Annual Expo invites students to consider meaningful relationships

McKinnon Hall was buzzing with conversations and connections as First-Generation Student Support Services hosted the Relationship-Rich Expo on March 3. Formerly known as the Success and Opportunities Expo, event organizers re-named the event to reflect an intentional focus on how meaningful relationships can aid in student success.

The Expo is one of the largest cross-campus collaborations in the spring. Representatives from the Student Professional Development Center, Undergraduate Research, the Global Education Center, and many more showcased resources and information on how they can help students develop meaningful relationships and achieve their goals.

“These departments actually like to communicate with you and tell you what opportunities they have and how they’re all connected,” said Melanie Alcaron ’29.

Students were able to see the connections through a pathway card that guided them to resources around personal, professional, and academic development. The pathways were designed to align with functions and characteristics of supportive relationships during college, based on research from Director of the Center for Engaged Learning Jessie Moore, Senior Associate Provost Emeritus Tim Peeples and Professor of Psychology Maureen Vandermaas-Peeler. Their work draws on a comprehensive study of mentoring constellations at Elon University and national surveys.

Event planners collaborated with the Maker Hub to create interactive versions of the Relationship Rich Map, which is a tool developed by the team of mentoring scholars above. Sabrina Perkins, associate professor of psychology, has collaborated with the Center for Access & Success to plan and coordinate this event since its inception in 2022. Perkins led student attendees through mapping their supportive relationships using the boards.

“When students are encouraged to map their supportive relationships in tandem, they may be better able to recognize where in their lives connections are flourishing, while also noticing what types of supports they are missing, or want to deepen,” said Perkins.

Berenice Sanchez-Rosaldo ’29 found the maps to be an eye-opening experience.

“I feel like my friends and family have helped me a lot, and a place where I can really grow is with professors. I feel like I could expand my horizons there and really form a stronger connection,” she said. “Overall, this expo has helped me a lot in really going in depth on myself and what I can do better here at Elon.”

Sanchez-Rosaldo’s main takeaway was to take advantage of everything that’s on campus: “All of the support that you have here. It can be from academic to personal.”

As the event came to a close, participants were treated to a special performance from Melonated Melodies, Elon’s predominantly Black a cappella group, who talked about the importance of building relationships within student organizations. Through conversations, activities, and shared experiences, students left not only with more connections but also with a deeper understanding of how relationships can shape their success at Elon