Hopefully all our students are settling in to their schedules and adjusting to their roommates. Today is the first official day of what is referred to as “Room Thaw,” which is the period in which students can investigate changing rooms with someone else. And this isn’t just a first-year student thing; sometimes upperclassmen choose a roommate they thought would be great but they turn out to be incompatible. If your student is contemplating a room change, he/she can talk to his/her RA about the process.
In other campus news, the Office of Sustainability has a new program called Re-Cycle, which is a bike sharing program. Re-Cycle goes live on September 3rd and will allow students to borrow a bike for the semester or for a shorter term (such as a weekend). This could be a great option for seniors living in the vicinity immediately off campus, where it is a long-ish walk and a bike might be welcome, or for any student who wants to borrow a bike for a weekend of exploring the area’s trails and lakes. Information about Re-Cycle is online here. There is a waiver students will need to sign, (and as a mother myself I feel compelled to say students should be following good common sense health practices like wearing helmets). You can stress that one yourself.
It’s been another glorious day on campus. I was out for an early walking meeting and if your Deacs haven’t made it out to Reynolda Gardens, that is a really nice way to start your day. Saw several students jogging or walking, as well as some faculty and emeriti faculty. From the center of campus, it is probably around a 3 mile loop if you walk all the way out to Reynolda House and go all the way to the stone entrance on Reynolda Road. Just enough to make you break a sweat but not too strenuous. We are all aware of the numerous benefits to getting in a walk or some exercise, but there was a neat article this summer about how getting out in nature changes your brain (for the better, I’d argue). If you missed it in the NYTimes blog, here’s a link.
Encourage your students to take advantage of our beautiful campus and its surroundings, be it biking, walking (slow or fast), or running!
