IDEAL was a group of student ambassadors to UF’s Department of Student Activities and Involvement that provided services to students looking to get involved.
This Spring, the Involvement Team, or IT, will replace IDEAL, with a new face but similar goals.
IT will work closely with the department, which helps students get involved on campus and supports registered student organizations, according to its website.
In an effort to rebrand itself, IDEAL dissolved last month and showcased its new organization at the Involvement Team Open House on Jan. 31.
“[IDEAL] had a really high demand in [its] services last semester, and we just noticed that we needed to go in a new direction and create new structure in order to meet the demands of those students,” said former IDEAL member Lindsey Woods, a 21-year-old family, youth and community sciences and sociology senior.
The new IT structure consists of three different teams that provide specialized services to students: one-on-one involvement consultations, workshops and events.
In addition, IT will reach out to a broader student population than that of IDEAL, said IT Program Coordinator Jessica Inman.
“We will be having programming for the Innovation Academy students particularly,” she said. “We’re also going to have a heavy presence at Preview.”
Student consultants for IT said the name change will help students more quickly associate what the organization does and what kind of services it provides.
“In the past, IDEAL has been difficult to identify with the Department of Student Activities and Involvement,” said former IDEAL member Steven Evens, a 19-year-old economics sophomore.
Pharmacy freshman Elaine Del Rosario, 19, was one of about 45 students who attended IT’s open house. Del Rosario said that as first-year students, they hoped IT would help provide them with tailored recommendations for involvement opportunities.
IT members are trained to help students find their involvement niche on campus.
“You come to the University of Florida to obtain an education, but you don’t want your diploma to be orange, blue and manila,” Evens said. “You want to be able to say you did such and such a thing, you executed these events and that you were able to lead an organization toward a common goal.”
