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Co-Curricular Program Evaluation

CUP OF CULTURE PROGRAM Johnson attended a program at california state university. The program was titled "celebration of chicana / o Latina literature" johnson: the event was very laid back and well structured.

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Co-Curricular Program Evaluation

CUP OF CULTURE PROGRAM Johnson attended a program at california state university. The program was titled "celebration of chicana / o Latina literature" johnson: the event was very laid back and well structured.

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Running head: CUP OF CULTURE PROGRAM

Johnson 1

Cup of Culture: Chicana/o & Latina/o Literature: Program Evaluation


Kelly Johnson
Azusa Pacific University

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The program I attended was at Cal State L.A. and was titled Cup of Culture:
Celebration of Chicana/o Latina/o Literature and was appropriately scheduled on Cinco
de Mayo. I appreciated that the school found it necessary to bring awareness to this group
of students that are represented on their campus.
The program was sponsored by the Cross Cultural Centers of the school. The
mission of the Cross Cultural Centers is to encourage student learning as well as foster
an inclusive campus environment that challenges racism, sexism, heterosexism, and other
forms of oppression (calstatelausu.org). I appreciated this mission because it encouraged
activism in the students and a proactive behavior against oppression. In The Student
learning Imperative, the authors spoke of experiences guiding behavior, which I believe
thats exactly what this mission is set in place to do (1996, p. 121). The program was held
in an upstairs room in the student union. I thought this was good placement for the event
because the student union is a central location for the campus and there are constantly
students roaming around. There was another event going on outside in the courtyard
whose music was a little bit disruptive sometimes, but on the whole, I thought the
location was a good idea because they were able to channel some of the students from the
big outside event to the indoor event.
The event was very laid back and well structured. The host was a staff member
from the Cross Cultural Center and he did a good job of keeping things rolling. There
was a counter that had appropriate food on it as well as beverages. The event was set up
with rows of chairs facing a podium at which the person sharing the story or poem would
stand at. One thing I really appreciated about the event was the diversity in the presenters.
A majority of them were students, but there were also a couple alumni as well as a faculty

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member and a member of the community. As far as faculty collaboration goes, the
professor who presented some of his poetry was the closest they got to collaboration for
the event. I dont know what the planning process looked like, but I feel that there was a
lot more room for collaboration. The faculty at the school would benefit from reading
Learning Reconsidered 2 (2006) which explains the benefits of collaboration with one
of them being shared assumptions about the value, importance, and support of student
learning (ACPA, ACUHO-I, ACUI, NACADA, NACA, NASPA, & NIRSA, p. 69).
This event would have been a great opportunity for faculty to show their support for this
underrepresented population of students on the campus. Even further, Kuh (1996) is on
board with the faculty of an institution collaborating with the end goal of student learning
outside the classroom. Kuh puts it well when he says, this means that all members of an
institution must work together to link programs and activities across the academic and
out-of-class dimensions of students lives (p. 137).
Those in attendance were few, maybe around 12-15, of which most were the
presenters. I know this event was advertised on the Cal State L.A. website because its
how I found out about it, but I am unsure of how else this was advertised to students.
This program was beneficial for me to attend for a few reasons. First, it actually
opened my eyes to the Chicana/o and Latina/o struggles and culture. I wish more students
and faculty could have attended and heard about the backgrounds these students come
from. Baxter Magolda (2003) also found importance in this type of communication. She
pointed out that healthy relationships require communicating ones own needs and
balancing needs (p. 234). I believe that this event gave these students the opportunity to
articulate their needs as students as well as what they have to bring to the table. That

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being said, when it comes to program design, it was a good reminder that not all
programs need to be upbeat and crazy. I enjoy planning programs that are high energy
and very involved. That being said, this program was very low key and I really
appreciated the atmosphere that was set. As professionals, we need to keep in mind that
students learn in a wide array of environments.
Attending this program was a unique opportunity to learn about an
underrepresented population on Cal State L.A.s campus. I think too often we plan
programs and use it as a fishing net to cast over as many students as we possibly can. But,
attending this program encouraged me to target specific groups in my program ideas.
There is a time and a place for the big programs, yes, but co-curricular learning should
also include awareness and appreciation for the underrepresented groups on our college
campuses. Tagg (2004) would also agree that these types of programs are a necessity as
they encourage learning with the intention of changing the student as a person (p. 6). Our
goal as professionals needs to go beyond building relationships with the students and
expand to investing in the holistic learning that occurs in our students.
Finally, I was actually somewhat impressed with the implementation of the
learning outcomes of this program. When we arrived at the event, we sat down in chairs
and picked up an evaluation form from our chairs. Each assessment form asked for our
demographics as well as a few Likert-scale type questions, which were very specific to
the learning outcomes. For example, one of the questions was, Did this program help
you appreciate the role that the arts and cultural events can play in developing an
enlightened and culturally empowered perspective? I believe this was a pretty good way
of assessing this program.

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Overall, this was a very beneficial program that I am glad I attended. While the
attendance was low, I felt that those who were there wanted to be there and walked away
with a broadened perspective of the experiences of Chicana/o and Latina/o students on
the Cal State L.A. campus.

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Work Cited
ACPA, ACUHO-I, ACUI, NACADA, NACA, NASPA, and NIRSA (2006). Learning
reconsidered 2: Implementing a campus-wide focus on the student experience.
Baxter Magolda, M.G. (2003). Identity and learning: Student affairs role in transforming
higher education. Journal of College Student Development, 44 (2), 231-247
Kuh, G.G. (1996). Guiding principles for creating seamless learning environments for
undergraduates. Journal of College Student Development, 37 (2), 135-148
Tagg, J (2004). Why learn? What we may really be teaching students. About Campus,
9(1), 2-10
The student learning imperative: Implications for student affairs. Journal of College
Student Development, 37 (2), 118-121

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