Welcome to a new column where UHPers can shine the spotlight on orgs they’re involved in at GW right here on the UHP blog! Want to get the word out about your org and tell the rest of the UHP why it’s awesome? Want to encourage others to get involved in your org? Email uhpspa@gwu.edu about writing a post!
Hello UHPers! My name is Shailly and I am one of Camp Kesem GW’s Volunteer Coordinators for the 2013-2014 year. For those of you who are unfamiliar with our organization, we hold a free one-week summer camp for the children of past and present cancer patients in the DC area. We began in 2007 with 10 campers and 12 counselors and have now grown to a goal of 100 campers and 50 counselors for the summer of 2014. Throughout the year, we hold fundraisers of varying sizes and types to help us raise enough funds for camp – this year our goal is to raise $75,000!
So why should you love camp? Check out this video to get a better idea of what an amazing week camp is! Our kids range from 6-18 years old, but all of them have grown up too fast dealing with the very serious topic of cancer. We provide a space for them to just act like kids and do crazy fun activities, like arts & crafts and messy games!
Camp is really like a big family (and I know how cliché that sounds, BUT IT’S SO TRUE). I joined my sophomore year and knew instantly that this group of absolutely eccentric and passionate people was going to be so fun to work with. Two years later, I’m close friends with just about everyone in camp, I’ve served as a camp counselor for two years, I’ve held two different E-board positions, and I’ve been a unit leader for the cutest of the cute (the 6-7 year olds, ahhhh BABIES).
This year, I’m reaching out to student organizations (maybe you’ve seen me at yours…) to find the best of the best to be counselors for the next year and to encourage everyone I know (and even random strangers) to apply! This organization has changed my life in so many ways and I know it is something that will stick with me forever. I just want to share the joy of camp with as many people as possible! We’ll also be holding some fun camp-y activities throughout the year for anyone to come hang out with us.
Counselor applications are available on our website as of SUNDAY, October 20th! All of our upcoming events are posted there as well. Come visit us at any of our counselor info sessions next week, OR at our reunion next Saturday, October 26th (yeah, we’re everywhere)!
Also, like us on Facebook to look at camp photos from the past year and to stay updated on all camp events! We’re also on Twitter, Instagram, and Shutterfly, sooo you really can’t escape us. :]
Any of you who know me, know camp is my life. I have enough CK clothing to wear only that everyday, and I regularly do. If you see me around, ASK ME ABOUT CAMP! I loveeeeeeeeee talking about it and I promise you won’t regret learning more.
Tag: spa
SPA Available in Foggy Bottom Townhouse
SPA will be holding walk-in hours at the Foggy Bottom townhouse now through November 1st. SPA will be in the Club Room sometime between 9am and 5pm, Monday through Friday. To see exactly when and which SPA will be there, you can find the schedule here.
SPA will be available to help with any and all advising questions, but this week’s advising in particular will focus on four-year plans, and next week will be focused on scheduling classes for next semester.
So no need to panic about which classes to take or which of the ten different versions of your four-year plan you want to ultimately turn in to Catherine, simply stop by the Club Room and have a chat with your SPA. We’re here to help! Head to your Foggy Bottom appointments with Catherine a littler early (or stay late, or just come whenever!) and get a little extra support!
From Costa Rica With Love [Study Ablog]
Time again for a check-in from a SPA student studying abroad. Today’s post is written by sophomore (kinda) Erin Brewer, who is an ESIA student studying abroad in Costa Rica.
I spent my first two weeks in Costa Rica desperately clinging to a routine. I woke up, ate breakfast with my host mom, met my friends at the bus stop, went to school, came back from school, spent the rest of my evening on Skype or otherwise avoiding homework, went to sleep, lather, rinse, repeat. I occasionally strayed the tiniest bit from the safety of my schedule. I went to a café near campus after school. I took a terrifying bus ride by myself. I once even ventured to the mall just a few blocks from my university. But I stuck to the same neighborhoods, the same restaurants, the same bus routes, the same (American) people. I was just trying to survive Costa Rica.
Before I left for my semester abroad, I had found a group on Facebook who played pick up Ultimate Frisbee in San Jose. I had messaged them from the safety of the States, telling them I was interested in playing with them while I was there. But once I finally arrived, it took me two full weeks to gather the courage to venture out to their weekly game.
I played my first game with them on a miserable Monday night. It was pouring rain and had been since two in the afternoon. I got a ride from a guy who lived near my neighborhood. He spoke little English and I spoke little Spanish so we settled for speaking Spanglish the entire awkward car ride. When we got there, there were hardly enough people to play. The field was more of a swamp than a field. We were cold, soaking wet, and otherwise uncomfortable. And it was the best game of ultimate I have ever played in my life.
When it was all over, I found myself sitting in a nearby bar with my new “Tico” friends. We were still cold, still wet, and still otherwise uncomfortable, and now we were covered from head to toe in mud, as well. Everyone was laughing, giving me advice on bars and restaurants in San Jose, cracking jokes in Spanish—some of which I actually understood. For the first time since I got off the airplane I was not just surviving Costa Rica, I was living here.
[SPA Event] Intro to Advising on the Vern!
Calling all Honors freshmen!
Do need advice about some aspect of life here at GW? Do you need help figuring out if you should spend a semester abroad, or deciding between five possible different majors (and three minors), or wondering how to score a sweet internship or research assistantship? Or do you just wanna chill with some UHPers?
Then join your SPA for some lively conversation and free food at our Intro to Advising event this Wednesday, October 9th. The event will be held on the Vern in West Hall, room B215, from 7-8pm. SPA will be there to advise you about studying abroad, writing your four-year plan, getting involved on campus, research and internships, choosing a major, and more!
Did we mention there will be food?
So join us next Wednesday and let your SPA drop some serious knowledge on you.
Four-Year Plan Freshmen Advising Workshops!
Calling all freshmen! Join your SPA in the Club Room of the Foggy Bottom townhouse for a workshop regarding your four-year plans.
We’ll be talking about how to go about formulating a four-year plan, why four-year plans are so important, and how to use your four-year plan to help guide you through the trials and tribulations that is selecting classes for each semester.
This workshop will be offered several times throughout this week and next:
- Thursday, September 19th from 4:00pm-5:00pm
- Friday, September 20th from 12:00pm-1:00pm
- Monday, September 23rd from 11:00am-12:00pm
- Wednesday, September 25th from 5:00pm-6:00pm
- Thursday, September 26th from 11:00am-12:00pm
Sign up for the time that works best for you here.
Whether you haven’t even thought about your four-year plan yet or your have ten different versions of it already, don’t worry! Come talk to your SPA and we’ll make sure you figure out a four-year plan that works for you!
Remember, you have to have a completed 4-year plan (and a 30-minute appointment!) done before October 25th, 2014!
Little Ethiopian Restaurant with the SPA [Grassroots Event]
This post was written by Student Peer Advisors Thomas Harr and Rebekah Johnson.
Calling any and all honors folk! Do you like Ethiopian food? Do you like hanging out and seeing all the awesome people in the Honors Program? If so, then this is the SPA event for you.
We will lead a group on Thursday September 19th to eat at the Little Ethiopian Restaurant located at the intersection of 9th and U Street for some delicious Ethiopian food and typical quirky honors fun.
We will meet at the Foggy Bottom metro stop at 7:00 with the goal of being back by 10:30 at the latest. The signup sheet is here is for those who are interested in coming to give us an idea about how many will be attending, so please fill that out if you’d like to join us. To help speed things up come bill time, please bring some cash.
We hope your first few weeks back have been magical, and we hope to see you all at this SPAtastic event!
Your SPA,
Rebekah Johnson and Thomas Harr
Hike with the Honors Program!
Already getting sick of the city life? Eager to discover one of DC’s hidden gems? Love the smell of the Potomac in the morning? Hike with the Honors Program!
On Saturday, September 21st, the Honors Program is hosting a free hike with your classmates, professors and certified TRAiLS guides. We’re going to Theodore Roosevelt Island, an island in the Potomac River!
We’ll leave the Foggy Bottom townhouse at 10 am, and the hike should last a few hours, returning to campus in the early afternoon. Whether you are a professional hiker or have never left the confines of the city, come out, enjoy the fall sunshine and get to know UHPers outside the classroom. We’ll provide lunch and guides, you provide insightful questions and witty banter.
Sign up here!
Softball with the SPA UPDATED LINK [SPA Event]
We goofed with the link before – now you can use the link below to sign up online!
Join SPA member Jess Burnell and her fellow SPA this Saturday, April 27th for a game of softball (actually wiffleball/nerf softball) down by the Lincoln Memorial! Meet them in front of the townhouse at 2pm to walk down together. You can sign up with your name and email (so we can send you a release form) here by Friday at 5pm. All sports equipment will be provided, as will drinks and popsicles! This is the last SPA event of the year, so come down and have some fun with your SPA to de-stress before finals!
Live Life on the (L)edge!
Professor Kung is taking a lucky group of UHP-ers ROCK-CLIMBING at Earth Treks in Rockville, Maryland on Saturday, May 4!
Don’t worry, you’ll still have time to study. Kerry Lanzo will be leading a group from the Townhouse in Foggy Bottom at 10am, to return by 1:30pm, and you can leave early if you need (it’s right up the red line). The cost is $22 for entry for the day, and $11 for the materials. It’ll be well worth it to get some exercise, de-stress, and hang out with one of UHP’s coolest faculty members.
To RSVP, please send an e-mail to the uhp@gwu.edu account. The group will most likely cap at 5 or 6 to keep it small, but we’re flexible!
UHP Peer Advising Is Awesome [GW Hatchet]
If you’re a UHPer, you probably already know that UHP students have a great resource: the Student Peer Advisors (SPA). Thanks to an article in today’s Hatchet, everybody else knows too! Sunik Kim extols the virtues of a close-knit community and peer advising — just like what we have in the UHP with SPA.
Pretty awesome. SPAwesome.
From the Hatchet article:
Peer advising would not only help students from an academic standpoint, but new students could also benefit socially from older students who know more about campus life. As mentors to underclassmen, the older students in the honors program advising system hold get-togethers two to three times each month, where students can socialize.
Read the whole article here.
