Duo Dinners
Date: ongoing beginning March 1st
Attendance: ~ 10 per session
Category: Hall Spirit / Social
Event Description
Duo Dinners was another great way for hall staff to get to know the residents, and what better way than over food! Each week, two members of hall staff (ARs and RAs) team up to meet Lyons residents at the dining hall to chat about life and anything else that comes up in conversation. The majority of one dinner was spent talking about Amazing Race winning strategies and favorite dining hall creations.
What was the goal of this new event?
We really think that a strong dorm community is fostered by strong connections with hall staff. We want to create an environment of friendship where an RA or AR can walk down a hallway and say hi to any person they pass. Duo Dinners gave our residents a fantastic opportunity to get to know the ladies that serve the hall as RAs and ARs and get to know them in an environment outside the dorm.
Stations and soup
Date: Lenten Fridays beginning March 3rd
Attendance: 20 per session
Category: Hall Spirit / Future Outlook / Spirituality
Event Description
Lyonites were invited to head to the chapel for Stations of the Cross and then to our rector Sarah’s apartment to share in some fellowship over soup. Sipping on some chicken noodle and talking about Lent was a great way for residents to engage in some different conversation than they might get on a day to day basis.
What was the goal of this new event?
Sarah loves any opportunity to invite residents into her apartment, and she was able to use her Campus Ministry expertise to share some facts about lent and what it should mean to us as Christians. Taking a step back and chatting about topics like this creates a time for residents to take a more contemplative mindset.
Clc focus group
Date: March 5th
Attendance: 15 people
Category: Future Outlook / Social / Sustainability / Multicultural / Spiritual
Event Description
Our rector serves on the Campus Life Council and held a focus group to discuss on campus retention for juniors and seniors.
What was the goal of this new event?
This topic has come up a lot in the past month, as it is something we’ve talked about in HPC as well. One of the best ways to collect information about a topic is by simply listening. The main focus of this focus group was to listen to residents and understand their reasons for moving / not moving off campus.
midterm bagels
Date: March 7th, March 9th
Attendance: 80 people
Category: Hall Spirit / Social / Academic
Event Description
Lyons apparently is obsessed with bagels so we provide them for our residents (sometimes twice a week!) very frequently.
What was the goal of this new event?
The goal this time around was to make midterms week a little more bearable.
big & little donut party
Date: March 8th
Attendance: 30 people
Category: Hall Spirit / Social / Big Little
Event Description
Getting a last minute big/little event in before Spring Break, our Big/Little commissioner got donuts for all the bigs and their littles.
What was the goal of this new event?
Allowing the big/lil duos a chance to catch up before break! Maintaining the big/lil relationships during Spring semester is really important to us.
spring break photo contest
Date: March 11th - March 20th
Attendance: 6 submissions
Category: Social / Sustainability / Future Outlook / Hall Spirit
Event Description
Spring break is a time for everyone to get outside and enjoy the weather (whether that’s snow or sun!) and our sustainability commissioner thought it was a great opportunity for people to show off some ways that they are sustainable. Lyons Residents were encouraged to submit photos of themselves and their family/friends/doggos being sustainable over break. The pictures were posted to the Lyons Hall instagram and Facebook and our wonderful faculty in residence Professor Hums and his wife will be judging to see who wins the $20 gift card!
What was the goal of this new event?
The goal of this event was to use this break from homework and general life business to remind Lyonites that sustainability is the way to go!
spring break pizza parties
Date: March 13th - March 17th
Attendance: ~ 20 per party
Category: Social / Hall Spirit
Event Description
Our AR Daniella stayed in the dorm over break and shared in some snacks with the residents who stayed as well. On Saint Patrick’s day, Daniella made some green cookies for girls to celebrate with, and on Pi day she got pizza (pie) for everyone to enjoy!
What was the goal of this new event?
Keep up a sense of community for Lyonites who stayed in the dorm over break. Also, to keep up with our general trend of giving people lots o food.
st. john's bible presentation
Date: March 22nd
Attendance: 15 people
Category: Hall / Campus Spirit, Spirituality
Event Description
The St. John’s Bible is a hand-written and illustrated bible commissioned by Saint John’s Abbey and University. World-famous calligrapher Donald Jackson hand wrote the entire bible in a Benedictine tradition. While the bible has been making its way throughout campus, it was such a privilege to be able to have the bible in the Lyons Hall Chapel.
What was the goal of this new event?
lyons & carroll formal
Date: March 24th
Attendance: 250 people
Category: Hall / Campus Spirit, Social, Brother/Sister
Event Description
This year, in-line with our attempts to strengthen our relationship with our brother dorm, Carroll, we decided to host our formal with them! Since it was the beginning of the springtime, we decided that the theme was “country club” -- complete with a photo booth and putting green.
What was the goal of this new event?
Lyons had never hosted a formal with another hall before, so the purpose of this event was to be able to and combine budgets and creativity in order to host the best formal possible. Since both Lyons and Carroll are relatively small dorms, combining was great for our numbers as well and helped the event feel more full.
italian dinner
Date: March 25th
Attendance: 15 people
Category: Multicultural, Social, Hall / Campus Spirit
Event Description
The Italian dinner was a unique opportunity for Lyons to work directly with a club on campus. The Italian Club came to our largest common space, the Lair, and cooked some super delicious pasta and had their meeting in the Lair. They were even so kind as to cook some extra pasta so that Lyons Ladies could try some truly Italian style pasta! (can confirm, it was yummy)
What was the goal of this new event?
Coordination between residence halls and clubs is something that doesn’t happen incredibly frequently on campus; but is a great idea. With this event in particular, we were able to pool our resources so that both sides benefitted! Lyons probably benefitted more cause we got to carbo load like no other.
WEllness week
Date: March 27 - March 31
Attendance: ~30 people per event
Category: Academic, Social, Spiritual, Athletic, Hall Spirit
Event Description
This year, Lyons’ wellness board (comprised of our wellness executive, academic commissioner, athletic commissioner, and spirituality commissioner), decided to host our hall’s first ever wellness week! Events included trivia night (complete with lots of berries), rock climbing, and grotto trips.
What was the goal of this new event?
The purpose of wellness week was to emphasize whole, well-rounded health. Wellness is often understood as physical health, but our wellness week included social and mental health as well in our planned events. This was also an example of the success of our e-board - by grouping together similar commissions, they were able to cooperate and plan more detailed, extensive events.
