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Written by: Belinda Cruz, Graphic Arts & Design Student, KU Lakeland

My name is Belinda “Belle” Cruz and I have been a student at KU’s Lakeland campus since November 2013.  I will be completing my Associates of Science degree in Graphic Arts & Web Design in May of this year, and am returning in June for my Bachelors of Science degree in Social Media Communications. I greatly enjoy being a part of many student organizations and promoting campus life. I am a participant in the Leadership of Distinction and Peer Tutoring programs, an active member in the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society and the newly elected President of our Student Government Association. It never ceases to amaze me how active the Student Services Department is in bettering our experience as a KU student.

This past month I was invited to the first ever Student Organization Mixer hosted by our Student Services department. At this mixer, any student involved in an on-campus organization was invited to network and enjoy refreshments with their fellow KU students.  We participated in the “Find Someone” Icebreaker to help us introduce and interact with one another.

I greatly enjoyed the mixer – it was great to see some current students as well as meet the alumni who were in attendance. Our goal at the mixer was to collaborate and develop ideas on how to help improve student life on campus as well as our community. This was a great opportunity to voice our opinions and come up with solutions to benefit our school as a whole.  We discussed previous fundraising efforts and community involvement through our different organizations. We also talked about finding a way to create a KU family event. Some of the ideas that were passed around were a water park day, theme park day, and maybe even a bowling night or league for our students and staff to become involved in.

It is commonly known that two heads are better than one – so it makes perfect sense that we should combine our ideas to enrich our school and community. Learning to network with other students, alumni, and staff was a great way to bring new and exciting things here to the Lakeland campus. I cannot wait for the next mixer, and for us to gain some traction in our efforts to bring the KU student body closer than ever before.

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STUDENTS: Please email your submissions/questions/comments to the ELSE Student Editor, Kayla Bianchi at: [email protected]