The six members of the student council bounded around the Central Oregon Community College gym like cheerleaders on Friday morning. Treva Langa, 23, had streaks of blue in her blonde hair and wore a navy blue T-shirt that screamed ”COCC Rocks!”

After directing the crowd of 100 or so new-student orientation-day participants into two lines, the council members explained the game. Walk across the gym with your eyes closed while yelling out half of a word, said Rainbow Hinkle, 27. Your partner yells the other half as he or she walks toward you.

Such as ”bob” and ”cat,” Hinkle said. Bobcat?

Although known to few, COCC does indeed have a mascot, and this year’s student council wants the bobcat and the school colors to be unforgettable.

”By the end of the year, we want students to know the bobcat and blue and silver as COCC,” said Brennan Morrow, 26, another council member.

Classes for the fall term begin today. The six members of the student council hope to transform the campus this year by developing a deeper sense of community.

As they see it, the school hasn’t had much of a campus life in the past. Students don’t always know what’s going on.

Too often clubs isolate clusters of students rather than bringing them together, some council members say.

Even Richard Thompson, the dean of students, agrees that the campus community needs nurturing. In surveys, students consistently say they’re happy with their classroom setting and the quality of the instruction, he said. But students also report being significantly less satisfied with the campus environment.

”Education is more than content,” he said. ”We want to build a campus experience.”

Decades ago, COCC had an intercollegiate sports program. The basketball team battled it out with other colleges. Thompson doesn’t suggest that the school needs a new intercollegiate sports program, but he does point to sports as a campus building activity. COCC club teams currently play other schools’ teams.

”We don’t have that same kind of unifying opportunity to identify with one another anymore,” he said. Students identify with their majors and instructors instead.

Thompson doesn’t expect to see dramatic changes this year, but he’d like the students and faculty to discuss what it takes to make a campus community come to life. He’d like to plant the seeds.

The student council is just beginning to plan its campus community movement and already has a few ideas. To begin with, the council has cleared out old desks and furniture from the Associated Students of Central Oregon Community College student government office to make it feel more welcoming.

Council members may speak to individual classes to inform students about upcoming events. Some members on the council said they hope to encourage clubs to grow. A student center, which the college eventually plans to build, would be great, they say. In the meantime, the students said they want other students to just be aware of what’s already here.

And then there’s the bobcat.

One notion is to bring in a live bobcat to give students an idea of what their mascot is really like. Another proposal is to buy a mascot costume that someone could wear to games or just run around in on campus.

Hinkle, a council member, pointed to a fierce-looking bobcat in a school products catalog on Thursday morning.

”Pro-bobcat, that’s what we’re talking about,” she said.

Several council members said they’d like to see stuffed animals that look like bobcats sold in the bookstore.

Council members aren’t the only ones talking about school mascots, said Shaun Ylatupa-McWhorter, 21, another council member. An article in the student newspaper played a part in it.

”COCC has a mascot people!” wrote Ilse Stols in an April edition of The Broadside.

”Great, so we have a mascot, but not the kind that runs around and beats up the opponent’s mascot during time-out. Maybe it was because we lack spirit and support on the sidelines,” Stols wrote.

When people feel more engaged in their school, they will do better academically, said Langa, another council member.

”People are healthier if they’re more involved,” she said.

Chestina Rutledge, 33, also a council member, remembers that she met people last year but found it hard to make lasting friendships. With more community, more intermingling of clubs, students might feel more unified, she said.

COCC is not alone in its plight. Other community colleges struggle to build student connections with the campus.

”We try,” said Jan Coulton, director of public affairs at Portland Community College. ”It’s more of a challenge at a community college than for a four-year residential institution just because our students are so many different ages. A lot of them work, go to school, have families.”

Each of Portland Community College’s three campuses has a full-time student activity coordinator who strives to get kids involved outside the classroom, Coulton said.

At COCC, the student council has spoken up. And it doesn’t plan to stop. As more young students move to Bend and attend COCC, Morrow argues there’s a growing number of students without any ties to Bend who hunger for connection.

Things can change even if students don’t feel connected now, Hinkle said. ”We are a unique college with great traditions just blossoming, waiting to come out.”

Julia Lyon can be reached at 541-504-2336 or at jlyon@bendbulletin.com.