Written by It is inevitable. Whenever we have a student trip, the emails, phone calls, text messages, and conversations when you interact with parents or students will always focus on who is rooming with whom.
There are the requests that siblings are and are not put in the same room. Students will ask to be with their friends but not someone with whom they don’t get along. Parents will want to make sure their kids are only with certain other students, or they’ll ask that their student get their own room.
Rooming assignments had always been a piece of trip planning I did not look forward to. As someone who is a people pleaser and loves to be liked by others, I always felt like I was letting someone down when I put together assignments. Someone always seemed disappointed or unhappy. And if I’m being honest, that weighed on me fairly heavily and it compounded my dislike of building out rooming situations.
So it seemed I had two options available: give up on the perfect rooming assignments and simply deal with people being frustrated, or try to get it right every single time. But I actually learned there is a third option: handle rooming assignments with intentionality, care, insight, and a desire to foster community and discipleship. With that approach I believe that rooming assignments can be a tool and opportunity to help our students grow and flourish.
But how do we do that well? What are some keys to handling this intentionally with a desire to help cultivate our students’ hearts toward Jesus?
Plan ahead.
I understand that we cannot always do this as a lot depends on when you receive your housing assignments from wherever you’re staying. If possible though, begin preparing where you’ll be placing your students early as this will provide ample time to make changes as you approach your departure date.
Preparing ahead of time affords you the most flexibility to adapt and change things and gives you a better opportunity to be thoughtful and intentional with where you place your students.
Assign rooms by small group.
One of the easiest ways to figure out rooming assignments is to set them up via small group. Most youth groups have small groups that are assigned by grade and gender, which allows you to place groups accordingly. This helps to remove the puzzle of trying to figure out where to place students if you determine this to be your approach.
Work with small group leaders.
Another thing to remember is that depending on the size of your youth group, your leaders will know who should and should not be rooming together. Seeking their counsel allows you to hopefully circumvent any known issues between students and work toward a better trip experience for everyone who is going.
What I would suggest before asking your leaders’ input is to put together the housing assignments and ask them to look it over for their small group and provide any insight. Doing this process in the reverse will add a lot more stress as you’ll have too many opinions and cooks in the kitchen.
Don’t allow for changes.
When it comes to room assignments there are a million different reasons that people seek to have their rooms changed. I used to try and accommodate the requests but it became overwhelming and impossible.
Instead, what we have moved toward is assigning rooms with the best intentions and insight, without allowing changes. This ensures our responses are consistent across the board and everyone is on an equal playing field.
Now, that does not mean we will never make changes. But making changes is the exception, not the norm. We will allow changes when necessary, but they are always done after much thought and understanding.
Do not communicate rooming assignments until check-in.
Students love to know their rooming assignments before a trip as they make plans and want to create a special group within the room. But this can lead to more requests for changes and it can also lead to students feeling left out or dismissed by their peers if they don’t “make the cut.”
Instead, telling students their rooms at check-in circumvents many of those issues and ensures no one gets alienated or forgotten.
Be thoughtful about how you blend groups.
Inevitably you’ll need to blend groups when it comes to housing and this is where it can get tricky. Do you house middle school students with high school students? What about siblings? What about small groups that don’t get along? What if small groups or friend groups need to be split up to make housing assignments work?
Whenever you need to blend groups, be intentional and thoughtful. You know your students and their friendships, so seek to lean into those aspects.
Also, seek to empower students who are leaders when blending groups. Encourage them to help foster community and explain why they have their specific rooming assignment. Being thoughtful when blending groups helps to alleviate problems or issues before they develop.
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