Student involvement is a major part of the college experience, so how well is Ohio Wesleyan University prioritizing this, and how does it compare to other universities?
Dina Daltorio has been the Director of Student Involvement at Ohio Wesleyan since January of 2021. She started at Ohio Wesleyan in August of 2017 as the Coordinator of Student Involvement then became the Assistant Director of Student Involvement in the summer of 2019.
Daltorio feels that student involvement and engagement is important for students in university because “it allows students to explore different interests, gain transferable skills, and find a sense of belonging and community on campus.”
Daltorio discussed that there are four categories of student involvement at Ohio Wesleyan: fraternity and sorority life, campus programs, student organizations, and leadership development. She added that there are 70 student organizations and 11 chapters of Greek life.
She also discussed that in the Fall 2023 semester, 1,440 students were reported to be involved on campus. On January 3, 1,386 students were reported to be involved on campus.
“Students should [definitely] get involved,” said Daltorio. She has seen it help people in the past and she feels that there are so many benefits to it.
Kristen Flox has been the Assistant Director of Student Involvement at Ohio Wesleyan since August of 2022.
“High quality involvement experiences bring to life students’ passions, highlights differences in lived experiences and world perspectives,” said Flox. “Student involvement allows students the opportunity to practice skills they’ll rely on after they graduate.”
Flox feels that student involvement has helped students in the past because she “worked with students who’ve completely changed their career path because of what they discover in their time as involved leaders on campus.”
Flox also added, “I hope we see as many involved students on campus as we can!”
According to the Denison University website, it is important to get involved because “studies have shown that students who become involved in co-curricular activities in college benefit personally and socially, as well as academically.”
At Denison, there are approximately 160 campus organizations in total, including fraternity and sorority life, leadership development, service opportunities, social life and traditions, student government, multicultural organizations, club sports and intramurals, and religious and spiritual organizations.
Although specific numbers of how many students are involved on campus cannot be found on the Denison website, it says that “many students are eager and excited to get involved in a number of things as Denison has so much to offer.”
Denison University has far more student involvement opportunities than Ohio Wesleyan, but Denison also has about 721 more students than Ohio Wesleyan. This is important to note because although it may seem like Denison is doing a better job in student involvement, Ohio Wesleyan actually has less students, so there isn’t a need for as many organizations. Also, a majority of Ohio Wesleyan’s students are currently involved in something on campus, about 86%, which means that the university is doing a good job at getting students involved on campus.