You may be thinking about how you are going to make friends on campus since you most likely won’t be having a roommate next year. Don’t worry, Winona State has a lot of events for you to go to where you can meet new people and try new things.

Join a Club

Winona State has a wide variety of clubs for students to take part in. From academic to special interest, WSU has a club for you!

Kryzsko After Dark Event

Kryzsko After Dark is a campus wide event that is hosted in Kryzsko Commons. There are an array of games, entertainers, crafts, and activities for you to take part in. You also have a chance to win some cool prizes!

RA Events

Your RA and CM (Community Mentor) will most likely host a couple of events over the course of the semester that your hall will be invited to. This will give you a wonderful opportunity to meet up with your neighbors and other people living in your hall while taking part in a fun activity.

Ask Your Neighbors

You can always knock on your neighbor’s door and ask if they would like to grab a meal with you in the café or go on a drive or walk to look the beauty Winona has to offer. You could also ask if they want to go to the lounge and have a movie night.

Host a Game Night!

Whether you are playing Monopoly or a simple game of Kings in the Corner, game nights are a terrific way to relax and hang out with new people. If you end up getting bored of the games you’ve brought with to college, Wal-Mart and Target have a wide variety of games. You could also look for some local shops that sell games as well.

Host a Movie Night!

Most college students are bringing a TV with to have in their room, so you could always settle in in a neighbor’s room with a nice bag of popcorn and watch one your favorite films. If you don’t have a TV in your or your neighbor’s room, all the lounges around your residence hall will have one. The lounge TVs also come with a disk player and cables to hook up your laptops so you can stream Netflix, Hulu, or Disney+ on a bigger screen.

These are all great ways to make friends and meet new people, and they have worked wonders for me. I’ve met lots of cool people who have just stopped by while my friends and I have been watching movies in the lounges or have just been grouped up in RA/CM events. Another good thing about these options is that these are all low cost, most are even free! Have fun making memories and meeting new people!

-Meg Johnson ’24