For some freshmen and sophomores, it can be difficult to become a leader and find friends on such a large campus. However, Spring Up, a one-semester organization for freshman and sophomores, offers help to bridge this gap. The organization strives to help students grow in their leadership skills, be involved on and off campus and make friends while doing so.
“I believe that the main goal of Spring Up is to provide them [students] the leadership skills they need to be successful on Auburn’s campus and beyond and also to provide friendships and networking,” said Emme Ramsey, junior in nursing. “I’ve made my best friends in this organization. I think that’s really important for freshman and sophomores to gain those skills and relationships.”
Ramsey is a director for Spring Up. She worked as an assistant director the previous year and decided to continue helping students thrive in this organization.
“As a director, I work with my group to lead them through the leadership lessons, through the interview workshop and other things like that,” Ramsey said. “We also have our fun meetings, so I facilitate that, and I also give advice and teach.”
She added that as director, she stresses the importance of getting involved on campus to her group members and why they should get involved in different organizations. Ramsey said that Spring Up helps kick off a student’s involvement and understand what involvement means to Auburn University.
Ramsey said that she joined Spring Up because she believed that it was a great outlet for freshmen and sophomores to get involved on campus.
She also added that she really wanted to help these students find their passions while working in this program, whether it be in leadership or service.
Students at Auburn have seen Spring Up members on Haley Concourse in the past week, handing out flyers. Ramsey explained that they were doing this to spread the word that applications for next semester were closing that Friday. However, if a student wants to sign up for Fall 2019, applications will open during the spring semester.
“You’ll also see us at our weekly meetings,” Ramsey said. “You’ll also see us out and about. We sometimes will have more low-key and interactive meetings, like playing kickball on the Green Space or getting dinner together.”
Spring Up members can also be found participating in service events, such as The Big Event, IMPACT and Auburn University Dance Marathon.
“I’m a firm believer that involvement really changes someone’s college experience,” Ramsey said. “Just basically when someone gets involved it just opens up so many doors and I feel like, personally, for me, it really helps me grow as a leader and to get some self-confidence and meet so many people.”
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