Our monthly #UMichChats provide the invaluable opportunity for our Twitter followers to connect with alumni and faculty. This month, our team wanted to focus on student life. In the coming months, thousands of #Victors2019 will migrate to campus for the first time for orientation. With that comes uncertainty, excitement, and anxiety. Therefore, we wanted to give these new students insights into Michigan Student Life. We figured the best advice would from current students who have made huge impacts on campus through extracurricular involvement and academic engagement. On June 5^th, we were delighted to have Central Student Government representative, Sierra Stone (@Under_the_Sii), Solar Car Project Manager Pavan Naik (@pavanaik), and Mens Gymnastics team member Hubbard Humphrey (@HubHumphrey.) These three students discussed their co-curricular lives, tips for academic success, and advice for optimizing the Michigan Experience.

Our team prompted the conversation with pre-penned questions, but also ventured off-script and included questions from Twitter users who joined the conversation with our hashtag. We had several goals for this conversation: to allow a glimpse into the lives of deeply engaged students, to obtain their advice for success, and to learn why these students love Michigan. We believe that these goals were obtained in abundance, and we are extremely pleased with how the event transgressed.

Our participants had sound pieces of advice for new students. All three participants strongly urged new students to peruse their passions, seek out opportunities for leadership, and be open-minded about their college experience.

Follow the complete conversation on Storify here.

Each student also recalled influential classes and professors who have shaped their experience thus far. One of these aforementioned professors even joined in the conversation herself!

 

Our students also shared why they chose Michigan in the first place, and shed light on their favorite aspects of living in Ann Arbor.

Our hashtag generated 202 total posts, coming from 71 different users. This led to over 5 million different impressions in the days leading up to the chat. We are incredibly thankful that these students took the time to participate in the event and share their Wolverine spirit. We have no doubt that they will do amazing things in the remainder of their time at the University.

Have an idea for our next topic, or which speakers we should feature? Tweet us using #UMichChat and be sure to join in next month!