Creating community

Guest post by Robin Bowlus
director of public relations

I have heard our campus student life professionals talk about creating "community" for many years. On the surface it seems pretty simple and it makes sense. Students who live, learn and work together are more successful in college and in life. The reality is that creating community is not done by a single person or a committee.

During the summer I enjoyed reading Gerald’s book on going to church. It made a real impact on my family’s perception of “church”. The book also reminded me that the key to going to church, means we had to “go” to church. And not just on Sunday. Going and being part of congregation life is what makes church fulfilling.

Going. Doing. Being part of something that is for you and about more than you. That is how you create community. That is how you will feel fulfilled. But each of us needs to make the effort to show up.

Last week was the dia-BEAT-this Walk-A-Thon for diabetes awareness in the Sommer Center. The idea came from my student worker, Jena Diller, a junior marketing major who has done a lot of work with the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation. Jena’s family is affected by the disease. 

Jena Diller, working in the PR office

We were not sure what the turn-out would be for Bluffton’s walk. Jena’s goal was to have 250 people participate and walk at least 100 miles. She has other groups across the country walking during November for National Diabetes Awareness month. Jena’s ultimate goal is to accumulate 1,000 miles in 14 days.  

From 6 a.m. – 3 p.m. and then again from 7 – 10 p.m. on Nov. 7, more than 363 students, faculty and staff walked 7,164 laps or almost 600 miles. The baseball team came as a group and walked 942 laps. Their catcher, Tim Webb, didn’t stop. For the day he walked 120 laps and 75 of those were consecutively. But the winner for the day was Perry Andre, a student from Wauseon who walked 166 laps; approximately 15 miles.

But beyond the laps and miles, Jena and I got to watch community happen on our campus. Students showed up to walk during the day and then came back to walk more at night. Faculty brought their classes to walk. Coaches brought teams. Faculty and staff offices walked. Faculty and staff spouses walked. The dietetics interns walked. Residence halls walked. Students walked in small groups while studying for a test. 

And everyone talked, socialized, skipped, ran, and some event took a break and shot some hoops. We learned how people who have diabetes themselves or have someone in their family with diabetes live with the realities of monitoring their blood sugar and insulin.

In the end, people showed up. And that is what made community happen. 

Note: As the 2011-12 National American Miss Teen, Jena has chosen juvenile diabetes awareness as her platform. Visit Team JDRF for more information, or to support the Jena’s personal campaign.