First Year Matters

Feet to the Fire Video: Remember the Common Moment?

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We wanted to share a video with you that summarizes Feet to the Fire: Exploring Global Climate Change from Science to Art, our eighteen month campus-wide exploration of climate change using the arts as a catalyst. The project was developed by the Center for the Arts and the Environmental Studies Program in collaboration with faculty, students and community leaders. Feet to the Fire more than confirmed our initial perspectives that not only do the arts and sciences illuminate each other, but also that the arts deepen our experience and comprehension of topics of urgent societal concern.

We send it to you on the occasion of Earth Day 2010, and as a reminder of what is quintessentially Wesleyan: our students and faculty’s capacity to think and act beyond disciplinary boundaries to create original works of art that both educate and inspire.

For more information and to view the video, please click here.

Please come to Wesleyan’s 2010 Earth Day Celebration on April 22, 2010 at 8 p.m. in the CFA Hall and see the world premiere of the full documentary, Connections Within a Fragile World, by Paul Horton. Click here for more information.

Barry Chernoff, Director, College of the Environment, and Pamela Tatge, Director, Center for the Arts

We Take Clean Water for Granted: Learn Why We Shouldn’t — Noon, 4/21

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On Wednesday April 21, 12:00 p.m. in Downey House, Room 113, Wesleyan World Wednesdays, Environmental Studies and  African StudentS Association/Wes Friends of Africa  presents a discussion and short film on why we shouldn’t take clean water for granted. 

Learn about how Max Perel-Slater ’11 and Abby Horton ’11 worked with a community in rural Tanzania to build a rainwater catchment system to make clean water more accessible.  There will also be a screening of the film “The Water Project.”   A question and answer will follow, and lunch will be served.

2010 EARTH DAY CELEBRATION: Thursday, April 22 8 p.m.

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It is our pleasure to invite you to this year’s Earth Day Celebration:  

KEEPING OUR FEET TO THE FIRE:

JOINING ART AND SCIENCE TO ENGAGE ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

 Thursday, April 22   8 p.m.  CFA Hall

The event will feature a world premier screening of Paul Horton’s film:  

CONNECTIONS WITHIN A FRAGILE WORLD
 
There will also be a panel discussion asking the question:  Are art and science natural allies in communicating environmental issues to the public?  This will be moderated by Jeremy Isard ’11, with panelists:
Godfrey Bourne, University Missouri St. Louis
Marda Kirn, EcoArts Connections, Colorado
Cassie Meador, Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, Washington, D.C.
Barry Chernoff, Wesleyan University
 
We will award the Schumann Prize for Distinguished Environmental Stewardship to a member of the class of 2010.
 
An open  reception will follow the event.  So, please join us for EARTH DAY CELEBRATION 2010
 
This event is Free and Open to the Public  

FYM: Stephen Petronio Dance Group

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Wesleyan University’s Center for the Arts Presents In conjunction with First Year Matters
Feet to the Fire:  H2O, Seeking Solutions

Stephen Petronio Dance Group
I Drink the Air Before Me

Petronios Dancers

“…an instantly recognizable style…fresh and unpredictable…infused with emotional texture and wit…”
–New York Times on the Stephen Petronio Dance Group

Student Tickets $8
When: Friday & Saturday, September 25 & 26, 8pm
Where: CFA Theater, Wesleyan University

 What: Wesleyan’s Breaking Ground Dance Series opens its 10th Anniversary Season with the Stephen Petronio Dance Group, which is celebrating its 25th Anniversary Season. I Drink the Air Before Me is a sweeping evening-length work inspired by storms, both atmospheric and internal, and the power of extreme weather in all its awesome transience. The production features costumes by Cindy Sherman and Adam Kimmel and a commissioned score by Nico Muhly with cameo appearances by the Middletown High School Chamber Choir. The dancers’ movements are signature Petronio: daring and virtuosic, inspired, in his words, by “the whirling, unpredictable, threatening, and thrilling forces of nature that overwhelm us.”

To see video of the group, visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32E11kJbAZM
For more information & tickets, visit http://www.wesleyan.edu/cfa or call 860-685-3355

FYM Seminars and Discussion Groups Today!

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Be a part of the solution and learn more about water issues at the FYM Feet to the Fire faculty seminars this afternoon from 4-5:30 p.m. 

f2fh20The Water Crisis in the American West – Prof. Peter Patton, E&ES, Shanklin 107

Oceans, Boats, and Human History – Prof. Vijay Pinch, HIST, PAC002

Water, Water Everywhere, Nor Not a Drop to Drink – Prof. Krishna Winston, GRST, and Prof. Brian Steward, PHYS,   Woodhead Lounge in Exley Science Center

On the Waterfront – Prof. Richard Adelstein, ECON, PAC001

FYM Common Reading discussion groups with faculty, staff and peer advisors follow after dinner from 7-8:30 p.m. to deal with the resource challenges.  Be a part of the solution!

Transitioning to Campus Life

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transitionsCollege life, as exciting as it is, can be significantly different from your past experiences. New environment, new friends, new classes, new ideas, new experiences are yours for the taking! There is familiarity with being a student since you’ve been doing that most of your life, but you may need to adapt your study habits to a less structured and more demanding academic environment. And you may be living on your own for the first time, responsible for everything from getting up on time for class to doing your own laundry to budgeting your money. A few suggestions for managing the transition:

  • Talk with friends and family members who have recently attended college about their experiences transitioning to campus life — the challenges, the joys, the things they wish they knew starting out. You may be able to glean some words of wisdom!
  • Make a plan with your parents/guardians for how frequently you will talk and email. Strive for regular, but not daily, contact. It will help you concentrate on adjusting to Wesleyan while still reducing the likelihood of feeling homesick.
  • Once on campus, seek out opportunities to get involved in one or two activities outside the classroom. Focus on quality, not quantity. You have plenty of time over the next four years to try out everything!
  • Being a college student does not have to equal being unhealthy. Strive for balanced eating habits, a regular sleep pattern and a manageable workload.
  • If you are of age and choose to consume alcohol while on campus, party with a plan!  It will greatly reduce your risk for problems related to your own consumption. Learn more about how to do this with Randy Haveson during New Student Orientation.
  • Keep up your exercise routine at Wesleyan’s great athletic facilities, with WesWELL’s non-credit fitness classes, or on your own. Physical activity greatly helps with reducing stress levels and with mental acuity.
  • Ask for help if you need it academically or personally; it is a sign of strength, not one of weakness. We want to help you succeed!

FYM’s Common Moment and Water Footprint

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f2fh20cmThis year’s Common Moment promises to be a memorable experience!  Produced by the amazing staff at Wesleyan’s Center for the Arts, it will include incredible drumming, rhythmic movement, Prometheus (Wesleyan’s fire spinners), a human histogram, and of course, ice cream. 

 As a class, you get to showcase drumming and dance movements from six different cultures—Korean, Cuban, West African, Japanese, Irish and South Indian—where water is an important component of their cultural traditions.  Assigned to one of the six cultural groups, you will be taught a drumming and movement piece, choreographed by Nicole Stanton, chair of the dance department, and Bill Carbone, a graduate student in the music department.  After spending about 20 minutes with a choreographer and student staff to learn the piece, each group will perform for the entire class. 

The evening will culminate with the Class of 2013 forming a human histogram about its own water footprint.  On Andrus Field, you will embody your responses to a survey that you completed in discussion groups the night before, which was developed from the information in the Water Footprint website in your Common Readings.  It will be a night not soon forgotten!

Check out the Water Footprint website in Blackboard or at http://www.waterfootprint.org/?page=files/home .   Complete the questions to find out how your water footprint measures up with the rest of the world’s!

CIRP Freshman Survey

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thumbnailcads25tcYou now have access through your e-portfolio to the very COOL CIRP Freshman Survey.  Completed by thousands of incoming college students every year, it provides an important and interesting snaphot of the class of 2013 across the country.  If you have not had a chance to complete the CIRP survey yet, PLEASE DO!  It is administered to all first-year students at Wes and provides important information about your collective preferences, attitudes, accomplishments, political leanings, plans, goals, and so on.  It’s fun to do.  Hey, there’s nothing like clicking on bubbles on the ‘net.

Questions?  Contact Rommel Guadalupe, rguadalupe@wesleyan.edu or 860-685-2530