Welcome back!
Hope your Deacs had a blast at Thanksgiving break and are coming back to their studies refreshed and renewed. This is the last week of classes, so time to get after it!
We had one brief, fleeting moment of snow today! Around 12:30, as I was coming back from lunch, it started to rain. And then I realized the raindrops looked more solid. It was not exactly sleet, but closer to snow. It only lasted for a couple of minutes and then it switched back to rain. Certainly unexpected.
For our P’23s, today’s Letters So Dear is about ‘First Set of Finals.‘ Lots of good ideas in there about how to prepare, and how not to become totally stressed out about them. Our Weekly Message for First Year Families is about ways to help your student reflect back over their first semester during Winter Break. This is our last Weekly Message for the semester.
Tomorrow night at 7 pm is the Lighting of the Quad, which is a wonderful and festive tradition each year. The Volunteer Service Corps is doing a winter weather clothing drive, so if your Deac has extra winter wear such as coats, hats, gloves and scarves that they want to donate, all goods will go to Potter’s House , a local charity. This will be a big help as the weeks get colder and colder.
Wednesday night is the Late Night Breakfast in the Pit from 10 pm-midnight. Your students can take a study break and be served delicious, comforting breakfast foods by faculty and administrators (yours truly will be slinging hash.) It’s a lot of fun – great music, amazing atmosphere. There are also a number of musical/choral events on the Events calendar. I hope your students go to some/all of these offerings.
We’ll close today with a message from Residence Life and Housing: Are your students looking for some extra money, a single room, and some real-world experience they can add to their resumes? If so, they should consider being an RA (Resident Adviser). The application for 2020-21 RAs is open now; your Deacs can access it here. There is also a great video about the benefits of being an RA, as well as a web page about the application process.
Make it a great last week of class, Deacs!
— by Betsy Chapman, Ph.D. (’92, MA ’94)