Campus Activities

INTERSECT Facilitator Expectations

INTERSECT facilitators are the team - the glue - that holds the retreat together and makes it work. Led by a team of 12 facilitators, the retreat is a model based largely on small group work, each led by a pair of facilitators. As a facilitator, you will have the opportunity to make an impact on the lives of undergraduate and graduate students while supporting and challenging them in a SAFE environment.

Facilitator applications are due by Sunday, September 15, 2019 at MIDNIGHT.

Facilitator Training Timeline

Facilitators must be available for ALL of the dates listed below:

  • Facilitator Training #1 -- Wednesday, October 2nd from 8am-12:30pm
  • Facilitator Training #2 -- Friday, October 25th from 9am-2pm
  • Facilitator Training #3 -- Friday, November 8th from 9am-2pm
  • Facilitator Final Prep Meeting -- Friday, January 31st from 9am-12pm
  • 2020 INTERSECT RETREAT --- Friday, February 7th- Sunday,  February 9th

Optional Events:

  • Pre-Retreat Gathering -- Thursday, November 21st from 5-7pm
Apply Intersect

Requirements and Strong Recommendations:

All staff and faculty members at Appalachian State are invited to apply to be a facilitator. However, there are some requirements based on skill and experience that are important to consider:

  • INTERSECT is a significant time commitment, and we ask that you consider this as you apply. The INTERSECT logistics team is very confident that each facilitator leaves the experience with a whole range of new skills regarding training on social justice issues, managing student groups and conversations on a range of topics, and concrete training skills. With this in mind, we expect all facilitators to spend time before and after the retreat in training and assessment for the retreat.
  • It is important to know that facilitating the INTERSECT retreat is NOT an entry-level opportunity. We intentionally need members of the ASU community to apply who have prior social justice experience. In the past, this has included folks who are: INTERSECT alumni, have attended or led diversity, multicultural, or social justice trainings, have experience facilitating groups on difficult topics, and/or significant study related to social justice issues.
  • INTERSECT is about representing, exploring, unpacking, noticing, and celebrating the diverse community that makes up App State. We examine our diversity as a campus largely based on socially constructed identities: race, sexuality, gender, class, national origin, ability, age, and many more. We, therefore, highly encourage you to tell us about yourself. Tell us about your many identities, what they mean to you, and/or how you feel your identities will add to the INTERSECT Retreat experience.

Facilitator Skills

We are diligent in making sure facilitators already have a certain set of skills regarding facilitation, group management, and an understanding of social justice work. The rest of the criteria for facilitators varies each year, but we generally look for:

  • A range of facilitator identities including race, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, class, ability, class, age, and citizenship.
  • A balanced facilitation team: a mixture of breadth and depth of social justice experiences and knowledge
  • A mixture of leaders and adapters, challengers and supporters
  • Strong listening skills
  • Facilitation experience
  • Commitment to work on logistics tasks as well as facilitation
  • Allies to groups outside their own identity
  • People who are self-aware, can keep track of own behavior and hot buttons
  • Willingness to stay engaged during difficult conversations
  • Quality and effort put into the application