Experience Pays Off

Although the idea of spending your summer sitting in the sun, reading anything that isn’t a textbook and just relaxing sounds good…consider fitting in a little career development during the break too.

Think outside the box about the value in a summer internship or job. Make the experience more than just money in the pocket for fast food and next fall’s tuition.

• Learn more about yourself – what do you like and what do you dislike – what are your strengths and what do you need to improve upon?

• Take in each new work environment and how it does or doesn’t fit your

personality and preferences.

• Reflect on the various roles you have in your job and what roles you

most enjoy.

• Network, network, network!

• Remember you have the choice to leave a good impression or a bad impression by every action and inaction you make.

• Ask for feedback. Many of those you are working with have been professionals for years. They can tell you what is valuable in today’s market place.

• Watch others at work. What do you think makes them successful or inefficient?

• Make note of all the skills you gain in your summer job experience. Be

sure to communicate them as transferrable skills on your resume.

As published by PaperClip Communications

Stuy Park hosts the 2nd Annual Recycle Runway

Congratulations to our April Program of the Month, “Recycled Runway!” The event was sponsored by Stuyvesant Park RA Hannah Olpp and Loeb RA Eloise Lennen-Rodriguez, who collaborated with the Stuyvesant Square Community Alliance. The girls worked hard at gathering an entirely student-organized team: from models and designers to photographers,

all participants were members of The New School community, eager to showcase their sustainable art!

Just in time to celebrate Earth Day, Hannah discussed the importance of being environmentally conscientious throughout all aspects of one’s life. “Hopefully through this show we can educate people a little bit about being green, even through their clothing,” she said.

The runway show participants prepped for the big event over at Stuyvesant Park Residence, and then headed out into the park where they strutted their stuff along a fully sustainable Astroturf runway, crafted from recycled bottles.

Surefire Ways to Stay Stressed!

Yep, you read that right. For most students, this time of year can feel like a mixture of excitement, anticipation, anxiety, depression and panic, to name just a few. Combined these feelings can lead to a little stress.

You have more than likely heard of all the ways to combat and manage stress. So, let’s take a different approach today. Want to stay stressed? Just do this:

• Eat anything you want, at any time of day.
• Never, under any circumstances, exercise.
• Pull all-nighters on a regular basis.
• Personalize all criticism and constructive feedback received.
• Avoid all of these strange “new age” relaxation strategies.
• Break off friendships as soon as something doesn’t go your way.
• Study, study, and study some more…there is no time for fun.
• Make more promises than you can keep.
• Forget your sense of humor.
• Never ask for help.
• Become a workaholic.
• Procrastinate.
• Worry about things you can’t control.
• Go to bed really late.
• Forget the “good” and remember only the “bad”.
• Compare yourself to others.
• Avoid fresh air.
• Never take a break.

One Minute Stress Buster
Everyone feels a little stress at times. Consider having this exercise
in your "back pocket" when you need to relax and refocus.
• Find a quiet spot.
• Remain standing.
• Close your eyes.
• Take 10 deep breaths.
• Breathe in through your nose to a count of 10, and then out through your mouth to a count of eight.
• Listen to yourself breathe in, and breathe out.
• Try to visualize the color white.
• Take 10 more deep inhalations and exhalations, again listening to your
own breathing.
• Roll your head all the way around very slowly, first to the right three times, then to the left three times.

• Take three more deep breaths, and then slowly open your eyes.

_____

From PaperClip Communications (www.paper-clip.com)

Sisters on the Runway at Loeb Hall

Loeb Hall RA, Liz Irwin is making a giant impact in our community! Through her involvement in Sisters on the Runway student organization, Liz has created opportunities for the Loeb residents to participate in community service, fashion, art, gender studies, media/public relations, event planning or whatever interests them, Sisters On The Runway offers the opportunity to put their skills towards a great cause.

1 in 4 women are affected by domestic violence. This frightening statistic inspired the creation of “Sisters on the Runway”. “Sisters on the Runway” was founded in 2005 by three Montclair High School students Elizabeth Eddy (Parsons), Gabriela Graham (Barnard College), and Juliana Colangelo (Barnard College). The three envisioned an organization that promoted student involvement in community service while spreading awareness and raising funds for a domestic violence shelter. Domestic violence is a problem that affects all ages, ethnicities, and socioeconomic levels yet it is often ignored in society. “Sisters on the Runway” has founds a home in many schools on the east coast including Penn State, Umass, and New School University. Sisters on the Runway has since raised over $50,000 for domestic violence shelters.

This years event: Parsons New School for Design, New York City, New York; October 22, 2010- Elizabeth Eddy, Parsons Junior, along with the organization she cofounded “Sisters on the Runway”, held a benefit fashion show fundraiser for Safe Horizon. Safe Horizon is a New York City based Domestic violence shelter (www.safehorizon.org). The event showcased 10 Parsons designers as well as New York City based designers and alumni, such as Vena Cava. The event sold out within ten minutes of the doors opening. A silent auction and raffle raised a large amount of funds with sponsors such as Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, Ruinart, Yumi Kim, NBC Universal, and more. The event also included a guest speaker Sil Lai Abrams, a relationship expert for men’s fitness and anti-domestic violence activist. Food and drinks were also served. The total funds raised was just under $7,000.

Sisters on the Runway was recently featured on Fox 5 “Good Morning Street Talk” for domestic violence awareness month. http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/about_us/street_talk/street-talk-oct-23-2010

Celebrating Earth Day at 20th Street

Since the beginning of the year, the 20th Street Hall Council has been eager to promote “green living” in the residence halls. This past semester, they worked together with 4^th Floor RA Krissy Koelle, who has been studying sustainability in her thesis class at Parsons, and orchestrated a “Green Theme” month, which happened to coincide perfectly with Earth Month. Although the month is only halfway through, we have been off to a tremendous start!

To begin the program, Hall Council held a water tasting challenge in the lobby of 20^th Street to inform students about the benefits of using tap water and to remind them that New York City has some of the best tap water in the world. We offered students two glasses of water, one with tap water and one with bottled water, to see which one they preferred. On a whole, students preferred tap water to bottled water. Hall Council member Ali Schuettinger spoke to other New School organizations and got them to donate canteens so that we could offer free canteens to everyone who participated in the program. We only anticipated having 15-20 students attend so we only planned on getting 16 canteens but at the last minute we got the donation doubled and ended up with 32 canteens and we gave all of them away!!! We followed that up with a small excursion to Chelsea Market with Hall Council President Joel Arken and RA Krissy.

This past week, we not only created a garden, but also held an event on our patio to encourage students to eat healthier and buy locally by offering them fresh, homemade juice. Elena, from ReNew School, brought her juicer and we bought produce and offered residents free juice and a handout about green-living in the residence halls. Elena stressed the importance of shopping from local farmers and we made sure to save the pulp and fruit remnants for next week’s program on composting. We had about 25-30 students come and it a great opportunity to promote healthy living, and it also gave students a great chance to mingle and chat.

That same day, Hall Council member Alec Opperman and a group of residents from 20^th Street went to Home Depot to purchase the supplies to start a garden. We purchased several different herbs, including basil, thyme, cilantro and parsley, and a raspberry bush. Already several different students have taken the initiative to help set up the planters and water the plants. Though the garden is starting small, we are hoping to watch it grow exponentially in the coming years!

We have a great deal to look forward to this month – next week Ali and Joel are leading a program about the importance of composting and then Ali is leading an excursion to the ever-popular Union Square Farmers Market. We are going to conclude the Green Month by starting a push for our clothing and food donation. We have already been amazed by the excellent turn out, especially from a smaller residence hall, and we look forward to the rest of our activities.