Caught in Between

Write a brief essay (250 word maximum) in which you respond to the following question:

A typical student at Johns Hopkins spends less than 15 hours each week in a classroom, leaving lots of time for volunteer opportunities, clubs and organizations, athletics, social events, and other on- and off-campus activities. Aside from the academic interests you’ve already expressed, in what activities do you plan to engage as an undergraduate at Johns Hopkins

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Cycling shorts are to be worn without undergarments.

I’ll be thanking my Johns Hopkins experience for that fact. Thanks in part to my Hopkins acceptance letter, I’ll learn about 4K for Cancer, make inspirational friends, visit my grandparents, lose my athleticism (thank you, Sophomore 15), but gain self-confidence. These events will culminate.

Come senior spring, I’ll be back on campus with a stack of UNICEF thank you cards and my New Year’s resolutions – or more like to-do list. At the top of the checklist: write thesis, raise $4,500 dollars, bike cross-country.

I will have added 4K for Cancer to my activities.

Hopkins 4K was founded in 2001 by students dedicated to biking from Baltimore to San Francisco in honor of loved ones affected by cancer. In 2008, the group expanded beyond Hopkins into a tax-deductible non-profit organization: 4K for Cancer. This year, there will be ~100 riders biking three routes.

The mission: raise funds, spread awareness, foster hope.¹

Come senior spring, there’ll be no turning back. I’ll have: fundraised $1,610, mailed 16 thank you cards out the door, received cycling shoes, gained friends to motivate me more than the Spinning machine, which tells me to “strum the bicycle like a guitar” (I have no idea which hand I would strum a guitar with).

I will owe Dean Latting – the man behind that acceptance letter – a thanks. Due to his signature, I’ll have grown in an environment that has inspired me to go commando just two days after graduation.

Word Count:  250

(To learn more about the organization: http://cycleinspireunite.org/

For information on how to donate to my rider fund: https://4kforcancer.donortools.com/my/funds/14852-Rider-Fund-Jessica-Kraus)

¹ Below is a description of how 4K for Cancer achieves its mission:

Raise Funds – Each ride will have approximately $40,000 to give out during the ride to individuals and organizations. A portion of the money fundraised will be given to the Baltimore Hope Lodge – which offers free accommodations to cancer patients as they undergo cancer treatment. I’ll be volunteering here during my senior spring. Much of the other money will go to providing scholarships to young adults who are cancer survivors or who have had someone in their life affected by cancer.

Spread awareness – Along the ride, my team and I will be staying at churches and community centers. We’ll educate people, especially those in underserved communities, on identifying the early warning signs of cancer and connecting cancer patients with resources in their community which can help them. This year, for the first time, riders will be providing (in partnership) early detection cancer screenings and how to do self-exams.

Raise hope – My team and I will be connected to cancer patients each and every step along the way of my journey. We’ll be visiting cancer patients in hospitals. And by cycling cross-country, we are trying to do a small part in the fight against cancer.

posted by Lauren B.

So one of the most common questions I get asked at Open Houses is “what is a typical day like at Hopkins?” Aside from “hey, so what were your SAT scores…” I find this to be maybe the most irritating question, and I think the activities of the past 48 hours can explain why.

Phi Mu!

This week is the middle of formal recruitment, otherwise known as rush, for the three Panhellenic sororities on campus (Alpha Phi, Phi Mu and Kappa Kappa Gamma). Rush started on Saturday with “ice water” round, and finishes up with Bid Day on Thursday. The start of formal pledging is one of my favorite things about spring at Hopkins and really made my year so much fun. But rush was only the beginning of this strange, strange week.

My pledge class at Ice Water.

First off, the weather has been bipolar, with two days of heavy snowfall and two days of balmy spring. Sadly, neither of the snowy days were quite snowy enough to merit a snowday, but it made campus look amazing.

Beautiful Homewood Campus.

Though the week as a whole was fairly unusual, Tuesday had to be the weirdest slash greatest. It began when I had actually no class, which left the whole day open for frolicking in Baltimore. My roommate, Laura, is really involved with the Hopkins chapter of Engineers Without Borders. She helped to organize their fundraiser,  a desert reception to benefit their projects in Guatemala, South Africa and Ecuador.

She’s been doing the behind the scenes stuff for months, organizing the raffle, food donations, and all that madness. I got to help with the fun stuff on the day of though, and we spent the day rocking around the city in our friend Charlotte’s car, picking up food donations and attempting not to sample them.

We got to travel all over Baltimore, from Fell’s Point to pick up pies at “Dangerously Delicious,” which lived up to its name when we were inexplicably detained by two giant slices of broccoli quiche, to Charles Village for gluten free treats at Sweet Sin bakery, where we also managed to make a pretty serious purchase. Being allergic to wheat myself I was obviously thrilled to find this place so close to campus, and my fridge in Charles Commons is now packed with gluten free treats and cupcakes.

The real kicker to the afternoon, however, was our time spent in the kitchen of the Hopkins Club, where I learned that I would be a terrible, terrible chef. The lovely people there helped Laura and I arrange the millions of cupcakes on hundreds of trays (barely an exaggeration) and lent Engineers Without Borders tons of stuff for their reception. It was then up to Laura and I to wobble over to the Glass Pavilion with all the deserts (see the gem of a picture below).

After delivering those delightful treats to the reception, I sprinted back to Charles Commons just in time to dash off a response paper for my Econ class and submit it on WebCT within 30 seconds of the 6 pm deadline. Speed homework was followed by a quick dinner before I headed off to see the finished product of our strange day’s work. The reception was great, and two of my friends actually won great things in the raffle.

More lovely pictures of the snow, taken by Greco!

By the time we left it was near-blizzarding, and the rest of the evening  was occupied by frantic weather.com checks as we tried to analyze the likelihood of getting a snow day.

Beautiful gluten free cupcakes for the EWB reception.

Turns out I actually should have done a bit more homework, as school was most certainly on (with the exception of 9 am classes) today. Today was the opposite of yesterday, with class straight through from 10-4, a Study Abroad meeting just after that, and “Pref Night” for my sorority all night. Tomorrow will be bid day, another day without classes, and the start of pledging for the new baby Phis! The next few days bring everything from homework to amazing Phi Mu dinners, lunch with a prospective student to the Super Bowl.

I can’t imagine what the other SAAB-ers have been doing this week (I’ve
been up to my ears in rush) but I can almost guarantee it was nothing
like this, so I hope this helped you get a sense of how different each and every single day is here at Hopkins.

And as an aside…Hope all you East Coasters enjoy the FOOT OF SNOW coming your way this weekend!

-Lauren

Student Organization Name: Hopkins Christian Fellowship

Category of Group: Religious

Your Name: Dominique Duval

Your Year: c/o 2012

Your Hometown: Baltimore, MD

Your Position : Freshman Coordinator
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Hopkins Christian Fellowship (HCF) is my favorite group here, and most of my closest friends are in it. And no this blog won’t be preachy or anything, so no worries! We get a decent amount of questions about religious groups on campus so I thought I’d share my experience with one.

If you choose to be affiliated with a religion or faith, there are many groups at Hopkins to accommodate that. Since I am a Christian, when I came here, I naturally scouted out the groups…and to my chagrin I found that there were annoyingly a bajillion Christian groups on campus. HCF caught my eye specifically because there was free food. :) And it was a non denominational group with no religious requirements whatsoever…and it’s all history from there. In addition to Christians, HCF has individuals who choose to identify themselves as atheist or agnostic. And people of other faiths are welcome to and have attended our meetings.

In the beginning of the year HCF has a week of free food events and info sessions to get students who may be interested more interested. We call it “New Student Outreach.” We also work with the Veritas Forum, which hosts theologists/Christian apologists. And we usually get a lotttttttttt of students to come out so that’s good.

This week, HCF is co hosting an event that will have a Biochemist and an Astronomer talking about Christianity as it relates to their studies.
I just love that HCF is such an open community, but with clear objectives and goals. It also really focuses on community outreach, so for those who aren’t so into the faith aspect of the group, there are a lot of community service events that are separate from the religious meetings. Additionally, we have this thing called “Spring Break Plunge” where those who don’t want to go home over spring break (or can’t) stay in Baltimore and live in a house in Southwest Baltimore, and do a different service project each day. There is a longer version of Spring Break Plunge that occurs during the summer, called the Baltimore Urban Program. And of course I can’t forget the retreats we have twice a year! They are beautiful opportunities to get off campus to go to a serene campsite in eastern Maryland.

We meet each Wednesday at a large group meeting, and there are several small Bible studies for those who wish to come. We have a President, vice president, prayer team, Bible study team, and events team (that puts on cool stuff like movies…yes normal movies like Star Wars and Batman, we’re not stiffs..and lots of other events ). My specific position deals with focusing on freshmen, and I love it because they remind me of the newness and excitement that came with being one. Their concerns were/are mine, and I was put into this position because of my experiences and my ability to communicate things. I love it!

So, like I said before, there are many religious groups on campus that will suit your needs…but HCF caught my eye in the beginning and I am definitely here to stay!

Our retreat site..amazing

I think one of my favorite things about Hopkins is how involved the student body is, both in terms of on campus activities, and more importantly, in the city of Baltimore as a whole. None of my friends here are simply students; they are also presidents of clubs, captains, RA’s, athletes, etc. Since I’ve arrived on campus last September I’ve really tried to branch out, and try things that I never would have done at home. To that end, I’ve written for the newspaper, written a real resume, blogged (obviously), joined a sorority, tutored at a Baltimore City high school, trained for and run a half marathon, done internships, hosted overnights, gotten a job, and more that I’ve certainly forgotten

I think I’m tied for my favorite on-campus activities. I love being in a sorority, and frankly that would be the easiest to write about…as no other SAAB members are in Phi Mu, they’d be pretty unlikely to blog about it. I think I’ll save this for after rush though, when I know a bit more about the process. The other activity I really enjoy, however, is tutoring. I’ll hedge my bets and hope no one else writes about tutoring, and go for that one.

I am involved in the COACH program, which stands for College Opportunity and Career Help. This program is run through the Greater Homewood Community Corporation, just across the street from Hopkins. I got involved at the start of freshman year, with the program’s pilot year in Baltimore, and I’ve really enjoyed it.

COACH tutors work with small groups of high school seniors and juniors to help them handle the daunting task of applying to college. We worked on personal statements, essays, SAT prep, organization, financial aid applications, and then when March rolled around, deciding where to actually go!

The results of this program have been fantastic, and the group at Mergenthaler High School (where I tutored) had students accepted to Towson, UMD at College Park, Penn State, and Hopkins, just to name a few. It was really gratifying to see these students succeed, but I found the best part of the program was getting to know the girls in my group, learning about their lives and experiences, and their ambitions. Last year I was only a year older (at most) than these girls; it was so easy to relate to them.

It was incredibly inspiring to see these amazing young men and women overcome financial and personal obstacles to realize their academic ambitions. I was so impressed by how sure they were of their plans—I had girls in my group who wanted to be preschool teachers, engineers, doctors, and soldiers—and how hard they had worked to get to that point.

From the Greater Homewood website…

Last year fifteen Johns Hopkins University volunteers worked with over 150 students in area high schools to increase college applications and acceptance rates. Results from our work at Baltimore City College, Mergenthaler Vocational Technical High School, and
Western High School are available here. COACH volunteers helped students locate scholarships that amounted to $588,571 combined.

I really enjoy being able to get off campus into Baltimore and see what the rest of the city is like. As much as I do love Hopkins, and the “oasis” feel of the campus, I can’t imagine living there for four years and not giving back to the community and city somehow. The COACH program is just one of the many programs on campus that establishes a direct link between Hopkins students and Baltimoreans, but it’s one of the few that works in a high school setting. I really enjoy being able to relate and offer relevant advice to the students I work with.

Everyone at Hopkins has that one activity they really love, and that is what COACH is for me. Though it’s a new(ish) program at Hopkins, I think it is one that will become much more prominent on campus in the next few years, and I can’t wait to see that happen!

I’ll be posting another blog in the next week or so about Intersession, where I’ve been for the past two weeks, and my plans for the coming semester! Hope everyone’s having a great New Year so far!

-Lauren

P.s. I’ve just found out that if you go to the website, a lovely picture of me and one of my tutees pops up! She’s now busy being fabulous at Towson University, doing ROTC and planning her amazing future.

A couple of weeks ago the students of Student Admissions Advisory Board, including yours truly, were asked to brainstorm ways to improve Hopkins Interactive. We’re always looking for ways to improve and expand. Last year, we had the same brainstorm and I suggested the idea of the Academics Blog (http://hopkins.typepad.com/academics/), a blog with the goal of featuring a blog on every major and minor at Hopkins. This year, I un-creatively thought of following the same idea, but in a Student Activities blog instead–a blog with a collection of blogs written by the presidents of student groups aimed towards prospective students.

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Group: Public Health Student Forum

Category of Group: Special Interest

Year Founded: 1998

Name: Jessica K.

Position: Co-President

About the group: Public Health Student Forum was originally founded before the public health major debuted as a major at Johns Hopkins in 1998. A sophomore at the time organized an information meeting where seniors spoke to students interested in public health. The forum was essential to moving public health into the public’s and Dean’s eyes and stimulating the idea of public health studies. The original purpose was to show interest for a public health major at Hopkins. Did it do it’s job? Yes, as a major, public health has grown every year since and, rumor has it, is now the biggest major at Johns Hopkins. The current mission of Public Health Student Forum is to unite students with an interest in public health and to share this interest with others through the planning of events. The group is made up of a general board and an executive board. The executive board meets weekly and general assemblies are held for the general members bi-weekly.

Events: During the year our main events are Public Health Awareness Week and the Public Health Undergraduate Conference. Along with these two main events, we hold general assemblies that have information sessions on research opportunities, study abroad, and courses. We also hold a few speaker events throughout the year.

This year we just finished our third Public Health Awareness Week. Public Health Awareness Week is a week on campus that is meant to teach the Homewood student body what public health is and that it really affects us all. This week we designated our week to Personal Health Day, Health Policy Day, Urban Health and Infectious Diseases Day, International Health Day, and Environmental Health Day. We had a major evening event on each night from an International Health Fair and Potluck Dinner that featured nine groups including many multicultural groups to speaker events on Baltimore, obesity, and healthcare. We also held a power plant tour.  Our events during the day include trivia events, free drop-in workout classes, and information on volunteering.

This year we will be having our first ever (and perhaps the nation’s first) undergraduate conference in public health. We have been working closely with the undergraduate program to hold a conference in Charles Commons on April 16th. The planning for one day is a bit overwhelming at times, which includes applying for grant money, receiving and selecting students from a call for abstracts, recruiting faculty and those involved in career services to attend our event, and much much more. The goal of this is to hopefully have not only a successful conference, but one that can grow and be continued for years to come.

Why I got involved?: I’ll admit that I didn’t know what I was getting myself into freshman year. On top of that, the group has really grown and changed its mission. Joining the group has given me the chance to meet some of my closest friends. Although we all have one common interest, our executive board is diverse in terms of natural sciences and social sciences and year. Many of the people I wouldn’t be able to have met otherwise. On top of this, it’s given me a relationship with the public health advisors. The general assemblies, which often are used as time to hear about the opportunities that other students have had in public health, have taught me about the opportunities that are out there.

Can freshmen join?: Yes, yes, yes! Freshmen are invited to become general board members and attend general assemblies. However, for those committed to public health, we typically choose two freshmen in September to join our executive board as freshmen representatives based on an application. The point of freshmen representatives is to expose them to how the executive board works so that they can continue their leadership in the group later on. Freshmen representatives are responsible for general executive board tasks like assisting with public health awareness week, spreading the word about the group to other freshmen, giving the rest of the board any advice, and whatever odds and ends come our way.