Building community begins by building personal human relationships. When we are inviting students to become a part of the DePaul community, our first greeting is to affirm the inherent dignity of the person in front of us by placing our attention on them. We strive to see the person as a gift and sacred mystery. The most important person in the world is the person right in front of you.

Acknowledge the students’ existence
-Greet them with an introduction
-Smile
-Introduce yourself – tell them your role depending on setting
-Focus on good eye contact
-Nod and listen

Build a relationship
-Getting to know them:
-Name
-Where they are from
-What they are interested in studying at DePaul, major
-How do they like their experience at DePaul
-What might they be looking to get involved with
-Express your genuine concern for them (ex. I hope you will like it here at DePaul)

Connect them to the community
-Introduce them to another team member or another new student that you have met
-Intentionally introduce to people who share commonalities or help them find similarities
with each other (i.e. people from the same state, same major, etc.)
-Give them guidance to help conversation along

Depart properly
-Intentionally say good bye (ex. It was great meeting you. I’ll see you…)
-Repeat their name

Zero them in
-Connect and direct students to organizations, programs, events, services that match their interest/needs for active engagement at DePaul. This can only be done once we have an understanding of who the student is.