Knock-Knock program brings faculty to students’ dorms

The Bay Vista dorms are always having something fun and creative for the students that live in the dorms to do, whether it’s making cupcakes or having a game day. On August 25, 2011 the campus and residential life hosted their annual Knock-Knock program, where different faculty and staff members knocked on student’s doors to see how they are adjusting to their dorms and life on campus.

“It’s a great opportunity to meet the students and they love the fact that we take the time to come and talk to them,” said Melinda Parrot, administrative assistant for for the Department of Parking and Transportation.

Many students agreed that the way the faculty came out and introduced themselves and socialized with students was very helpful.

“I think it’s a good opportunity to share our experience as students with the staff, it makes it seem like they really care about our well-being” said Christian Chavarro, a freshman majoring in public relation and advertising.

The event began with the faculty having dinner and preparing for the walk to every student’s doors. The faculty was separated into groups and was left to begin knocking on doors and talk to the students; some had more luck than others.

Dawn Fagnan, assistant director of Enrollment and Recruitment Services in the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, had zero luck on getting any students to open up their doors, “I love Knock-Knock, even though I wasn’t able to get any takers this year. I always look forward to it, because it helps me talk to the students and helps them trust me. That’s the one thing I love to do.”

The new freshmans moved into the Bay Vista Housing on Aug. 19, and most haven’t quite gotten used to their new living establishments. With the faculty coming around, the freshman feel at ease telling them some of their concerns and problems.

One of the students living in the dorms, Shakeria Brown, a freshman pre-med biomedical engineer major said, “I think that the Knock-Knock program is cool. It lets the faculty know about problems we have and how comfortable we are. Plus, the staff who knocked on my door was very nice.”

At the end of the day, the Knock-Knock program helped many of the students learn about some of the faculty’s role in their campus’s day to day life and help students feel more at home during their time at the University.

“At first I was like ‘Oh man, what are these people in business suits doing outside my room? Did I do something wrong?’ But the faculty were very open with me and told me things that I wanted to find out but didn’t know where to find [the information],” said Kemieika Clayton a freshman nursing major.

”Faculty and staff really do care. While this year we weren’t able to include gifts and prizes, for the next time around, we are going to discuss on reestablishing it in the program” said Nikki Kogan, Resident Life coordinator at Bay Vista Housing.

“We want more students to get involved the next time we do Knock-Knock, so that we can get more academic staff and students together and help them achieve their goals and to make their years at FIU a great experience,” added Kogan.