A lot can happen in 1,897 hours, especially when it is the beginning of a new semester in an unfamiliar place around different people.
The First 1897 at Bradley Challenge is a program meant to help students connect to the university outside of Welcome Week activities. The challenge goes until Nov. 1, which marks the first 1,897 hours of the semester, or 79 days.
Director of student activities Cara Wood said the program is meant to help with the first-year transition at Bradley by introducing opportunities and resources on campus such as the Academic Success Center, Smith Career Center, athletics and ACBU.
“We went with the title 1897 because Bradley was founded in 1897,” Wood said. “We felt like your first year is founded in those first few hours.”
Wood said she hopes new students take advantage of the program, but anyone is welcome to participate.
“We are really looking at how [we can] be cohesive in our marketing but also maybe give students an extra little incentive to go to these programs,” Wood said.
Offices in the student affairs division and around campus submitted events to count for points.
Any student that attends an event will be entered into a prize drawing in October and November. These prizes may include customized hammocks or gift cards for places in Peoria.
Students will receive a sticker after 10 points and a mobile phone gadget with a finger ring and stand after 20 events. They can track their points through the B-Involved website by logging into their profile. Students will receive an email if they are eligible for a prize.
According to Wood, she doesn’t want the program to be something students need to think about. The points are meant to encourage students to attend more events.
“We are hoping on word of mouth and social media to help us spread the word that it’s happening,” Wood said. “We were intentional about not doing big posters … We really did want it to be more natural.”
As of Tuesday, 1,124 students had at least one point.
There are over 50 events in the program. Some events are academic workshops, while others are fun activities such as ACBU’s dive-in movie, certain Homecoming activities and sports games.
Wood said student clubs and organizations can contact her about adding their event to the list of point opportunities.
Events that are a part of the challenge can be found at https://bradley.presence.io/events and students should click the “earn” tab to filter points.
