New and spooky Shepherd’s Week student? A sociologist at NTNU Social Research made many discoveries when interviewing students for his master’s thesis.
In his work on his Master’s thesis in Sociology on Care Week, Marius Feggen conducted a series of in-depth interviews with both sponsors and sponsored children.
– I’ve researched how Sponsorship Week contributes to the community and inclusion of new students, says Feigen.
Share the tips with the students
In his work he made a number of discoveries that new students can enjoy. One of the experiences highlighted by many of the students he met was related to the start of Care Week. How important is one event in particular?
– I would encourage everyone to join the first evening. The period is intense and relationships are established more quickly than usual. So, there’s a lot to be gained from getting involved right from the start, Feigen says.
He repeats a quote he got from a student:
“The first evening somehow laid the groundwork for the rest of Sponsor’s week, I feel. I feel like if you “missed” the first evening, you could say you’re a little behind. So I’m so glad I joined the first team, because that was when you had to You see each other’s faces, and the foundations are laid after that.”
– Many students said the same thing, says Feigen.
Do you have a week of sponsorship experience? tip us over here
– Use godparents
Vigen says new students should actively use their sponsors. Also outside official events.
Sponsors are there to provide support, assistance and guidance. Although the relationship between sponsors and sponsored children is characterized by a skewed power relationship, with the former representing experience and competence and they are also “uniformed,” it is important to remember that the sponsor is there to guide new students through the period, Feigen says.
The first lectures on campus can be a typical example where a group of sponsors should be used.
Make an agreement with someone in the sponsoring group that you can take with you for the first session. This way it won’t happen
The first encounter with daily life at college or university, says Feigen, was overwhelming.
Read also
This was the godfather’s weeks
Great artists stand on student stages all over Norway. Godfather Weeks struggles to get the coolest makeover.
Learn to be a student
Feigen says there are many positive aspects of Godfather Weeks that should be highlighted.
– Here you “learn” what it means to be a student. In addition to getting to know others, you also gain in-depth knowledge about everything from bus services, groceries, campuses, reading room spaces, line associations, purchasing second-hand courseware, and leisure shows. With that, we can talk about a form of “student competence,” he says.
He explains that for many, sponsorship week is a crash course in student life, and that to start university you need a formal academic qualification as proof of completion of higher secondary education.
On the other hand, my concept of student competence represents the informal aspects of how one is a student. And all this requires. Feigen says that something is at least as important, not least for the well-being of a student’s daily life.
important rituals
In the social analysis of Shepherd’s Week carried out by Vigen, he wrote that the ritual contributes greatly to building a community for new students.
“Such actions, led by student volunteerism, should be taken care of in a situation where students and studies seem most useful and degree-oriented,” Feigen says.
Alcohol: Sponsors are responsible
Vigen believes that the wider community should be patient with students during sponsor week and not get too clingy during party periods. It is not uncommon for rites of passage to test some of society’s established norms.
However, he says some students he interviewed experienced sponsor week as exclusionary due to pressure to drink and focus on partying.
– Here, sponsors as organizers have an additional responsibility when it comes to organizing the period, even if the choice is ultimately up to the individual student. Have fun, says Vigen, but remember to drink water, too.
“Explorer. Unapologetic entrepreneur. Alcohol fanatic. Certified writer. Wannabe tv evangelist. Twitter fanatic. Student. Web scholar. Travel buff.”
