National Coming Out Day Reception — 10/11

National Coming Out Day Reception

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, and queer friendly students, faculty, and staff are invited to meet, mingle, and talk about coming out and being out!

Monday, October 11, 2010

4-6 p.m.

Daniel Family Commons, Usdan

Light refreshments will be served.

 Sponsored by the Queer Resource Center and Student Affairs Office.

Info Session: Urban Education Semester — Oct. 12

Urban Education Info Session, Oct. 12, 5:30 – 6:30 p.m, Allbritton 103.  Pizza and drinks will be served. 

Through the Urban Education Semester (UES), students spend a semester in New York City, engaged in a combination of supervised fieldwork (primarily teaching but there may be some urban policy placements) and coursework offered by Bank Street College of Education. This interdisciplinary, academic immersion program earns Wesleyan academic credit and introduces students from all academic backgrounds to the complexity of issues facing urban public education. Ideal  program for students interested in urban environments, community development, teaching and learning, and systemic reform. For more information, visit www.urbanedsemester.org.     Applications for the Spring 2011 program are due to Vicky Zwelling in the CRC on Wed. , Nov. 3.

Study Abroad Applications Due for SP’11 — 10/15

FROM THE OFFICE OF INTERNATIONAL STUDIES –

This is a reminder that the General Wesleyan Permission to Study Abroad Application is due on FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2010 for all students planning to study abroad for the SPRING 2011 SEMESTER. This is the “permission to study abroad” application that ALL students must complete, regardless of program choice, including Wesleyan-administered programs (Bologna, Madrid, Paris). Applications must be turned in at the Office of International Studies, 105 Fisk Hall and may be turned in anytime on October 15.

A copy of the permission application may be picked up at the Office of International Studies or printed from our website at www.wesleyan.edu/ois. Click on “Applications” in the “Forms” bucket and print the “Permission to Study Abroad” PDF document.

A complete application includes the following 7 items:

  • Personal information sheet
  • Academic justification
  • Online Health Information Clearance form*
  • Pre-approval of courses form
  • Student Medical Release and Parental Statement form
  • Assumption of Risk and Release and Waiver form
  • Standards of Conduct Pledge

*All applicants must complete our online Health Information Clearance form. If you have not already done so, you may still do it now. It is in your student e-Portfolio under “Tools and Links.” Be sure to do this by October 15, 2010.

If you have any questions about the “permission to study abroad application,” please feel free to stop by the office during drop-in hours (M-W-F 10-noon; T-TH 2-4 p.m.) or call us at 860 685 2550.

Please note that approved programs (not run by Wesleyan) have their own specific deadlines (many do “rolling admissions”) and can fill before stated deadlines so students should check directly with the programs to make certain that applications are filed in a timely manner.

Gail Winter, Assistant Director, International Studies, 860 685-3006, gwinter@wesleyan.edu

Fall Break Shuttles

Fall break is just around the corner, and you’re probably making plans to get off campus. It’s easy with Wesleyan’s shuttles. You can buy your ticket now at the Box Office in Usdan or online at wesleyan.edu/boxoffice/shuttles. Buy your ticket before all the seats fill up.

All shuttles leave from the front of Usdan on Wyllys Avenue.

If you need a ride or can give a ride to somewhere the shuttles don’t go, use the Rideboard. On the Rideboard you can find rides offered by other students, request a ride, or offer rides yourself. You can access the Rideboard through your E-Portfolio, under Student Life.

Here are the days and times for the shuttles:

Grand Central Station, NY ($25 each way) Penn Station, NY ($25 each way) South Station, Boston, MA ($25 each way)

To:  Friday 10/15 – 4 pm         From:  Tuesday 10/19 – 3 pm

New Haven Shuttle, Union Station ($9 each way)

To:  Friday 10/15 – 10 am, 6 pm;  Saturday 10/16 – 10 am; Sunday 10/17 – 4 pm

From:  Friday 10/15 – 7 pm; Saturday 10/16 – 11 am; Sunday 10/17 – 5 pm; Tuesday 10/19 – 11 am, 5 pm

Bradley Airport ($20 each way)

To :  Friday 10/15 – 12:30 pm      From:  Tuesday 10/19 – 7 pm

Major Tips #3

While you do not need to get too worried about the connection between your major and your career, you also do not need to get too worried that the career you think you want now will keep you tied to that path forever.  Do you know that people go through an average of 4-5 different jobs  in their lifetime?   It’s important to know that what you do after you graduate from Wesleyan is not necessarily what you will be doing  five, ten or even twenty years later. 

So what might you end up doing?  Go to the CRC to check out the possibilities.   First, get familiar with what kinds of information they have to offer you and then begin to check out the kinds of positions that are available in the different fields.  There are jobs people are doing—making a decent living from AND enjoying—that you haven’t even heard of.  With the rapid transformation in technology today, there will be jobs when you graduate that do not even exist now.  You can always think about creating your own.  Dream away!

And check out the “Choosing a Major” workshop with CRC sophomore liaison, Jim Kubat, at noon, Usdan 110–today.

$Work at Homecoming/Family Weekend$ — App due 10/8

Dear Class of 2013,

Apply now to be part of Homecoming/Family Weekend 2010!  Student workers play an integral role in the weekend by greeting guests at the registration site, assisting with activity and event preparation, escorting guests around campus in shuttle vans, and much more!

Apply before October 8 at 5:00pm: http://www.wesleyan.edu/hcfw/2010/students/

Contact us at interns@wesleyan.edu or 860/685-2418 with any questions or concerns.

Costume Shop Tag Sale!

Anyone interested in unique, cheap clothing?  If so, come to the

COSTUME SHOP TAG SALE

Friday, October 8th on the CFA Green

noon til 5 p.m. 

Everything $1 or less!

Choosing a Major — Thurs., 10/7 at noon

How do students choose a major? Why do they choose one major over another? How, if at all, does your choice of major relate to your career direction after graduation? These questions will be addressed as Jim Kubat, sophomore class liaison, shares the career development point-of-view on the process of choosing an undergraduate college major at noon on Thursday, October 7 in Usdan 110.

Celebrating Students 2013: Codi Leitner

This summer I explored organic farming in two very different areas of the world, both culturally and in terms of climate: Costa Rica, and Westchester, New York. Just four days after I left Wesleyan, I traveled with a friend to the town of Guapiles, Costa Rica, which is a small rural town on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica, surrounded by rain forest. There I worked on an Organic farm that I came into correspondence with through WWOOF (WorldWide Opportunities on Organic Farms). The farm I stayed at was right on the border of the rain forest. I lived in a bamboo and mud cabana next to a lake, and we had no real company other than the people living on the farm, their 5 dogs, and the animals around us. Each morning we would wake to the sound of howler monkeys and the sight of an active volcano’s plume of smoke just visible above the canopy of the rain forest, and we would go to bed each night once the sun went down. I spent my time cutting bamboo and citronella, harvesting cacao, banana, and pineapple, clearing paths in the rain forest, and traveling about the Caribbean coast of the country.

The town we were in was by no means a “touristy” area, and we were immersed in local culture, from the food, to the slang, to the customs. We had no real toilets nor hot running water, and our electricity came from a hydroelectric water system supplied by a spring coming through the forest. Being in such a different cultural environment really opened my eyes to how diverse the world really is. Even though I was not there for a long amount of time, I quickly grew accustomed to the simplicity of life in Guapiles, the weather, and the giant bugs (I’m talking black and yellow spiders the size of the palm of your hand). Upon arriving back in the United States, I experienced another culture shock when I realized how luxurious and excessive the American lifestyle can seem to the rest of the world.

After I got settled back in at home, I began working on another Organic Farm in Katonah, New York. Our harvest on this farm was very different from that in Costa Rica. We grew raspberries, squash, arugula, garlic, cucumbers, eggplants, tomatoes, pumpkins, cantaloupes, and much more. I would wake up to work at 6:30 in the morning a few days a week to head to the farm and perform tasks such as cutting and washing the greens, manning the farm stand, weeding, tilling, and seeding rows, trimming raspberry bushes, and other such labor. The work at the farm in New York was actually much more intense than the work in Costa Rica, and very fulfilling. I would go home every day caked in dirt, but equipped with a bag of free fresh fruit and vegetables.

Working on organic farms all summer has made me really understand the process that food goes through before it ends up on your plate. I have begun to emphasize the idea of sustainability and organic food in my food intake, while simultaneously gaining a new understanding of food and culture around the world. However, I would say that eating such delicious fruits and vegetables all summer has spoiled me a little bit! I guess I’ll just have to adjust to normal (less expensive) produce.

Fallapalooza Pics

Many thanks to the 2013 Class Council, Bon Appetit, the CFA crew, the t-shirt guy, and Physical Plant for their great work in putting on Fallapalooza.  Photos courtesy of Sydney Hausman-Cohen ’13 and random others.

Fallapalooza, September 25, 2010, CFA Green, Wesleyan University