Every semester the Center for Leadership, Activities, and Career Services (CLACS) hosts three to five Five Star events for the student body. But what necessarily is a Five Star, and how much work goes into it?
Five Stars are opportunities for registered student organizations or campus departments to hold speakers that represent Ferris and the values the university supports. In order to bring a Five Star speaker on campus students must begin the application process online on Bulldog Connect. From there, the Student Leadership Advisory and Activities Council (SLAAC) select which applications will go through.
Although CLACS is open to any speaker, they do have criteria and guidelines for the planning process and to ensure a successful event.
Some examples of these guidelines include how the event must be held on campus either in Williams Auditorium or a University Center Ballroom, take place on a Thursday at 7 p.m., have a positive impact on the campus and community and that the event not last longer than 1.5 hours.
If approved, representatives of the organization are required to meet with the Five Star chair through CLACS and attend all planning meetings. From there the event is automatically sponsored by Student Government’s finance division through the Student Activity Fund.
Student Government President Allyson Faulkner explained how (in most cases) Student Government solely provides the funding for these events, but that they also require follow-up events after each Five Star as a way for students to discuss what they learned.
“The follow-ups are a great opportunity for students to be able to come and debrief from the Five Star,” Faulkner said. “It really is the perfect opportunity to take what you learned and apply it right after.”
“Even though we re-iterate a lot of the same points that were made in the Five Star speeches, I think it’s a great way to engrain that,” added Ferris pre-optometry junior Amanda Eslinger and Student Government member.
If students are interested in holding a Five Star event during the Fall semester of 2020, they can apply online via Bulldog Connect by Monday, March 23.