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 new program at Kansas State University designed to build community through conversation.
‘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).
The spring 2024 second session will meet weekly beginning the week of March 25 through the week of April 29.
Register for ‘Cats Connect session 2 by Tuesday, March 19.
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 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
- Thursdays from 4-5 p.m.
- Graduate Students
- Mondays from 5-6 p.m.
- Tuesdays from 4-5 p.m.
- Wednesdays from 4:30-5:30 p.m.
- Thursdays from 5-6 p.m.
- Faculty/Staff
- Mondays from 12-1 p.m.
- Tuesdays from 4-5 p.m.
- Wednesdays from 5:30-6:30 p.m.
- Thursdays from 12-1 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:
- 3:30-5 p.m. Monday, March 18, in room 113 of the Leadership Studies Building
- 3:30-5 p.m. Tuesday, March 19, in room 113 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. If you have any additional questions please reach out to 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.
Wonderful effort but I am a little confused between Cats Connect and Connected Cats that was also mentioned in the same K-State Today newsletter. They are different things I believe?
We do have a lot of ‘Cats on campus these days! 🙂 ‘Cats Connect is a small group discussion activity that takes place weekly with K-Staters on campus. We will assign groups upon registration and it’s a wonderful way to make new friends and learn about yourself and others through guided conversation cards!
Connected ‘Cats is the group of K-State students who are helping with community visits across the state of Kansas and learning how K-State can engage with Kansans through problem-solving and community-building. Hope that clear up the confusion!