Left to right: Katie Murray, NODA president; Dulce Lopez Quintero, UW Oshkosh New Student and Family Programs (NSFP) manager; Alicia Stuedemann, NSFP director; Stacy Dreweck, NSFP manager; and Emily Brooke, NSFP manager.
The University of Wisconsin Oshkosh’s New Student and Family Programs team recently was recognized for their work on a project that helps get students access to living necessities like clothes and household items.
The team earned the Innovative Program Award at the NODA Orientation, Transition and Retention conference in Minneapolis last month for Retention for the Clash Collective Thrift Shop. NODA (formerly the National Orientation Directors Association) is an organization that connects orientation, transition and retention professionals.
The Clash Collective Thrift Shop, held for the first time last February in Reeve Memorial Union, was an instance where the New Student and Family Programs (NSFP) team saw there was a need among students and took action.
“UWO already has supplemental resources for food, hygiene and professional clothing, but the team wondered, ‘What about everything else?’ That is where their idea for the Clash Collective Thrift Shop came about,” said NSFP Manager Stacy Dreweck.
The next Clash Collaborative Thrift Shop is planned for February.
NSFP also collaborated with the University’s Sustainability Institute for Regional Transformations to help educate students about reusing items and buying less.
“It means a lot to our team to see our hard work being recognized at the national level where other institutions may adopt the idea for their own campuses as well,” Dreweck said.
Dreweck and her colleagues have begun collecting donations in the residence halls and in the community for the next Clash Collective Thrift Shop, planned for Feb. 6 and 7, again in Reeve.
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