The OrgSync sponsored aggregation site CORE is set to have a bigger influence this year, courtesy of a group dedicated to making sure students are aware of what’s happening on campus.
OrgSync specializes in creating online communities for campuses to drive student engagement. CORE is Slippery Rock’s version of the program, helping campus organizations streamline their processes and reach out to potential new members from the student body.
Samantha Carmean is a graduate student in SRU’s Physical Therapy program. Carmean also serves as the leader of Street Team and the new graduate assistant for CORE. Street Team is a group of student leaders who work to provide information and training to campus organizations. According to Carmean, this service is vital for instituting CORE across campus.
“Without them (Street Team), we would not be able to help everyone with CORE,” Carmean said. “Providing informational trainings at organizational meetings is a big part of what we do.”
Carmean sees CORE as a great platform to help incoming students get involved on campus from the outset. Currently, there are 314 organizations who utilize CORE. This includes various clubs, departments and offices that have a portal on the site.
According to Carmean, it is now policy that any new organization must become established on CORE before they can be recognized officially as a new club or group on campus. She is satisfied so far with the rise in popularity that the program has been experiencing recently.
“This is the second year we’ve been using CORE at Slippery Rock and it seems to be becoming more popular amongst everyone on campus,” Carmean said. “People are just beginning to realize how useful CORE can be for an organization or even just one person.”
Carmean has plans to hopefully expand CORE’s influence over the course of the 2018-19 academic year. Due to the increased engagement and interest this year from campus clubs and organizations, Street Team recently created a form that allows campus groups to schedule meetings with leaders or with Carmean herself.
“Moving forward, I would really like to to see more organizations become more familiar with CORE and utilize all of its potential,” Carmean said. “More and more clubs and organizations are asking Street Team to attend their meetings so that they can learn more about CORE.”
