Hall Councils Come Together to Exchange Ideas and Inspire

Sunday, December 4, all The New School Housing Hall Councils gathered at Loeb Hall for the Annual Fall Summit to discuss and exchange ideas. Each hall attended with representatives from their respective Hall Councils. Everyone was able to hear what each building had been doing this semester, discuss the qualities that make up a good hall council, exchange programming ideas and plan for next semester.

It was a very successful program that allowed the individual buildings to put names with faces and open up to collaboration for the spring semester.

The event was coordinated by Joelle Riffle, RA and Hall Council Adviser at Loeb Hall, with assistance from Allysha Fabe, also an RA and HC advisor at Loeb. The event was also attended by Loeb's Hall Director, Chasity Wilson and William Street's Graduate Hall Coordinator for William Street, David Howe.

For more pictures, visit the Loeb Hall Facebook Page 

Special Interest Community Highlight: Alison Schuettinger, 20th Street Green Community

Originally from Fredrick, MD, Ali is currently a second year masters student studying psychology. She is interested in applying psychology to environmental sustainability in order to combat global warming using behavior change. Ali’s interest in being a Special Interest Community R.A came from her interest in living a sustainable lifestyle and how that relates to well being.

Q. What is your favorite part about the 20th Street Green Community?
A. The garden, the people that care.

Q. What has been your favorite program with your community?
A. I conducted environmental health and safety inspections right after (the regular health and safety inspections) and people paid attention to the signs I posted on doors and turning off lights and AC and unplugging electronic devices when not in use. One resident in 2F had all lamps, devices unplugged with cords out on floor and nothing left on. I will conduct these monthly.

Q. What’s one goal you have for your community?
A. For residents to use less energy. For students to become aware of environmental concerns and become aware of environmental concerns and easy behaviors they can acquire in their lifestyle that produce zero to less carbon emissions (compost, recycle properly, take the stairs)

Q. What is the most memorable thing that has happened in your community?
A. The first week this resident who I had just met volunteered to stand by compost bins and educate students that all NS products are biodegradable and organic waste can be thrown away in compost not landfill.

Q. What is your dream, no-budget, no restriction program?
A. To measure the ecological footprint of the (20th Street) Green floor. We applied for green fund, let’s hope we get it.

Introducing The Program Perks Card

So you have a coffee perks card, you have a deli perks card and now you can have a Program Perks Card!

What is the Program Perks Card? It is a card you get stamped for the different types of programs you attend in the residence halls over the term. Once your card is full (one stamp for each program type) you return your card to your residence hall office for a chance to win a $100 gift card!

There is one catch - you have to have your card full and returned to the hall office by December 9th, but with all the cool programs going on every week in the halls, getting a full card will be easy and fun!

Program posters will start to carry the following logos to let you know what you will get a stamp for, so keep an eye out.


If you have any questions contact your hall office, ask your RA, or you ask about the card at the next program you attend.

South Park and 90's Nostalgia: A Conversation on Politics, Culture and Comedy

Each month we highlight a program that took place in one of our halls that deserves extra recognition due to its innovation, creativity, or overall quality. This month we introduce RA Alex Gleason who hosted such a program at Stuyvesant Park which was certainly all of the above. He writes:

Academic programs should not just teach; they should extend into culture, comedy, and popular relevance. I believe that academic programs should allow for those distinct a-ha moments where connections are inexplicably made inside and outside of the classroom. The goal of my program, South Park and 90's Nostalgia: A Conversation on Politics, Culture, and Comedy, was to make connections in the direction of public discourse. The residents who attended were given information on how to write a précis (a short summary of a reading or presentation), and given criticism on how the world changed following 9/11. The goal of this program was to show the change in national rhetoric from the late 1990’s into today. I hope that my residents will be able to use the information to develop their own interesting and engaging thoughts. There will be more interesting programs and conversations to come, and I hope to see you all there!

Nutritionist at The New School

Did you know that for a limited time we have a nutritionist available to all New School Students (who have paid the SHS fee)?


This is free of charge and open to all students who have paid the SHS fee. If you are new to SHS, you will need to fill out paperwork to open a medical record if you haven't already done so.

Big Weekend Events rescheduled for 9/16 and 9/17

We weren't going to let Irene be the only one who had fun! The Scavenger Hunt and Classical Music Brunch have been rescheduled for this weekend!

Scavenger Hunt
Friday, September 16, 2011
8 pm start at Stuyvesant Park (318 East 15th Street)

Classical Music Brunch
Saturday, September 17, 2011
11 am to 1pm at Lang Cafe (65 West 11th Street)

Be sure to bring your New School ID with you to all events!

Civic Engagement Event on Sept. 13, 2011

International Student Services (ISS), Office of Student Development and Activities (OSDA) and The New School Civic Engagement Committee are sponsoring the 3rd Annual Volunteer and Civic Engagement Fair on Tuesday, September 13.


Civic engagement is an important part of being of being part of a community. As a part of The New School and New York City community, there are many opportunities for you to be involved and to make a difference.

If you would like more information on the event, please email issevents@newschool.edu or studev@newschool.edu. We hope to see you there!

It's All Fun and Games...

Summer officially began on June 21, but for most of us the summer started long before. Summer is a good time to explore this great city, prepare for new adventures and take new risks in life. All while embarking on the NEW YORK CITY Chapter in your book of life, ALWAYS remember to PLAY IT SAFE.

Here are a few tips on how to stay safe during YOUR NEW YORK SUMMER!

• Avoid drawing attention to yourself as a tourist: don't stand on street corners looking at maps and do your best to walk confidently, as this will deter many criminals.
• Be aware of your surroundings.
• In crowded subways, keep your wallet in your front pocket, rather than the rear, and keep your purse closed and held in front of you or on the side.
• Don't flaunt jewelery, cameras or cash in public. If you need to organize your wallet, duck into a store.
• Use caution when using ATMs and don't carry too much cash around with you -- most places accept credit cards and there are ATMs everywhere.
• After dark, stick to main streets if you don't know where you are going.If you feel uncomfortable or lost, approach a police officer or a friendly store owner to get your bearings or directions.
• When in doubt of your destination or the safety of a neighborhood, take a cab, especially late at night.
• Many business districts are desolate at night -- keep this in mind when deciding whether to walk or take a cab.
• If taking the subway late at night, stand near the "During off hours trains stop here" sign or in view of the Metro-Card booth. Ride in cars with more people and preferably in the conductor's car (you will see him look out the window of the train when it stops).

Tips Courtesy of GoNYC: http://gonyc.about.com/od/planyourtriptonyc/a/is_nyc_safe.htm

Images Courtesy of Tree Hugger: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/07/2009-summer-streets-new-york-city-nyc-august-car-free-roads.php

--Submitted by Mia Wright-Ross, William Street RA

Strong Programming to the End

As we slowly moved toward the end of the semester in April and May, the RAs in Student Housing and Residence Life were still working hard to provide opportunities for students to engage and learn from one another. In this post we highlight three of those programs and fill you in on how they made such a necessary impact.

On Saturday, April 30^th, the 20^th Street Residence Hall hosted a program that they called "The Garden Launch Party". This event was held on the 2nd floor outdoor patio as a celebration of the year-long efforts that date back to the spring of 2010. At that time, the members of Hall Council had the idea of starting a garden on that same patio and drafted a proposal to secure funds from the University's Green Fund overseen by the Office of Sustainability. The garden began with a few small temporary buckets of herbs and vegetables and has now grown into a permanent garden which is grown in a large wooden garden box. 20th Street is proud to be the first residence hall with a community garden and compost.

The garden party not only celebrate the start of the new garden but also served as the unofficial start of the Green Community. The Green Community is one of five special interest communities within the halls and is located on the 2nd floor so that members may participate in helping the garden flourish. Many members of the 20th Street community attended the garbd party including RAs,Hall Council members and The New School’s President, David Van Zandt. Mr. Van Zandt spoke about the importance of projects like these and how the university is truly committed to sustainability efforts. Organic food and drinks were served on compostable plates and students enjoyed the opportunity to mingle with one other. It was a great event and a huge success for the 20^th Street community.

Meanwhile, at the 13th Street Residence Hall Lang students were seizing the opportunity to learn more about all that Lang has to offer them during their time at The New School. For many residents, the end of the year is a time for reflection, as well as thoughts about the future. Lang freshman may begin to seriously consider different major options, and many have questions about course selection, registration, and academic planning. To help address these questions, 13th Street RA Malia Okusi invited two staff members from the Lang Advising Office to the 13th Street patio for lunch. On April 21st, Leah Weich, Associate Director of Academic Advising, and Shannon-A'lyce Jones, Academic Advisor for Freshmen and Sophomores, joined a group of residents to enjoy sandwiches and soda, and answer questions. Over lunch, residents were able to gain greater insight into the advising and academic planning processes, and get to know advising staff in a more informal environment. Students commented that they appreciated the informal opportunity to ask appropriate questions and gain new insights to all of the options available at Lang.

Finally, over at Stuyvesant Park, an annual tradition was underway. Recycled Runway is in its third year and is the New School’s first sustainable fashion show, where designers use old clothing or recyclable materials to make new garments. The goal for the show was to bring sustainable thinking to fashion and show that we do not have to be wasteful to create beautiful clothing. A sustainable lifestyle has become prevalent in many people’s lives, but usually only in the ways of recycling or reducing material intake. The creators of the Recycled Runway, Hannah Olpp and Eloise Lennen-Rodriguez both student at Parsons, The New School for Design, wanted to bring these ideas to the fashion industry and push the boundaries. Since there is so much excess in manufacturing clothes, using leftover materials and deconstructed fashion can be in our future of fashion. This show not only brings fashion into our sustainable future, but also informs people how to alter old clothing to make them feel like new. After three years, we are just getting bigger and better!

The Office of Student Housing and Residence Life wants to thank the Resident Assistant staff for dedicating so much time to creating these opportunities for students and hopes that if you missed any of these events, you'll stay tuned to more exciting programs in the fall.

Black History Never Ends

To recognize Black History Month at William Street, the RA team decided to get together and plan one meaningful event that would pulse through their community and get conversations started. As the they discussed it and began planning the event they decided to make a statement about how black history should not be confined to just one month. So this particular event was purposely held in the month of March.

The program centered around the viewing of a PBS documentary, "A Class Divided". This story was about a school teacher in Iowa who separated her all white elementary school class into brown eyed and blue eyed students, beginning the day after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Treating each group of students either positively or negatively based on eye color, the experiment had a profound affect on the way her students viewed prejudice in America.

The William Street community viewed the documentary together and three of the RAs took the lead in facilitating a discussion on racism and prejudice throughout our country. The discussion was quite productive and examined feelings, thoughts and identities in America. The conversation was supported by thought-provoking images that decorated the space as well a community of open-minded residents with a great dedication to the true history of America. This event was such a success that plans to develop additional black history programs were immediately discussed and have since been implemented to keep black history alive.

20th Street's Civic Duty

At 20th Street, we have been working really hard to encourage community involvement. When it was warmer out, we had a great time volunteering at the nearby Hudson River Park, where we helped clear out weeds. However, during February and March, once it got colder, we had to find a new way to get involved locally. We decided to contact St. Peter’s, a church a few doors down from us, to see how we could help out. We knew that they ran a food pantry so we decided to contact them to get involved. After arranging the date, we put up flyers and a sign-up sheet in the lobby and on a lovely Friday in February, a small group from 20th Street went over to work at the pantry.

At the food pantry, along with a couple other small groups, we worked on boxing up a bunch of food for the delivery the Church does on Saturdays. It was a really great opportunity to get involved locally. Our residents had a great time going to the food pantry and we returned in March to volunteer again. We’ve had a really amazing time working there and our residents have loved getting involved with the community in Chelsea.

Live On!

In case you haven't already seen the many flyers posted around your building about housing selection ... here's one more. Housing Selection is right around the corner and you will want to know as much as possible about choosing your home for the next academic year.

What you need to know:

• Check your mailbox for the 2011-2012 Housing Selection pamphlet- this has answers to all of your questions!
• Go to your MyNewSchool account to apply and pay your deposit by April 1.
• Check your email for your lottery number (this will tell you when you get to choose your room)
• Choose Your room! Selection begins April 11th and will take place in the Stuyvesant Park Residence Hall.

In addition to choosing your room, you'll have a choice to live in one of our Special Interest Communities if you think it's a good fit. These are communities of students who have similar interests in the areas of Green Living, Global Affairs, Honors, Healthly Living and Music. For more information on these and all questions related to the Housing Selection process please visit our website or visit your residence hall office.

We'll see you next year!

Pickles Prove Perfect for Programming

Pickling is an important survival skill, particularly for those living on limited supplies in enclosed spaces. In fact, the word pickle derives from an old Dutch word, ‘pekel’, for ‘brine’; a salty testimonial to the historical importance of pickling to those who lived for many months at sea. When the nutritional role of vegetables in the prevention of scurvy (a common disease amongst mariners) was recognized, pickled vegetables became a staple of thesea-diet. At present, scurvy is fortunately rare amongst New School students. But we can never be too vigilant.

The December- January program of the month, represents an inspired attempt on the part of its organizer, Camryn Mothersbaugh, to teach the residents of the Stuyvesant Park residence hall the art of pickle-making. Camryn’s goal was to teach students cooking skills that they could use in the dorm. She chose to run a class on pickling because, not only would the outcome be delicious, but pickling is an easy skill to acquire, and well-suited to the constraints of the dorm kitchens. Unsurprisingly, given this event’s unique character and the exciting promise that every student would depart “with a jar or two of pickles”, the program was very wellattended.

Camryn elected to follow a recipe for sweet and sour cucumber pickles. She began by demonstrating how to make the spiced vinegar used to preserve the cucumbers, and then let the students fill the jars with the vegetables and vinegar. Camryn says that her favourite part of the program was the student reaction over the following week, as students would approach her to tell her how well their pickles had turned out. Thanks to Camryn’s great program idea, the students at Stuyvesant Park now have the skills to survive long sea voyages, and the supplies with which to do so; something that will no doubt be appreciated even more as midterms approach.

Written by Simone Gubler- Philosophy Major at The New School for Social Research

A Lesson in Black History

Leadership and learning go hand in hand. Part of your own leadership development is learning new things about those you serve and work with. There are so many differences on campus --- cultural, gender, faith-based, geographical, to name a few. Take some time to explore areas that you are not familiar with. You will grow as a leader and as an individual.

In celebration of Black History Month, learn a little about the history of the African American culture by answering these questions, or asking others in an effort to raise awareness in your organization.

Questions:
1. Why was February chosen for Black History Month?

2. In what year did Black History Month begin (after being Black History Week)?

3.Which civil rights leader became the first African-American to make a serious bid for the U.S. presidency when he ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1983?

4.Dr. Maulana Karenga, a professor of Black Studies at Cal. State University, created _______ as a way to unite the African-American community after the Watts riots in L.A.

5.Who was known as the “Moses of her people,” helping more than 300 slaves escape via the Underground Railroad?

6.Which black track-and-field athlete won four gold medals in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, thus derailing Adolf Hitler’s intent to use the Olympic Games as a display of Arian supremacy?

7.Which black broadcaster and author hosts his own radio and TV show?

8.Which state east of the Mississippi was the first to give African American women
the right to vote, in 1913?

Answers:
1. Because it contained the birthdays of both Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln, two men who made a significant impact on black history.

2. In 1976, the celebration was expanded to the entire month of February.

3. The Rev. Jesse Jackson.

4. He created the well-known holiday of Kwanzaa, which is celebrated from Dec. 26 to Jan. 1, in 1966.

5. Harriet Tubman.

6. Jesse Owens.

7. Tavis Smiley.

8. Illinois

Want to explore more on black history…check out these websites!

History.com
Biography.com

This was brought to you by PaperClip Communications.

If and When Were Planted but Nothing Grew

As a leader, you’ve probably already noticed that some students are procrastinators. You may even be a procrastinator yourself!

Most people have experienced a missed deadline or cramming for a test. But how do you know when procrastination has become a real problem?

It’s okay to put things off every once in awhile or to give yourself a break from a task and then come back to it. But procrastinating regularly can be a real problem.

Procrastination has both mental and physical impacts. Procrastination can be caused by depression; a desire to avoid negative experiences; being overextended; perfectionism; a fear of others’ feedback; lack of training, along with other things. Dr. Joseph Ferrari, an associate professor of psychology at DePaul University (IL) told Psychology Today that real procrastinators do five telltale things:

1. Underestimate how long it will take to get something done.
2. Overestimate the amount of time they have to get something done.
3. Overestimate how motivated they’ll feel the “next time” when they
expect they’ll get something done.
4. Mistakenly believe that working when they’re not in the mood is less
than optimal.
5. Mistakenly believe that, in order to succeed at a task, they need to
feel like doing it.


If you are really concerned that a student has taken procrastination tendencies to the extreme, confront the issue in a caring way. Share your concerns and why you are worried by using “I” statements.

Identify what you have noticed. Perhaps the student is just going through a rough spell. If not, and you think the person needs assistance, direct him to the appropriate resource on campus.

Addressing the problem early on will enable the student to develop better habits for the future.

This article brought to You by PaperClip Communications.

Acupressure Brought to You by the Office of Wellness and Health Promotion

Did you know you could get free ear acupressure on a weekly basis? Over the summer months of 2010, Rachel Knopf and I, co-leaders of Wellness & Health Promotion (formerly known as Health Education), as well as Tracy Robin, Assistant Vice President for Student Health & Support Services, were trained at the Lincoln Recovery Center in the Bronx in auricular acupuncture and acupressure. Based on Chinese medicine, these healing practices are based on the belief that the body has pressure points that when stimulated promote health and wellbeing. Specifically, we were trained in the National Acupuncture Detoxification Association (NADA) protocol which stimulates five points in the ear (liver, kidneys, lungs, Shen Men and the sympathetic nervous system). Our aim via this training is to bring the practice of auricular acupuncture and acupressure to The New School as a way to complement and enhance health services offered to the student community.

Free auricular acupressure is offered every Thursday, 5-6 PM, at Lang Café for the entire 2010-2011 academic year. I am the primary provider and work closely with both Rachel and Tracy so that services are also offered through classes, by appointment, and during special events, such as the Day of Wellness, and whenever we table. One of the most amazing things about acupressure is that with appropriate training anyone can do it. We have trained Peer Health Advocates in acupressure and they, in turn, provide it when they table.

The point we stimulate when we provide acupressure is Shen Men (“Spirit Gate”). The tradition holds that when this point is stimulated by pressure (whether finger or seeds), it alleviates anxiety, controls nervousness, has a general relaxing effect, and helps bring the “Spirit Heart” (Heart Energetic) into balance for a conscious self. The images below show the approximate location of Shen Men as seen from the front part of the ear.In ancient times, actual plant seeds were used as the material for acupressure and the term remains with us today – ‘seeds’ (magnetic pellets) are placed on the Shen Men points on the back side of the outer ear, and can be left there for up to 3 days. We encourage participants to stimulate the point by lightly pressing on the seeds or when the seed is not in, massaging the ears. A bit of self love goes a long way!

For more information on acupressure or on any of the programs and services offered via Wellness and Health Promotion, email wellness@newschool.edu.

Written by: Tamara Oyola-Santiago, Health Educator