On Monday April 4, students and campus recreation professionals gathered outside the Osceola ballrooms at 11:30am to be paired off with a student/s to meet for the first time and enjoy lunch together. As students and professionals met, the lines quickly formed outside nearby restaurants from Wreckers to Moor and nearly everywhere in between. Lively conversations and networking filled the crowded restaurants while professionals shared their stories and perspectives in an effort to help students gain a deeper understanding and appreciation for what campus recreation was all about.

I had the privilege and pleasure of being a part of this event and certainly enjoyed the experience. While my initial thought was we the professionals would impart our knowledge, I found it refreshing that the students were just as thoughtful and critical as the professionals they work with. My biggest highlight was realizing there was no absence of thoughtful and intrinsically tied values at the lunch table from the students’ perspectives. It was an instance where everybody gained something beneficial, whether it be food for our stomachs or food for thought. Events like these are so important because they connect students and professionals together on mutually beneficial terms and reinforces the NIRSA mission of providing educational and developmental opportunities, generating and sharing knowledge, and promoting networking and growth for the members.

Each and every year when NIRSA’s Annual Conference schedule is posted I scan the agenda for one program first: Take a Student to Lunch. This event has quickly become one of my favorite parts of our Annual Conference. This year, I had the pleasure of dining with three outstanding future campus recreation professionals.

As in years past, my Kent State colleagues and I decided to take a group of students together. Based on previous experiences, we knew the hotel restaurants would be crowded around lunchtime, so we planned accordingly. I’m almost hesitant to share our pro tips for circumventing the system in case they catch on and make it harder to find a table at NIRSA 2017! One professional from our group headed to the restaurant (we chose to dine at Wreckers) while my co-worker and I went to find three students. We made sure we were matched with students from different schools with different areas of focus. Once we had our small group together we headed to the nearby Wreckers, bypassed the traffic jam on the stairs by taking the elevator, and sat right down at our reserved table.

We started our time together with general introductions and small talk. After we placed our orders we got down to business—learning about the students’ current positions and why they decided to attend this year’s Annual Conference. The overarching theme in our group was that the students came to NIRSA 2016 to make connections. It’s not hard to meet people at the Annual Conference; in fact, there are so many networking opportunities that it’s hard to know how to prioritize them all!

What I like most about Take a Student to Lunch is the opportunity to really connect with someone—to start a genuine relationship that extends beyond the conference. My colleagues agree. Chris Baker, Assistant Director of Operations and Aquatics at Kent State University, says, “I participate in Take a Student to Lunch because I like to pay it forward. I think programs like this help foster a culture of caring and mentorship, which is a big reason why I’m active in NIRSA. I hope that when these students are professionals they’ll participate and want to help others, too.” Toward the end of our time together our Senior Associate Director at Kent State University, Kim Rufra, asked each student what we could do to help them. Allowing these students an opportunity to share their hopes, goals, and fears created an authentic experience for everyone at the table. I walked away from this year’s Take a Student to Lunch program with a deeper appreciation for the connections NIRSA allows us to create.

This year’s Take a Student to Lunch was another opportunity for students to meet professionals and gain insight on continuing a career in the field. Students and professionals lined up to pair off to meet their partner and headed off to enjoy a good meal and good conversation! “I really enjoyed Take a Student to Lunch because it gave me the opportunity to meet someone that I haven’t met in the field yet and pick their brain about how I could better prepare myself for going into the field,” says Klee Sellers, Intramural Sports Graduate Assistant at Oklahoma State University.

Other members took the event as an opportunity to get to know some of their new hires. “For this year’s Take a Student to Lunch, we invited our incoming Fitness GA to join us,” says Jeremy Chance, Fitness Graduate Assistant at the University of Houston. “It was nice to finally meet her in person, but more importantly, I’m glad she was able to meet some of the other members of our team, people she’s going to be working closely with during her two years. Coming from California to Texas, she’s in for a transition, but bringing her to lunch was an opportunity to talk more about our facility and our department, and welcome her to the UH Rec family.” From chicken and waffles to local seafood, members enjoyed another opportunity to chow down and extend their NIRSA family network!

The LGBTQI & Friends Social took place on Tuesday, April 4. Over 200 people attended this amazing event which is open to everyone and fosters and encourages the involvement of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, and inter-sex individuals, and allies in the Association. Attendees networked and socialized over food and drinks, sponsored by PLAE, at the Gaylord Palms. Highlights of the social included inspiring words from Andrea Snead, Coordinator at the University of Central Florida, and moving acceptance speeches from the Frederick R. Braden Scholarship for Social Justice in Recreation Sports winners Chelsea Phipps, Assistant Director of Marketing & Informal Recreation at the University of Akron, and Katie Dyke, Graduate Assistant – Open Recreation/Facilities Operations at Northern Illinois University.

Also featured during the event was the popular T-shirt raffle where several individuals won brand new LGBTQI and Friends T-shirts. This is an initiative that event organizers Rachael “Roach” Finley, Campus Recreation Coordinator at York College of Pennsylvania, and Suzanne Ries, Associate Director of Facility Operations at Florida Gulf Coast University, hope to expand for next year’s conference. Overall, social attendees donated over $1,100—a new record for the social! Afterwards, Rachael stated how much she appreciated the donations, everyone who attended, and the outpouring of love and support for the community at this year’s social and conference.

This year, NIRSA students and professionals took over Orlando’s I-Drive 360 in the heart of International Drive to enjoy a night of networking and fun! Attendees had a variety of activities to take part in including riding the Orlando Eye—a 400-foot-tall observation wheel that overlooks the gorgeous landscape of Central Florida—making friends with re-creations of their favorite celebrities at Madame Tussauds famous wax museum, and exploring the deep sea at the Sea Life Aquarium.

Perhaps the most memorable event of the evening was the impromptu NCAA Basketball Championship watch-party at Cowgirls Rockbar! NIRSA members crowded the bar to watch two-seed Villanova take on one-seed University of North Carolina. “It was awesome to watch the game with fans from all over the country, including both Villanova and UNC students and employees!” says Will Trent, NIRSA Student Leader. The high-intensity game made way for an unforgettable night and a great way to celebrate the conference! As the 2015-2016 NIRSA President Stan Shingles said at the Closing General Session, attendees will forever remember watching the buzzer-beater between Villanova and UNC with hundreds of their collegiate recreation colleagues!