By Laia Meseguer Corbatón
MACOMB, IL – University Union Board (UUB) is experiencing a big increase in student engagement. Joni Mikesell, UUB president and major in Forensic Psychology at WIU says that one of the biggest causes of student engagement increase is the organization’s work in social media as an approach to students.
Social media plays a vital role in student engagement. UUB works with Facebook, Instagram, and Tiktok to engage with the university. Mikesell explains that social media is fun for them but it is also a useful way to share UUB news with the students. “We do a great job of connecting students to our social media,” said Mikesell.
Mikesell said that there has been a significant increase in engagement. Especially after COVID-19 and the work of UUB in student-focused events, and again, the use of social media as the best engagement tool. “ We’ve seen a lot of engagement from our social media platforms,” said Mikesell.
The student nature of the organization reveals the UUB’s “purely student mindset.” Every member of UUB is a student at WIU. “We love Western, the Western community and without the students, Western won’t be Western,” said Lexy Leezer, Graduate Advisor at UUB. “Our main focus is to make a welcoming environment for students and make sure everyone has a good time at WIU.”
Mikesell emphasized the importance of building up the best work team, where people are friends more than coworkers. Mikesell defines the UUB team as a close and fun group that knows how to transmit these values to the students through their events and activities.
Mikesell and Leezer revealed that the biggest UUB event is coming this Spring. Both UUB members assure us that the whole team is working really hard on this. Up until then, UUB is offering plenty of events and activities to meet new people and have memorable experiences at WIU. This week UUB presented the very first escape room at WIU on Nov. 10th with the Electronic Gaming Association.
