"Everything The First 56"

There’s nothing more rewarding for Bobby Woodard than watching the Auburn campus come alive. 

“We have over 34,000 students, and it's my job to be their chief advocate,” said Woodard.

Woodard embraces his role as Senior Vice President for Student Affairs with dedication and enthusiasm.

“I get paid never to leave college,” joked Woodard.  “But seriously, every day we can have input on how somebody is going to set a trajectory for their life to make it better.”

Woodard, a North Carolina native, is entering his twelfth year on the Plains. He’s previously held leadership roles at East Carolina University, University of Georgia and University of Central Florida.

“This is my fourth university in four states,” said Woodard. “After I interviewed here, I called my wife and said, ‘it's just a little different.’  Auburn will give you what you put into it, and it’s a great place.” 

Guiding thousands of 18-to-22-year-olds is no small feat. Woodard understands the profound influence he has on each student's journey.

“You're 18 years old coming here, and no matter where you came from, you get to decide where you go and what you become,” said Woodard.  “That is what's so important.” 

To help students discover their path, Woodard and Auburn University’s Office of Student Involvement created The First 56 – eight weeks of special programming, events and initiatives to promote student engagement. Organized by the University Program Council, The First 56 starts at move-in and runs through October. The program involves 500+ student organizations and nearly 400 events – all designed to help students find their niche.

“Research will tell you the first 56 days is when you begin to feel part of a campus or any town that you go to,” said Woodard. “If students have a good social network, they’re likely to perform better in the classroom."

If there’s one thing Woodard enjoys just as much as serving the Auburn student body, it’s a visit to the restaurant chain Waffle House.

“It's easy, it's quick and I like to people watch,” he said.

Fueled by Woodard's passion for all things scattered, smothered and covered, Waffles with Woodard was born in 2014. In just six short years, this event has become a beloved tradition as part of The First 56 with Waffle House food trucks dishing out mouthwatering waffles and bacon.

“You would think that we were giving out free tuition,” Woodard laughed.

This year Waffles with Woodard will be held on Wed., August 20, starting at 8:30 a.m. on the Haley Concourse.

“It's one of the best days,” said Woodard. “I get to go out there for about four hours, see the students and talk to them. We want to know who you are.”

In addition to Waffles with Woodard, other signature events scheduled as part of The First 56 include a Block Party, Concert with Joshua Bassett, Casino Night, Convocation, an Involvement Fair, Pizza & Popsicles with the President and much more.

Students can view The First 56 Calendar of Events here or follow @auinvolve on Instagram for updates. They can also visit the AUInvolve website for a complete list of student organizations and activities to discover their path on the Plains and beyond.

Check out our "Everything Auburn" Podcast website here!

Transcript

0:05

War Eagle and welcome to Everything Auburn, the monthly podcast where we bring a new member of the Auburn Family here to talk about what they do and who they are and what makes Auburn special. I'm joined this time by a wonderful guest, Bobby Woodard, the Senior Vice President of Student Affairs. That's correct. A heck of a title you got there, sir. Welcome to the podcast. Thank you for having me, I appreciate it. Well, this podcast is a particularly special one because it is. Auburn University at its best is when students are on campus and no time better when we get new students on campus. A thing that your office is particularly well suited to welcoming. Oh yeah, I'm sure that's the most exciting time of the year for you. It is. Everybody gets fired up, everybody's excited. They don't know what's coming with the school year. They're, everybody's happy when they first time on their own, you know, learning out life. Isn't it the best? I do remember my first few months on campus, and I think, you know, my head was spinning for almost the entirety of it. Oh, yeah. Well, that's our job is to make sure it doesn't spin and that you make connections really quickly. So that's good. I appreciate you telling me, hey, you know, it was it was a fun time. I really it was it was really great. So before we get into the first few weeks on campus for a student, just very quickly, if you could tell people who you are, what you do, I'm sure students will see you a lot on campus, so it'd be nice for them. You know? I know that guy. I know what he does. He's a friend. Sure. Well, I've been here 12 years, going on my 12th year here at Auburn, and my job really is to be the chief advocate for all of our students. Right now, it's 34,143 of them, and it's my job to be their chief advocate. So it's not only to the senior administration, to the faculty with their parents sometimes, but also with the town and gown issues with the city. So my job is truly to be the chief advocate. We're going to challenge the students, but at the same time we're going to support. So that's my role is to do that here at Auburn. Wonderful. The way I always heard it described when I was a student, this might be an oversimplification. Was, student affairs encompasses everything that's not classwork and homework and test. Everything is not academic. Not necessarily black and white, but for for general purposes. So I can describe in two different ways. Please do so. The first way is, is organized chaos. Love that. Again, there's 34,000. 18 to 22 year old. So that's, organized chaos. Our job is keep it in the bumper guards in there. The other way I would say is you come to Auburn to get an education. The academics out of the house is what you learn inside. You get it? Auburn degree here. What we do, we give you an Auburn education. That's the difference I like that. That's a good elevator pitch. That's good. Gotta start the indoctrination. That's right. And as part of that, obviously, if you can, you know, you see our set here, we've got it decorated with a few particular, dressings here, which I love. Notably, though, the most exciting few days that you guys do is the first 56 this big event. So the first 56 days on campus, I think I saw it was 300 plus activities, almost 400 this year. How do you manage to squeeze 400 activities in the 56 days? So is wild. We really want you to be fill a part of our campus when you go anywhere. Research will tell you the first six weeks. First 56 days, which is almost eight weeks, is how you begin to feel part of a campus where there are any town that you go to. So to be part of a community. So we said, well, how can we help with that? So how we want you to be a part of our Auburn campus is because you'll be more successful if you feel that you're a part of it. So we're go to hold events where we're going to give you free food events, get you out of your dorm room, get you out of your apartment. And so what we really want you to do is come to campus, see other people like you, find your people love that. And that's where the first 56 comes from. And the name, I mean, we were founded in 1856, so set it at six weeks. We did the eight weeks, which is about 56 days. So we'll start at move in and go through the beginning of October. And that's really how we got the first 56. And it's right at 400 events that are academic and nonacademic altogether and synchro. And I mean, there is nothing better for a college student than some free food and or a t shirt. Well, and the first week we give away a lot of free food and a lot of t shirts kind of match. Now the students pay for their tuition and that's how we get it. But it makes you want to go out and do that. We make you want to get out and say, hey, I can get a free meal, or I can get a t shirt and you'll see some. I talk to somebody in the line and it really is nice. I mean, it's a great community. We want to show you how good the community really is. And it's not just, you know, there's a get a whole host, a staff of people to help you out with this. But there's so many different events that you do. I have here a list of 56 things to do in your first 56 days. Okay. There's a lot on here, and I'm going to spare everybody listening. The me reading a list, because reading is not my strong suit. But there are a few notable things on here I think would be really great. Obviously. The most notable that I have on this list is, is represented here, which is the one that bears your namesake, the waffles with Woodard. Yeah. You've been doing this event for quite a while. Yes. Handful of years, at least. What? What is, waffles with Woodard from your experience? So first, I would like to make it noted publicly. I hate that picture. Because I have about further ahead on it. The rest of the time, we will. Oh, I like that. I'll do that. That looks good. So I will say, when I got here in 2014, I did an interview. It was called Take Five. Okay. And it was with the student media. And we did that. We put it out and they talk about places you like to go and so forth. And one of them was, I like the waffle House. I will be going to the Waffle House. It's easy, it's quick, and I like to people watch you do a lot of people watching at the waffle House. And so when I went there and they started talking about it and then that first event, they said, we want to introduce you to campus, but to start with the first 56, we want to have an event. And last name is Woodard. So it started with waffles with Woodard. Love a good alliteration. That's right. And so the first year we actually did it in the ballroom and we had our campus partner, our dining program, Tiger Dining to actually do the waffles that year. Well we started talking more about and said how can we step this up a little bit. So I'll start talk more about the waffle House. And then someone mentioned there's a waffle House truck. I was like there's not. And there it is. There's two. And they come out of Atlanta. And so we called them and booked them. And that's how it started. And then about six years ago, we started with a t shirt, and you would think that we were giving out free tuition, the things that students will do. And I'm not too brave to say that I'll do it too, for a free t shirt or a free meal. Oh is pretty. I will do a lot for a free meal or free and you know it's at 8:00 in the morning. I love it so. And it's usually the first day or the second day of class. And so what we started to do and was we started with 500 waffles. Well, we ran out of waffles fairly quick ten minutes. Yeah. So we went to 1000 to 1500 and we added bacon to it and we had a little bit of hash browns, and we went back to just the bacon and the waffles, and then we started adding the t shirt and we extended. We went to two trucks. Then we went to went back to one truck. And so we it has been a it is crazy, the number of people that will mention it or I got a text this summer from one of our students that used to work in our office that's in London on a study abroad, and she showed one the shirts. Somebody is over there wearing a shirt. I'll tell you what, man. This is one. And it is one of the best things I've ever seen. You know, one of the things that we struggle with is how we're going to design this shirt. I am not a designer. That's okay. I know what I like and what I don't like. And, the first year, they didn't show me that my face was on this shirt because I wasn't approved it. And so I didn't know until the day off. And at that point, what do you do? You got a thousand shirts and a line of hungry students. Exactly. Right. So you give out the shirt. So I thought I made a point of saying, hey, we shouldn't do that next year. And I and I wasn't as firm enough because next year my head was back on the shirt and they pop up at bowl games and so forth. So we really we struggle with that. Design because we really want now it's become a tradition. Oh yeah. Now it's become something that people want. To me, it's like the Creed, the Eagle, tiger walk, waffles with Woodard like it's in it's up there I appreciate that. Yeah. Yeah. So I enjoy it. I'm not going to lie to you, Carter. It's, It's one of the best days, because I get to go out there for about four hours. Even as we run out of waffles. We'll give something else out. But I go out there and I get to see the students. I get to talk to them. I get to see the new students to return as soon as they say, hey, I've got it. Every year I've been here. And we talk about where they from, what they're here studying. What do you want to do? What what are you going to do to change the trajectory of your life? And it is a great day. And we've had a therapy dogs out there with us. We've had all be out there with us. We had Doctor Doug in here a few weeks ago with. And he brought Doctor Rooster exactly who will be there. It was the best. Yeah. And Doctor Nancy, which just don't take a water bottle near her because she will attack it. That's right. But it is a it is a great place to see people. And what one of the best things about it, I mean, it's free food. It's a free t shirt. I enjoy it, but the students get to see that we're community. Yeah, we care more about you than just you going to class, which is why you came here. We really want to know who you are, what are you about? And hopefully you'll find somebody that line to talk to and just strike up a conversation. Well, it's been a very common theme. I've been doing this podcast for a year now, and it's been a very common theme of almost every guest we've had on here. Talking about the Auburn family. That's so cliche. And we talk about all the time. And I like to say, like from the outside, everyone says it's a family and it's all but like, it really is different and it's not. It's hard to kind of quantify what that really means. I 100% agree this is my fourth university in four states. Yeah. And I will tell you, when I interviewed here and I was flying back home, I call my wife and I said, hey, if we make it to the next level or stage, you need to come back with me. And her first thing was why? And I said, well, it's just a little different. And she said, it's just another college town. At that point. We've been in three out of four of our schools were college towns or two out of three. And she said, no, you're something different. And when she came down, we did make it to the next round and we came down and she goes, I think you're right. Yeah. And neither one of us have a degree from this place, but Auburn will give you what you get put into it, and it is a great place. It is, we really do care about you as a person and not just you as a student that comes here. Yeah. Kurt Sasser was on here, last year around Christmas, and he did, thing that he often says, which is, I know Auburn and Auburn knows me, which is a really great statement, which I really love. But, I've, I've made my rounds. I've been to a few different universities as well. And I remember first time was a different university. I was like, okay, well, I've had this Auburn Creed, this kind of this really great. This is who we are. This is what we do. This is what we believe. I started looking for similarities like, where's this version of it here. What's that? And I didn't realize until that moment that it is very unique. And it's always something that as an Auburn alum, as Auburn employee, I always find myself like leaning back on because it's just really great. North Star. And then you see that exude itself in so many different events. What we do the first 56 and how we welcome in new students and what we do at Camp War Eagle, even going as far as when you're first time as a student, kind of. Yeah. And you see it in so many different places and it's that's really the Auburn family thing. And that's what kind of makes it different from everyone else who says family. That's right. I agree in the Auburn Creed, I mean, it's owned at least three different places on campus that I know of, but it's not just words. It's not just a creed that we say it's it's something that the people at Auburn and the Auburn students live in their day to day life, and that's what makes it so special. Right. And, Auburn, we don't create just graduates. We create students and people that are going to make a difference in this world. And that goes back to the Creed. And that's why it's so special. And there's so many people I talk to as well that are jealous of the fact that I get to live here after being alumni. I get to still be here and come back to campus. I was talking to somebody else the other day. I was like, oh yeah, you know, took a break, went on a little walk, get myself some lemonade. Yeah, it was great, you know, and I still get to do that. And then the amount of people like, I just wish I could still do that, that just yearned to be back here. It's a treat. But I do want to kind of go back to this list, if you will. Do you have any? There's so many different things on here that are really great. Another fun one that I saw on here, which wanted to see if you've ever participated in is, call the FOI desk and test their knowledge. Yeah, you should have asked them how many balls or jelly beans will fit into it. To Jordan-Hare Stadium. That's a good, The famous one I heard is how many bricks there are on campus, which is obviously, one that's actively changing as we're building new buildings on campus. That is true. If you look at my Instagram, we took some bricks away. I think that's a good point. Tell me about this patio project you're doing here. Because I did see you the other day operating some very heavy machinery. Oh, yeah. We we've heard from students for a while. There are patio. Okay. Let's back up. The Melton Student Center is supposed to be the living room of the campus. It's supposed to be a place that you come in, you're comfortable and you want to spend time. You see people, you're being seen. You can get something to eat. You can relax a little bit with a game room or get food. But we heard from the students is that they needed more spaces to sit outside in Alabama. For the most part, we can sit outside a lot of the 12 months of the year. Yeah, we can until you evaporate in July. That's exactly right. Right. And so we warning to think, okay, how can we improve that? How can we make a better study spot more the meeting space. How can we do that with the students talked about they needed more space. They wanted more outdoor space. So we moved the Starbucks downstairs. We took a full service. We took Starbucks was on the second floor, the Melton Student Center, and we moved to the bottom floor, made it a full service Starbucks, food and everything. We knew that the students were going to come. The campus was going to come. We needed more space, right? So we started to listen to some students, talk to the students, listen to feedback, and from alums actually would give us feedback. And so we decided to start a project with SGA. SGA came to us with this idea and we decided to start a project, and it was approved by the Board of Trustees. And so we're going to renovate that, make a screen out doors, more covered, seating, little more seating to where it can be moved around a little bit more. So you're not fixated in a certain spot. And to everybody's mainly happy, right? Is that we're getting rid of the half wall. Half wall is taking a lot of knees out. It's taking a few of mine as well. I've ripped up a shin or two from that brick wall, but now our skateboarders and our parkour students are very unhappy with me, and they've let me know that on social media I could see that, I could see that. But, I mean, that's kind of the life. Yeah, that's right. And that's going to happen. But, I was curious, though. I mean, you get to have such a touch point with the students, right? And obviously, as we talked about waffles with Woodard is a great event for you. You take that one out. What are some of the things you're looking forward to the most this this academic year? The things you know, I know I'm sure athletic events are up there, and you get to see the students out in full force and all the different things that get to happen here on the green space, which you're right, you get to see stuff happen in the green space all the time. I'm sure I'm very, very lucky because my office is in the student center, so I'm in the heart of campus for the most part. I get to see the transit hub so people come on and off. The things that I like to see is I get rejuvenated every year when I get to see move in, and people are exhausted. Parents are a little nervous about leaving their most precious resource with us. And the students are so excited. And when the parents leave, the students, whether they admit it or not, they're a little sad because they're a little unsure what's going to happen. Yeah, but that first day of class or the two, the weekend before the classes start, the seniors are finding their groove they're getting and they're meeting new people. I got to meet the first three weeks of class is amazing. You don't know what you don't know yet. You're still learning new stuff. You're still open to new stuff. Some people are a little reserved. So I look forward to that first 2 to 3 weeks of campus because you get to see so many people around, everybody's going to class, everybody trying to find their class or going to the bookstore. And so and usually by the second week we will have a home football game, and then they get to see all the white tents come and they get to see the the game and hopefully walk away with a win. And it makes everybody happy. They get raw teamers for the first time as a student. So for me, it really is the first couple weeks of school that we get to see that, we have some pretty big events. We have sorority recruitment. Oh, that's a big event. Lasted about ten days with these young ladies coming through and going through that. You got the marching bands back, you got everybody. Most of the sports are coming back. The faculty are back on campus, so it comes alive. It is a very different place. Auburn is it's a tale of two different cities. You know, there's two months and two and a half months in the summer and about three weeks in December and January, where it's very different. But the rest of the year, it is so much more alive on campus with, with the full force of the student body here. I agree, and I tell people it's harder to find parking. It is harder to find parking the size of that. But I get paid never to leave college, and which is a really great thing to say when you're a grown up and you do this for a living because you get to go to work. And yes, there's a lot of stuff we have to deal with that are not so good sometimes. And that impact people's lives forever. But for the most part, every day we can have an opinion or we can have an input and how somebody is going to set a trajectory for their life a little better than they were when they came in. That's what's so important about college. That's what's so different about Auburn. We actually care what you're going to do after graduation. Not you. Just to get a degree. We want to know how we can help you and the alums do a really good job on that. To give giving back. A few weeks back we had Christine Drew with the Eagles program on here as well. And we were talking about a lot of you learn a lot at college, right? Obviously your education, you said earlier, like you're going to get a degree, you're going to learn a trade. You're going to learn a skill set that helps you in your career moving forward. Right. But there's so much you learn in college about being a person, being who you are, that it was, oh man, it's so much fun. I like you didn't think of it like that. You just mentioned those first three weeks on campus. I remember my parents left, I moved in, my parents left, and there's about two hours where I just sat on my bed and I was like, well, just get I figure it out. That's all right. What do you know? What's going to tell me? What time to be home, where to go? I got to make sure I eat. Nobody's going to have food for me. And it was just is really sobering moment. Yeah. And then. But I'll never forget it. And then those first, those first few weeks, a lot of figuring out, a lot of learning. But I look back at it with so much like reverence that I just really I'll never get to, you know, experience again. But I see people have it moving day is always moving. Day is good. People watching there, too. It is great. I love people watch. It is great to people watch. I can tell you when I when I first got here, I rode the bus for like two hours. Oh, if you really got some time, you got to open. Go ride the transit bus, get off one and get on another one. Get off. I want to get on. No. And just just watch people. It'll tell you a lot about our community. And what people want to do to help the other person out. But I think when you go, when you look at our community you get to see that, hey, I'm about to do something that I'm a little nervous, I'm about to take a step and our job is to help them. It's to have the bumper guards. Right. Like in bowling again, we want you to feel a little bit, but we're gonna help you feel forward. And so that's what's so important about it here, is that we really want you to find your niche, your people, with those 400 plus, events that we'll have with over 500 student organizations, there's a a group for you. I mean, we used to have a group when I first got here, the underwater basket weaving club, and we don't have any. I do remember this was a famed group. That's right. And because you don't, you don't have enough people to, to be a part of. And I guess it's gone by the wayside or the pool side however you want to say that. Well, be careful that you talk about it here. That's how you got waffles with what are you might become in the face of the underwater basket weaving club? Oh, man, that'd be a bad day for it. But, I'm not an artistic person to have those fine motor skills, but it is. It is a great. It is really nice to see people come and and see that they're so excited about what can hold, for the future for them. The other thing I'll say and I'll stop with this, but they don't know what they don't know. So the world is open. You're 18 years old, you're coming here, and you get to decide no matter where you came from, you get to decide where you go and what you become, right? That is what's so important. And and man, I just love it. I love my job. I love what we do. The first 56 is a great way to dip your toe in the water, right. And that's what we want to make sure you do. Yeah. And obviously the college experience, the involvement student affairs experience goes past the first 56 days. Obviously that's the focus. Oh yeah. As it starts. But it is a year round endeavor. That's exactly what we care about every part of the year that you're here. And for the whole four years, maybe five for some of us, starting with the victory lap, we want to make sure that you're here and we work well with our campus partners. But again, you're here for an academic degree first, right? And so we're going to help support that. Because if you're happy outside you got everything together. Outside you got a friend group. It helps with your mental health. It helps with your social network. You'll do better in the classroom. Wonderful. Yeah. And I mean, your GPA is even better when you get involved or average GPA now is like a 3.4. And if you're involved in organizations or in leadership position, it goes to a 3.59 and they're like, oh, that's not a big difference. That's hard to go that .19, that's a lot. And so that's why we want you to get involved. All right. Well and then to kind of wrap it up here some notable events that are some of the big ones here. Obviously the big concert that happens every year, there's pizza and popsicles with the president, without a doubt. And I highly encourage everyone to look at pizza and pop circles with the president. You get to meet Doctor Roberts and Tracy, the first lady, and they're very welcoming. They'll they'll talk to you. You get one on one with them. But let me tell you a quick story. This is great. This is what this is why I wanted to here. This is why I wanted a podcast. So this is this is no lie. Like, two years ago, we were at the president's house, and now it's getting renovated this year. So we'll move. Peace and pop sings with the president. But we're at the president's house and they're in pizza and popsicles. We have a, you can put you got ice cream, you got pizza. We got, cornhole out there a couple other games, and I was sitting over to the side and guy and, you know, one, he came up, you know, one, but they were playing cornhole. And he walks up to this group and asks, play cornhole. And I kind of hang out, linger around talking to other students. And by the time he left him, the girl he were playing cornhole with had a date that next night, matchmaker. And I was like, so y'all came here and you made a date. I talked to both of them and I'm like, you, you actually, I said, y'all know each other. Didn't have any idea. Once from out of state, once from in-state. They met playing cornhole. They got put on the same team or the opposite teams that are on the same side. And I saw them about four weeks later. They were still talking. Okay, I wouldn't say dating is what she told me. I don't understand. I don't know any more. But they keep I see them occasionally. Again, I think they're juniors this year. If I got it right and I'll see them occasionally. Not together or no longer together. But I can't believe pizza and pop. So you don't only not only get to meet the president, he might possibly get a date out of it. You never know who's going to be there. That's right. Could just be somebody. They're special for you. The funny thing is, their first date was that another first 56 event because they both said it's free food. We might as well go together. So I don't have to say I got to give them I got to give them credit. Don't have to decide who pays for the food. No, that's not who pays. You still mingle a little bit. It, it worked well. So we didn't have that intended consequence. But the good thing about it is they made a connection. But that's what I will never live down. Because I actually thought it was interesting that we actually love pizza and popsicles with the president, with two of our students going out on a date with each other. That is wonderful. You never know. Well, I would encourage any students or any parents of students to encourage your students to to look up first. 56 find some events attendant who knows who you might find. That's right. And especially if I get two recommendations. The pizza with popsicles is the president, and I can't remember the correct order of those. Two too many p words there. They get blended in my brain. Pizza and popsicles with the president. There you go. Waffles with Woodard. We're not going to look at the picture on the back side of this, but it is there. And if they need any more information, your website, the student affairs, it is aub.ie/first-56-calendar. Look at you, media trainer there. You guys good? As well as your information is all in there as well. Yeah, my information's on there. Or you can follow us on Instagram.@AuburnStudents @AuburnStudents or a you students or @WarEagleWoodard. If you really get bored and you just want to swipe, hey, we got to find you, getting rid of that, retaining wall where they didn't retain where it is. I don't know what we have next, but the students come up with the ideas, and a couple people in our creative office come up with the ideas. Here's a sneak peek, though we might have a special guest doing a cameo in one of them soon. All right, well, I'll turn on the notification. There you go. I appreciate it. All right, well, thank you for listening to everything. Auburn. Bobby, I appreciate you spend some time and talking with us. And then I want to say, Aubie we never really got to you during the podcast. If you want to finish it out and give me some of your final thoughts here before we, head home. War Eagle. Well, I couldn't have said it better myself. For Aubie and Bobby Woodard. My name is Carter. Thank you so much for listening. We'll be back again next month. And War Eagle.