The Student Organization Leadership Experience (S.O.L.E.) Center will open this month on the first floor of the Carolina Union as an exclusive space for student organizations to promote their missions and values.
Managed by Union department Student Life and Leadership (SLL), the S.O.L.E. Center features not just a physical space, but also equipment and amenities that are available at no cost to student orgs. The Center’s goal is to give student org members a space to convene, socialize, and collaborate, as well as to provide the resources they need to grow and market their organizations.
What’s in the space?
The S.O.L.E. Center is broken up into different areas that all meet student orgs’ needs. The Center’s Leadership Lounge is a conference-style room where student orgs can host meetings. The Media Lab is a recording space, complete with a green screen wall and ring lights, designed for student orgs to be able to film videos or record podcasts. The Creative Zone allows orgs to utilize their creativity with paint, markers, and other art supplies. The Resource Hub gives student orgs the ability to check out items like cameras and microphones free of charge. The Center even features an area built for relaxation and decompression called the Wellness Space. The space also features two murals produced by Union student employees, first-year Ori Sai and junior Mel Dalili, showing the Center’s student focus even applies to its design.
According to SLL professional staff members Quayle Agurs and Alexis Davenport, the S.O.L.E. Center was developed to help address space and funding, two of student organizations’ biggest hurdles. “We know that there is limited space around the University and in the Union, and we wanted to be able to provide additional space for students to use,” Agurs shared. The items available for use and checkout in the S.O.L.E. Center were carefully curated to align with items student orgs frequently purchase, with the hope of alleviating costs that would allow orgs to better fund programming and other needs.
The Center is also looking to grow and improve its offerings as students’ needs evolve. “Right now, because it’s so new, we’re really trying to figure out what student organizations want and what they would like to see, and so we’re looking for fresh ideas,” said Davenport.
How to access the S.O.L.E. Center
Once the S.O.L.E. Center officially opens its doors, there will be a quick and easy process for students to utilize the space and its resources. “Essentially, as soon as [a] student walks into the S.O.L.E. Center, there will be student staff there to assist them,” said Agurs. SLL student staff will be on site at the Center to direct students to specific rooms and to assist with item checkout from the Resource Hub. All students will need to provide is their name, PID, and their student org to borrow Resource Hub items free of charge.
There will be an open house for the campus community on Thursday, February 26th from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. where students can come experience the Center for themselves. SLL staff are looking forward to welcoming students and seeing how student orgs take advantage of the space and make it their own. “I think this is a cornerstone in student organizations’ history. As an alumna, I haven’t seen an opportunity like this for student organizations, and I’m really excited to be a part of this,” Davenport emphasized.
For updates and more information on the S.O.L.E. Center, follow Student Life and Leadership on Instagram (@sllunc) and the Carolina Union on Instagram (@carolinaunion).