecoming week. However, up until last year, FHSU online students were not included in the festivities as all the activities were on campus.
“Online Homecoming is meant to enrich the Homecoming Experience by adding some activities that you can enjoy from anywhere, at any time throughout the week,” Instruction and Outreach Librarian Cyndi Landis said.
Landis, along with Online Student Success Coach Diane Hernandez-Ramirez, have worked to create fun and engaging events for students to celebrate their school pride and make meaningful connections.
“I want every student to feel that they belong and that their voice matters,” Hernandez-Ramierz said. “By participating in our fun events and activities, I hope students will find joy in connecting with peers, faculty, and alumni, even from afar.”
Activities for Online Homecoming include:
- Game Day Button Design Contest
- Tiger Trivia
- Choose Your Own FHSU Adventure
- Show Your Tiger Spirit Photo Board
- Coloring Pages
- Puzzles
“We have a little something for everyone,” Landis said.
As part of the Choose Your Own FHSU Adventure, students can choose to learn about FHSU history through photos and documents from the University Archives.
“FHSU has some amazing people and pivotal moments of transformation since its beginning in 1902, making it the university that it is today,” Landis said. “By learning about the story of FHSU, I hope students come away with a jolt of school spirit and feel more connected, seeing themselves in that FHSU story.”
By participating in Online Homecoming events, students will have the opportunity to win prizes like t-shirts, swag baskets and other FHSU gear.
Online Homecoming activities start today and end Saturday. The activities can be completed at any time throughout the week to provide as much flexibility as possible.
“It can feel isolating being an online student, so we wanted to be intentional about designing something that online students could do on their own time,” Landis said.
Activities are hosted on Inscribe, which is the same platform as Tiger-2-Tiger (a discussion platform for online students).
Last year, only individuals with a TigerNetID could participate, but this year the platform will be open to anyone with a Google account or a LinkedIn Profile.
“We hope this increases some engagement between current students, alumni, and our broader FHSU community,” Landis said. “There’s even a new chat feature to help people from similar geographic areas connect with one another.”
Landis sees Online Homecoming as a way for students to feel more connected to the Online community as well as Fort Hays as a whole.
“I also hope that the networking opportunities bring about some fruitful connections: a friendship, an introduction to a job opportunity or even an invite to a social event,” Landis said.
Hernandez-Ramierz agrees with this sentiment.
“No matter where they are, we want them to know they are valued members of the Tiger family,” Hernandez-Ramierez said.
You must be logged in to post a comment.