New Student Activities Director Brings Ideas, Experience

By Eric Dubrow
News Writer

As the new director of student activities at Washington College, Emmanuel Lalande certainly has his work cut out for him. Although he has only been working at WC for a few days, Lalande has immediately started cooperating with students to create enjoyable events on campus.

Associate vice pesident for student affairs Sarah Feyerherm, who supervised the search for a new director of student activities over these past few months, felt that Lalande was an ideal replacement for his predecessor, jared halter, left WC.

In interviews with students over the summer, “[Lalande] connected very well with the students. He is a very genuine human being,” Feyerherm said. He was also one of the only candidates to have job experience pertinent to the position.

Before arriving at WC, Lalande served as the director of student leadership and activities at Delaware State University. There, he also received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees, in 2005 and 2009 respectively. Lalande “works with students to create out of class social experiences.”

According to Feyerherm, Lalande’s position covers a wide range of duties.

Primarily, Lalande works with the student events board. In addition to serving as its advisor, he helps the club develop many programs for the students around campus, including karaoke and movie nights.

He also supervises the student center in Hodson and The Egg. Lalande is not limited to working with the SEB. He cooperates with student clubs and organizations to lend a hand when they sponsor their own events.

Lalande’s transition from Delaware State to WC has been relatively smooth, and he plans to make an impact on the school’s social life. Lalande came to WC because he saw it as “a great place with lots of potential. I want to help build on the school’s traditions and possibly create new ones,.

One of the biggest shocks to him has been the size of the school; at around 4,000 students, Delaware State was approximately two and a half times larger than WC.

The school’s small size is an advantage for Lalande. It allows him to get closer to the students and create events that will pique their interests.

“Here I have the opportunity to increase attendance. I’m shooting for 60 percent of the 1,100 students living on campus to attend [student-led events],” he said.

He plans on achieving this goal by putting out a survey that asks about the students’ interests.He will also change the structure of events so that they will be more appealing, perhaps by extending the hours of events and offering alcohol to those who are of age.

“I’m an advocator and an experience-maker,” Lalande said. “I want to create that real college atmosphere on campus, but I want the environment here to be safe for the students.”