Looking for a way to meet new people and connect with others? Sign up for a ‘Cats Connect group beginning the week of Oct 21.
Are you looking for a way to meet and connect with other K-Staters? Do you want to help build our K-State community? If so, sign up for ’Cats Connect – a program at Kansas State University designed to build community through conversation.
As a Health-Promoting University, Kansas State University is dedicated to supporting the holistic health and well-being of each student, faculty, and staff member. One aspect of well-being includes social health, which is the ability to form meaningful relationships that provide support, guidance and encouragement.
Over the past two years, ‘Cats Connect has worked to improve mental health and social well-being by connecting more than 1,000 K-Staters! Building relationships within ‘Cats Connect can help protect against stress, anxiety and depression. Positive relationships also increase student satisfaction and retention, as well as faculty/staff engagement.
‘Cats Connect is a peer-to-peer facilitated program designed to help groups of 4-6 Wildcats meet and develop friendships outside of their regular social circles. Groups meet for one hour for five consecutive weeks. During each meeting, everyone will have the opportunity to respond to a series of fun and thought-provoking questions and engage in a small connection project.
Students, faculty, and staff are all invited to participate. Groups will be built based on shared experiences and availability. Participants can select in-person (on the Manhattan campus) or virtual meetings (via Zoom). There are two fall 2024 sessions to choose from:
- Session 2 will meet weekly beginning the week of Oct. 21, through the week of Nov. 18.
Registration for Session 2 is due by Tuesday, Oct. 15.
Below are the available sessions. If you are not available during any of these sessions, there is a space on the registration form to submit your availability.
- Undergraduate Students
- Mondays from 4-5 p.m.
- Tuesdays from 5-6 p.m.
- Wednesdays from 12:30-1:30 p.m.
- Thursdays from 4-5 p.m.
- Graduate Students
- Mondays from 5-6 p.m.
- Tuesdays from 4-5 p.m.
- Wednesdays from 12-1 p.m.
- Thursdays from 12-1 p.m.
- Thursdays from 5-6 p.m.
- Faculty/Staff
- Mondays from 5-6 p.m.
- Tuesdays from 4-5 p.m.
- Wednesdays from 12-1 p.m.
- Thursdays from 12-1 p.m.
- Thursdays from 5-6 p.m.
Each group will be led by a facilitator, who is also a member of the group. They take a leadership role to help the group work through the activities. If you would be interested in serving as a facilitator for a small group, sign up here.
All facilitators will receive ‘Cats Connect training. Training sessions will be offered:
- 9-10:30 a.m Monday, Oct. 14, in room 253 of the Leadership Studies Building
- 6-7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 15, in room 253 of the Leadership Studies Building
The Morrison Family Center for Student Well-being and the Staley School of Leadership teamed up to bring ‘Cats Connect to the K-State community. For questions, email Austin Drake at adrake329@ksu.edu.
Here is what some Wildcats said after participating in ’Cats Connect:
- “‘Cats Connect is a small group so it’s not just you being completely exposed to a bunch of new people, just a small group of people.“
- “It was really good to meet people with different majors and different backgrounds and branch out of my normal group.”
- “I gained new confidence in talking with new people – and, it was a lot of fun!”
- “Meeting people with varying personalities who are going through similar situations that I am in was really reassuring and helped me feel more connected to K-State.”
Learn more and sign up to participate on the ‘Cats Connect website.
