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Q&A: The Ins-and-Outs of Involvement at Emmanuel
Posted OnOctober 23, 2025
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Student Life
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What does it mean to get involved at Emmanuel? Find out from the source: learn all there is to know from Luci Delgado, Senior Associate Director of Student Involvement, about getting involved in student life on the Emmanuel campus, how the Office of Student Involvement (OSI) supports that ecosystem and what it means for students to get their ROI – Return on Involvement – from their Emmanuel undergraduate experience!
You’ve been instrumental in shaping student life at Emmanuel. How do you see your role in building a culture of involvement?
I view myself as the point person that is here to help students understand the bigger picture of involvement. I think students tend to see that we’re planning, but I want them to see that it’s a lot more than that. It’s about creating a sense of belonging and community for students who participate.
Also, for the students who are putting in the event request or doing the budget submission, they’re gaining skills even though they don’t always connect the dots! Every time we do trainings, I want them to make that connection, so I see myself as that bridge between “I’m a student leader, and I do events,” and also, “How can I think about this in terms of career readiness and the person I want to be?” That’s what I see my role being – connecting the bigger picture for students.
How do student clubs and organizations shape the sense of belonging on Emmanuel’s campus?
When speaking with the Student Government Association (SGA) about approving a certain club or idea, the argument I’ve made is that it doesn’t matter what the club is. If there’s ten people that want to get together and talk about Taylor Swift, so be it! It creates community they now have with those ten people, and those people can literally be the vehicle that changes a student’s perspective about college, or Emmanuel specifically.
If there is student who is disconnected, and then they find the Swift Society, or the Asian Student Association, for example, it gives them a sense of, “I have my small community.” Student organizations are really essential to creating that life outside of the classroom.
What do you think is unique about the about the student involvement culture at Emmanuel compared to other colleges?
Our clubs and organizations are driven by the interests of students. We have EC Dance Marathon, which has transitioned to HaloThon. It keeps going because the students have their drive to support Boston Children’s [Hospital]. The Swift Society wouldn’t have been created a couple years ago if the students didn’t want it, or Tabletop & Alternative Gaming, so it’s really driven by what the students want. We try to make it constructive, creative and innovative in the way we guide them with the event planning, but we don’t make decisions on what’s approved. The decision ultimately goes through the SGA and is student led, and that’s really unique.
For new students, what’s the best place to start if they’re not sure which club or organization suits them?
The first step would be our Engage page, that’s the hub we want students to be interacting with, but also SGA would be the resource of what different organizations exist, how to get involved. Obviously, there’s our office as well, but I really want this to be peer-to-peer conversation, so I always turn students toward their class board, and if you really feel like you need more help, then you can come to us.
What advice would you give a student who’s hesitant to join a club or org because they don’t know anyone yet?
Go to events! We do a great job of having something going on every day, so if they’re thinking of joining something, attend the events to see if it’s an interest of yours, and then speak to the executive board about what they do and if they have open positions. The first step is going. Sometimes first
How have you seen students grow through the involvement in clubs and leadership roles? What is the “Return on Involvement” at Emmanuel?
The students I work very closely with, like the Emmanuel College Event Team, we’re always having conversations about the connection between overseeing a huge budget to preparing for a career. We talk about managing conflict – what does that mean when you get into the workforce?
Our last board president of the board wanted to go into health care. Oftentimes our conversations were about, “how can this translate into that field?” Sometimes your patients might not always be the easiest people to work with. Or we talked about the idea of being culturally competent, so how can we have more events that are accessible to everyone? That also translates into the health care field, you want to be accessible to your patients, you want to be thinking about equity and inclusion. Even if it’s on the event team, that thought process already translates into you being a professional. There definitely is a return on involvement, we just have a bigger responsibility to help them understand what that is.
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