When students opened their e-mails earlier this week, they probably noticed an oddly titled message in their inboxes. The Hilltop Happenings newsletter was sent out on Monday.
“This is something we have been wanting to do for a long time,” Student Body President Jordan Ticaric said. “When it was brought up at Senate, we just kind of ran with it.”
The newsletter will be sent out to all students on a weekly basis, Ticaric said.
“I did not really know what Hilltop Happenings was, but now that I do I am glad it was sent out,” sophomore political science major Aaron Signer said. “It is a great way to get things out to the student body.”
Ticaric said informing students is the intended purpose of the newsletter.
“It is another way to reach out to student organizations and get their events out to the campus,” she said. “For many students it seemed like there was not that much to do this year, but hopefully that perception will change.”
Ticaric said the idea for the newsletter had been floating around in Student Senate and over winter break she and Executive Director of Student Involvement Greg Killoran decided to take action.
“He asked me what I wanted to call it and we decided on the name that the most people seemed to agree with, which was Hilltop Happenings,” Ticaric said. “Then he put together the first one and sent it out to students.”
Freshman accounting major Zach Tenny said the name Hilltop Happenings confused him.
“The name kind of threw me off at first,” he said. “But the overall idea of getting the word out about campus events is beneficial.”
Ticaric said the newsletter will be sent out every Monday morning.
“The faculty here at Bradley gets a weekly newsletter so students should have one, too,” she said.
Hilltop Happenings comes out of the Center for Student Involvement.
“We wanted to help encourage students to take the initiative and get their events publicized,” Ticaric said.
If heads of student organizations wish to have their events put into the Hilltop Happenings newsletter, they should e-mail Greg Killoran’s office at gpk@bumail.bradley.edu.
“Even students simply intending to start a club or organization on campus can send their information to Killoran’s office,” Ticaric said. “It could be used for informational meetings, events on campus, lectures, the Markin Center’s hours or anything else that helps students stay in consistent communication about campus-wide events.”
Some students have suggestions for the newsletter.
“I think they should add some more flash to it,” sophomore mechanical engineering major Zach Rymarcsuk said. “With more pictures and things like that it would pull more people in.”
Ticaric said that she proofreads the newsletter before it gets sent out to students.
“I add anything else that might be left out like events for organizations that I know should be in there,” she said.
Ticaric also said students wishing to put their events into the newsletter should e-mail Killoran by the Wednesday prior to the release of the newsletter.
