Commuter Lunch at Weisenfluh Dining Hall

Weisenfluh Dining Hall - March 25, 2022 12:00 P.M.

Being a student here at Slippery Rock University for almost three years now, I have always been amazed at how well our university tries to keep every student involved and engaged in a lot of social aspects. From intramural sports to clubs and organizations, our university always wants students to feel as if something is happening on campus to improve our social aspects of life.

This is exactly what the Student Center and Conference Services are doing with their monthly eat-in lunch for commuter students. They are allowing commuter students to come in, eat for free, and socialize with other commuters. Doing some research, I found that some commuter students, especially first year students, have a difficult time "fitting in" when commuting to and from school. The only point of contact with other students for most commuter students is in the classroom, which is only a minuscule portion of the entire college experience. With the lunches that the Student Center and Conference Services do for commuter students, it allows these students to get more of a social aspect on campus. It allows for commuter students to communicate with other commuter students to form that relationship that students very much need in universities.

Below is David Markley, who is the Assistant Director of Student Center and Conference Services, giving an explanation as to why these commuter lunches can greatly impact commuter students.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQ4rYWFX06Y

As the lunch continued, more and more people slowly started making their way into room 103 at Weisenfluh Dining Hall. When I first got there, it was right at the beginning of the event so there wasn't a great amount of students in there, but closer to 12:30 P.M, many others started filing in. Talking with Markley, I found out that they have struggled getting more and more commuter students here simply because of the recent pandemic, but he did mention that before the pandemic when they would do these, the numbers were way more significant. He mentioned the fact that they also do breakfasts for commuter students every month as well.

Markley states, "On average there is roughly twenty commuter students who come to the lunches and roughly ten to fifteen students for the breakfasts." There is definitely room for more commuter students to come and enjoy a free sit-in lunch or breakfast. Making students aware of the events that Student Center and Conference Services are holding would be essential in getting more people to show up to these events. The more people, the better the atmosphere will be. More people will be able to socialize with each other. But even being there for only an hour, it seemed as if the students were really starting to make some connections with other students as they all were talking with each other.

Above is a picture of Megan Boozel and Sarah Brandon getting to know each other.

Although the turn outs of the commuter lunches held by the Student Center and Conference Services aren't huge numbers, what they are doing for commuter students should never be overlooked. These commuter students deal with many hardships, such as previously stated trying to fit in with the rest of the students on campus, transportation issues, and limited communication with staff members. David Markley, along with the rest of the Student Center and Conference Services are trying to create a space for these students to socialize and create those relationships and giving them a chance to escape those hardships most commuter students may have. If Student Center and Conference Services improve their reach to commuter students, I could definitely see the numbers for this event improving. What they are doing for commuter students is amazing and it can greatly impact the lives of these students.

Above is a picture of five guys talking and getting to know each other better.