From the left, Rey Benschop, Sam Wright '20 and Lindsay Adolphs focus on experiential learning and leadership, wellness and belonging, and community connections.
New Augustana employees empower students
Three new Augustana employees focus on different aspects of the student experience, all helping to empower students' best success.
Lindsay Adolphs began in April as the associate vice president of CORE and community-engaged learning. Reynard (Rey) Benschop and Sam Wright '20 arrived in the summer — Benschop as the new director of student activities, leadership and engagement, and Wright as the assistant director of the Office of Student Inclusion and Diversity (OSID) and LGBTQ+ coordinator.
Their job titles cover important ground. Accordingly, their work is reflected in the focus areas of the college's Bold & Boundless strategic plan: 1) engaged, experience-based learning, 2) student potential and 3) community partnerships.
With CORE (Careers, Opportunities, Research, Exploration), Lindsay Adolphs' work is a blend of both experiential learning and community impact. As a matter of fact, that integration is one reason she was interested in the role.
"Career development and vocation, the EDGE Center and Upper Mississippi Center, and all the different aspects of CORE are doing phenomenal work," she said. "Using the strategic plan to elevate that work even more is what I find most exciting about my role."
Adolphs thinks students often don't have "the full scope" of what experiential learning can offer them. Career coaches in CORE, as members of each student's Success Team, can introduce them to internships, research opportunities and more, including new opportunities in the community.
Every new student has a customized Success Team of Augustana professionals focused on that student’s goals and needs. For example, in the first year a Success Team will include a first-year advisor, peer mentor, community advisor, financial aid counselor, and more.
Adolphs has been meeting with area employers to talk about the strategic plan and possibilities to benefit both students and the city in which they live. For example: What could something new look like for an entrepreneur in Rock Island?
"It's all to start laying that groundwork, so that as we develop ideas, we have people who want to work with us," she said. "It's been met with a lot of excitement, and there's momentum there."
"Empowering students to lead begins with being open to their ideas."
As director of student activities, leadership and engagement, Rey Benschop said his work involves both developing student leaders and relying on their leadership.
"That is something that is unique about Augustana," he said. "Our students are an intricate part of planning for Welcome Week, their calendar for programming boards, running Greek Council, etc. They have the opportunity to actually do the work, and not just passively have their experience handed to them."
Benschop said empowering students to lead begins with being open to their ideas. He is proud of a recent example of a student, Ben Statz, who came up with an idea that can increase fan participation at athletic events. It's called Vike Squad.
"He came up with a plan, we approved it, and now he’s running with it," Benschop said.
Benschop thinks the Augustana tradition of students leading an experience (with support and guidance) that starts with their own ideas is a philosophy that began with former Director of Student Activities Ken Brill '82, who recently retired after 40 years.
Another example of a student's original idea that took hold of imaginations (and then reality) is Augustana’s Augie Choice program, which since 2010 has invested $2,000 in each student's choice of study abroad, an internship, research or creative project.
A 2020 Augustana grad with master's degrees in business administration and social work, and president of the Palomares Social Justice Center in neighboring Moline, Sam Wright knows how empowerment as a student can play out in life after graduation.
Wright's work as the OSID director and LGBTQ+ coordinator at Augustana is closely connected with the second goal of the strategic plan — to maximize student potential — and specifically through prioritizing wellness and belonging, as well as a focus on diverse experiences.
As a first-generation college student who had three majors, three internships and "a lot of interests," Wright is thankful for the combined support of four advisors and other Augustana mentors who motivated and pushed them. Wright's Augustana experience makes them particularly suited for the new role and as a member of student Success Teams.
"Definitely my role is to serve as a contact point for those in the LGBTQIA community, but also those who aren't," Wright said. "I don’t want to be siloed."
Wright's areas of empathy are broad and diverse: they are Spanish-speaking, first-gen and an LGBTQIA individual, for example. "I feel like in terms of identities, I offer a few that are relatable," they said. Also, "as a social worker, mental health is big passion."
In preparing for the new academic year, Wright has been meeting with student counseling on campus; planning campus events such as Queer Coffee, to build rapport with students; and connecting with local organizations to become an engaged presence in the Quad Cities.
"Make sure that people feel they belong on and off campus," said Wright. "That’s my goal."