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Semester project: Fiesta

Diana Aguillon

Graduate Community Coordinator Scott Hall

Western Carolina University

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Planning

Program Name: Fiesta

Program Purpose: The purpose of this Fiesta is to provide students with a unique
experience where residents have the opportunity to emerge themselves
in another culture, an opportunity to become culturally competent, and
acknowledge differences.

Program Goals: 1. Residents will engage in meaningful interactions to gain a

better sense of civic responsibility.

2. Residents will gain cultural competency through engaging in

the experience of learning about Hispanic heritage month.

3. Residents will enhance their understanding and appreciation of

others who are different than them.
Program Outcomes: 1. Residents will learn about Hispanic heritage month through this
dynamic night where they will emerge themselves in a unique
learning experience.

2. Residents will have the opportunity to partake in different

activities throughout the night.

3. Residents will identify characteristics that are important and

related to Hispanic heritage.

As mentioned above, the purpose of this program is intended to engage the residents,

particularly those of Scott Hall through an impactful and enlightening program that will help

students learn about cultural competency. The program is in honor of Hispanic Heritage month,

offering residents a learning opportunity outside of the classroom on fertile learning ground. This

program was intended to engage a multitude of first year residents through showing them the

value of appreciation from those who are different than them. This program is sponsored by the

Department of Residential Living and when planning this community wide, it was important to

understand their mission, which is:

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We provide clean, safe, and healthy living environments that enhance and support the
educational mission, goals, and creed of the WCU. We strive to create living and learning
communities where students feel valued as individuals and where diversity and fellowship with
others can be celebrated. While maintaining a high level of quality service, we also encourage
and provide opportunities for personal growth and development of character, leadership, honesty,
respect, and pride.
(Department of Residential Living, n.d)

When looking at the mission statement some of the goals of the program align directly.

The part of the mission focused on personal growth and development of character directly relates

to the goal of helping them learn about civic engagement. These first-year students have the

opportunity to gain knowledge about Hispanic heritage through the appreciation of diversity as

related to the Residential Living departmental mission. It was important to make sure that the

intended goals of this program related directly back to the mission since they are sponsoring this

event. It was suggested that this program would be a great opportunity to educate all first-year

students through our PEAKS initiative. Although this was a great opportunity it was a large

undertaking to provide this event for over 1000 residents. Therefore, the Fiesta was kept in Scott

Hall to help with the planning and implementation process of this event.

Implementing

The first thing major decision was deciding on a date, because Hispanic Heritage month

occurs the same time every year from September 15th to October 15th. Due to WCU fall break

falling during this national month, it was a lot to process. October is quite early in the semester

so having to plan this event was completed quite rapidly. After selecting a date that made the

most sense, I began to sort out the details. I ran the idea by my direct supervisor to ensure she

was comfortable with hosting this event in our building. Once I got her approval, I was able to

mention this event to my Resident Assistants (RA). As you can see in Appendix A, the first time
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I mentioned this event to my RA was early September. Since this was happening in our building,

I know I would need the support of my RA staff during the planning and implementation

process. Then, I made a basic outline of my plan for that night which included food, a photo

booth, games, music, and a piñata. Once I had the basic outline of the night (Appendix B), I was

able to create a reasonable budget for the program.

I began with creating my food budget for the night (Appendix C). The list provided has

all the items I requested for this night from all the candy in the piñata to food items. The food

provided was “mole con arroz y pollo,” mole with rice and chicken. This was the main meal of

the night with some fruit flavored traditional drinks. I had to purchase the items for my mom to

cook these food items as I wanted to provide the residents with the most authentic food as

possible. Then I moved to the non-food budget (Appendix D), which included all the items I

required for decorations and anything else that would help for the night. I purchased these items

ahead of time, so RA’s could help make the decorations for this night. Next you will find the

receipts for both food and non-food items (Appendix E).

Now that the details were planned out two flyers were created. The first flyer was posted

about two weeks before the event (Appendix F). As you can see it offers many details to help the

residents aware that this event is occurring in the building. I felt it was important to put this up

prior to residents leaving for fall break. The second flyer had less details that was posted the

Friday entering fall break to give residents another reminder of this event (Appendix G). It was

important to make them colorful since in our culture many things are bright, and it made them

pop on our residence hall white walls. The RA’s helped with multiple things such as:

decorations, set-up, clean-up, serving food, and during the event. I had four RA’s help with

decorations which included tissue paper flowers, and papel picado. Then I had about 10 RA’s
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help me the night of the event with various task. The list of things I did entails: decorations,

create flyers, purchase items, create evaluation, inform residents and RA’s of the event. I was the

sole creator of this event and RA’s helped to relieve some stress. Next are the last things I

completed prior to hosting the event.

I informed the RA’s one last time of the event through a staff meeting with specific

details (Appendix H). Since this has been a program, I have completed for the past four years I

have numerous suggestions from year to year. Although each institution is different, I find things

that work well each year. Therefore, for this assignment creating an Outcomes-Based assessment

will help inform future practice in this program. Especially during the planning phase because

the earlier I complete the details the better the overall event. The next thing to focus on is the

timeline of the program (Appendix I). This provides student affairs professional with a quick

snap shot of how to plan and implement this program in their hall. This is an opportunity to

engage the students of the university and specifically the residents of the building it is hosted in.

During this event I find it beneficial to invite all the student affairs professional in the department

to help them engage them in a meaningful opportunity. This timeline will help any student affairs

professional who decides to implement a program of this type in the future.

Assessment

For this program a post evaluation was created via Qualtrics. This was completed the day after

the event and residents had the opportunity to respond to 6 questions a couple open ended and

others by a scale. From this evaluation, I wanted to better understand the impact this event had

on their experience within the hall. I wanted to know if they felt like they learned anything but
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also if this was something that they found engaging and beneficial. The following table shows

the outcomes of this program and if the evaluated items were met.

Learning Outcomes Bulletin Fiesta Educational

Board Activities Talk
Residents will learn about Hispanic heritage month
through this dynamic night where they will emerge X X
themselves in a unique learning experience.

Residents will have the opportunity to partake in

X X
different activities throughout the night.

Residents will identify characteristics that are important X X

and related to Hispanic heritage.

The limitations I have from this assessment report is the fact I was not able to receive

responses from everyone that attended. I also did not ask questions where I was able to

determine their prior knowledge of Hispanic heritage. I think there are multiple things that could

have helped with the validity of the information gathered. The overall assessment of this report

should have been conducted in a different format through interviews to gain a better

understanding of student’s perceptions and overall take away of the program.

Results

After conducting this survey, I had 90% of residents say that what they learned during

this program would be something they will use in the future. I found this to be a significant result

since I had 21 residents complete the survey. Which is a 42% response rate, this is fairly high

which will add more validity to the findings. Lastly, when it came to open responses, we had a

variety of opened questions. Multiple people felt they learned more about the Hispanic/ Latino/

Mexican culture. In addition, we had those who attended mention how they learned more about

Hispanic Heritage month and when this is every year because of attending this program. Luckily,
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everyone that started the survey completed the entire form. The survey was distributed to every

one that attended the event. The last major take away from this program is the fact that over 85%

of the people that attended this event felt welcomed and enjoyed their time at the program. This

was seen through the varied responses of how they felt at the event. In regard to the learning

outcomes learning more about Hispanic Heritage month, in the survey we had 18 people select

they learned this through the bulletin board posted. In addition, the other areas were often

mentioned through what they learned by attending this program in the hall.

Reflection & Recommendations

As I continue to see this program the recommendations, I have for each outcome is to

move to an event where it is a Hispanic heritage week long event. Since this has been an event, I

have completed for the past four years when I hosted this event for a week and had a higher

attendance, but also more learning outcomes met. In find myself struggling to plan this event

since it is harder to navigate the areas of improvement with what are realistic goals of the event.

However, in the future I look forward to dedicating time to this event to help enrich the students

experience. As I reflect on this project, I feel that I should move towards a week event to help

educate students more on Hispanic heritage month. Education is needed and through this

interactive way residents seem to learn more than many normal programs. This week will be

composed of a game night where you play traditional games to the second night where you

watch a movie to help educate residents. There are a variety of movies that will be beneficial,

and the third day is focused on dancing lessons, to lastly being a fiesta. This has been a

wonderful way to end the week where all the things they learned will be used during the last day.

This has helped me determine what things to focus on as I plan this in the future.
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Appendix A
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Appendix B

Outline:

Food- Mole con arroz y pollo (be sure to ask mom if this is possible)

Decorations- Papel Picado (make template in word documents)

- Tissue Paper flowers

Things from home- Skirts, outfits, hats, ceramic items, things from Mexico, decorative items

Music- All types in Spanish (be sure to have a playlist with a variety of genres)

Games- Loterria, Foosball, ABC game

Photo Booth- Outfits, flowers, background

Piñata- rope, stick

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Appendix C

Walmart Shopping Trip Form

Complete this form to request supplies from the weekly Walmart shopping trips. Please keep in mind your
budget as you are requesting items. Be specific with the items that you request (i.e. Pack of double
stuffed Oreos [do not just put “Cookies” or “Oreos”]). If an item is left vague, we will purchase that item at
our discretion.

RA Name: GCC Diana Aguillon

Date of Community Builder: October 15th
Title of Community Builder: Fiesta
Food Items Needed for Purchase
Item Name Quantity Price
1 Big tomato cans 6 3.28
2 Rice 10lbs 1 11.28
3 Saltine crackers 1 2.47
4 Chicken breast and legs varies
5 Vegetable oil 2 2.28
6 Garlic head 1 1.00
7 Onion 1 1.00
8 Sea salt 1 6.52
9 3 pipian dona maria 3 1.97
10 Variety candy 1 9.97
11 Mole maria jars 6 1.97
12 Salsa, mild and spicy 2 5.94
13 Tortilla chips 2 2.00
14 Tortillas 5 3.32
15 Jarritos 15 1.48
Items already in the supply room
Item Name Quantity Quantity
Needed Left
1
2
3
4
5
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Appendix D

Walmart Shopping Trip Form

Complete this form to request supplies from the weekly Walmart shopping trips. Please keep in mind your
budget as you are requesting items. Be specific with the items that you request (i.e. Pack of double
stuffed Oreos [do not just put “Cookies” or “Oreos”]). If an item is left vague, we will purchase that item at
our discretion.

RA Name: GCC Diana Aguillon

Date of Community Builder: October 15th
Title of Community Builder: Fiesta
Non-Food Items Needed for Purchase
Item Name Quantity Price
1 Aluminum Foil 1 6.98
2 Pipe Cleaners 100pk 1 2.98
3 Card Stock Paper 1 4.88
4 Foam Board 1 3.10
5 Tissue paper 1 3.98
6 Aluminum Containers 2pk 3 3.29 each
7 Threaded Rope 1 5.80
8 Exacto Knife 1 2.97
9 Pinata 1 16.00
10 Piñata stick 1 3.70
Items already in the supply room
Item Name Quantity Quantity
Needed Left
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
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Appendix E
Non-Food Walmart Receipt
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Food Walmart Receipt

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Appendix F
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Appendix G
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Appendix H
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Appendix I

Timeline:

6 weeks prior: set up date of final event

4 weeks prior: have a planned food menu with details

3 weeks prior: be sure to have a full detailed list of items needed from a Latino/back home

2 weeks prior: Allow staff to sign up for shifts/ positions

: post first flyer of the event

1 week ahead: post second flyer

1 day prior: set up space with decorations

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References

Department of Residential Living, Western Carolina University. (n.d.). Mission Statement.

Unpublished.