Meet the CHC Student Staff: Student Event Assistant
By Mahidhar Sai Lakkavaram
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Welcome to the Commonwealth Honors College! At CHC, we have a variety of student staff teams that are dedicated to helping you make the most of your experience here. This series will highlight all their different functions and how you can make use of these resources, and potentially join them in the future!
The student event assistant works on the third floor of the Commonwealth Honors College building. They are responsible for event set-up and breakdown, materials preparation, and event planning and execution, in addition to many other functions.
Dilan Churchill, a senior economics and political science student, has been in this role for the last three years. “As a second-semester first-year, at the end of my first semester back from the COVID-19 pandemic, I was eager to find new ways to contribute to the CHC community,” Dilan explained.
Following an interview with the coordinator of events and programs, Dilan understood that the student event assistant role was the “perfect opportunity” for him to get involved with the Honors college.
“Working in the CHC office is an amazing opportunity to build connections across the student staff and across the faculty."
Dilan explained that his work varies day-to-day, but usually includes coordinating and hosting meetings, reaching out to partners both on and off campus, drafting and proposing new events for the team and Dean Castañeda, and overseeing an event with professional staff.
“My job in the events and programs unit is to meaningfully contribute to the college’s mission of providing a dynamic and inclusive event schedule for students in CHC,” he added.
There are also numerous opportunities for students to get involved in areas like advertising, financial records, DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) initiatives, admissions recruitment, and new student programs.
“Personally, I have developed new events for the college, built new and deeper connections with RSOs to highlight student diversity in the programming schedule, and led cross-campus partnerships to execute large-scale events,” said Dilan.
Given the diversity of work available through this job, Dilan found that its never felt repetitive, even three years in:
“I get to bring new ideas, indulge different interests, and work on new projects everyday, and get to do this on a team of professional staff that values my student perspective and work as an equal member of the team,”
“It is this climate and these opportunities that make the CHC events assistant the best job on campus!”
“Your peers will often support your work and event execution, and faculty often actively participate in events. Do not underestimate these connections as they will enhance your experience by building community, inspiring new ideas, and developing meaningful relationships with both students, and faculty and staff,” he said.
If you have any questions, reach out to abraziel [at] umass [dot] edu (Ashley Braziel).