Students on the University City campus are turning to their Professional Working Group as a resource for addressing concerns about campus amenities and student life.
PWG, a branch of the University Student Senate, advocates for student needs, addresses campus concerns and communicates directly with faculty.
Kevin Vu ’24, PharmD ’28, a member of PWG, said students have raised concerns about limited dining options, study spaces and recreation facilities.
“The biggest issues we’ve gotten recently are the building closures, with the library and dining hall being closed,” Vu said. “I feel like that takes away the normal college experience students would typically expect coming into St. Joe’s, especially with the buildings that are closed, there are more limited study spaces for students to relax and just hang out.”
Vu said the group has worked closely with Student Senate members on the Hawk Hill campus to bring the campuses together.
“They’ve been working together through hosting meetings or events between both campuses that just foster unity and connection amongst both groups,” Vu said.
PWG also works to connect students across different professional programs on the UCity campus. Gabriel Custodio, PharmD ’28, a member of PWG, said it is important to build connections across programs.
“Especially now that there’s not many of us down here, having a sense of community or connecting us with the people that are here is always going to be a benefit,” Custodio said.
Carina Patel ’26, DPT ’28, got involved in PWG after seeing the difference in student life between the UCity and Hawk Hill campuses. Patel said PWG also provides an important space for students to voice concerns.
“There’s not many faculty on our campus that can bring up these issues, or students are just not comfortable speaking to faculty, but they can speak freely to their peers,” Patel said. “Especially because we have all these concerns for our campus, it’s important that they do get heard.”
Custodio said advocacy for students on the UCity campus is the main goal of PWG, as the campus continues to adjust to the merger.
“I still do feel like there’s a really big disconnect from us and St. Joseph’s University, whether that’s intentional or not, but it does feel sort of neglectful,” Custodio said.
Despite these challenges, Vu said PWG members are working to improve student life by hosting more social events for students to connect outside of professional settings.
“This semester, we’ve been hosting so many events that not only help introduce new students to new faces, but also it helps to connect people with one another, make new friendships, which is what I’ve been fortunate enough to have been doing,” Vu said.
Patel said other goals of PWG are to increase awareness of and participation in their events and provide a break from academic stress.
“I feel like not a lot of people realize that our events are free and open to everyone, so I think people need to take advantage of that more, especially because we are under a lot of stress,” Patel said. “So being able to just have this as a little break is much needed.”
