It’s a Wednesday afternoon, designated community time. Students, staff and faculty gather in Boren Lounge to share a meal and get to know each other. A raffle begins a little early at the request of some cafeteria workers. Someone good-naturedly adds, “Some of us have to cook dinner!” Last Wednesday, Project Community sponsored Staff Appreciation Day to thank staff across campus with food, music and good conversation. The event broke up into two shifts to fit busy schedules; people came from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and again from 2 p.m. until 4 p.m. As a result, more staff than students attended the first session while the second shift had more students than staff. The setup allowed a greater variety of people to attend.

Many student organizations contributed to the event. The potluck-style lunch had casseroles and curry made by the Cooking Club and batches of vegan and non-vegan cookies baked by the Outdoors Club. Senior Brendan “Kass” James read attendees’ fortunes with tarot cards while student musicians performed with acoustic guitars.

Guilford’s West African Drumming Club also stopped by to perform some traditional Mali and Guinean music. The new Slam Poetry Club introduced themselves with founding member Louisa Casanave performing original slam. Even the College Democrats were involved; President Malcolm Kenton came with voter registration cards.

“I registered one staff member and helped three others change their voting information,” Kenton said. “It’s cool that C.D. can contribute to this.”

Project Community also handed out gift bags for staff members that included scented candles, gift cards and other practical items. The bags were decorated by students the previous week and had little messages of thanks.

When 4 p.m. rolled around, students stayed behind and helped clean up. The formidable amount of left-over food was put away in containers and delivered to staff members who didn’t have a chance to come. Even as the number of participants dwindled towards the end, the last set of musicians played on.

“I felt it was successful,” said Hailey Moses, who has worked with Project Community for two years. “Next year we need to get more students and staff together at the same time. Especially in light of what happened last semester, it’s very important.”

The now infamous incident on the third-floor of Milner was not the catalyst for Staff Appreciation Day but certainly a contributing factor for its need. Staff Appreciation Day rose from a similar event put on last year by Project Community. But according to Colette Cosner, project coordinator for Project Community, last year’s event was sterile and did not involve as many people.

“(Today) is coming out of a real need to redefine community,” Cosner said. “It’s a word used to describe a lot of things, but it really means knowing people in your community and to feel included, while sharing and learning.”

Project Community aims to foster inclusiveness and Staff Appreciation Day only broke the ice. The event is one small step in the process, leading the way for more serious dialogue. Project Community will sponsor a presentation and panel discussion sometime in March focusing on hard-hitting community issues. The panel will tackle questions about class, race and what makes people feel included or excluded in a community. Other community-building activities include a “Get to Know You” breakfast in Milner Hall in March for residents and staff members.

Meeting new people was a major aspect of the Staff Appreciation potluck. Project Community provided a small sheet of discussion questions for attendees to share. Questions included, “what brings you to Guilford,” “what are your hobbies/hidden talents” and “what has changed about Guilford since you’ve been here?”

Though my table ignored the prompt, it didn’t stop anyone from having a lively discussion. Stories were swapped and bragging rights went to the person who experienced the longest bus trip – a student who spent three days traveling from Montana to Greensboro.

Cosner hopes the success of Staff Appreciation Day will keep real dialogue about community alive. She feels that community is a word that is thrown around at Guilford. “The school is making a lot of changes,” Cosner said. “There is a definite need to address (community) issues in the chaos of change.