Alone Until the Bell Calls Us: How Playful Design Unlocks Campus Connections for First-Generation Students

Abstract

What happens when you transform mentoring through play? In 2024-25, Oklahoma State University's Edmon Low Library reimagined its First-Generation College Student Program through gamification, creating "Bell Song in Agoness" and "Branches" -- two semester-long adventures that guide students from feeling "alone" to discovering "belongingness." This innovative approach addresses a critical access barrier: many first-generation students arrive on campus feeling disconnected and uncertain about available resources. Our playfully designed mentoring program creates meaningful pathways to discovery, pairing first-gen mentees with peer and senior mentors in collaborative problem-solving adventures that unlock campus services, library resources, and support networks. The results demonstrate how creative programming can deepen connectedness. In 2024-25, our mentee-mentor teams attended nearly 400 campus events, with several mentees from the previous year volunteering to become peer mentors -- a powerful indicator of the program's impact on student engagement and belonging. The program's success has also unlocked new partnerships with campus offices like Student Life and First-Gen Forward, while deepening connections with program donors. Through storytelling, puzzle-solving, and the Hero's Journey framework, we transformed traditional orientation from a passive experience into an active exploration. Students discover that the real treasure isn't hidden gold, but the wealth of knowledge, opportunities, and connections available to them. By gamifying the first-year experience, we've created a transferable model that libraries can adapt to unlock access and belonging for underserved student populations. This presentation shares practical strategies for implementing gamified programming, demonstrates how storytelling can make resource discovery engaging rather than overwhelming, and showcases measurable outcomes that illustrate the power of playful approaches to student success.