Sophomore Reboot

Sunday, September 9, 2012

11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Lunch included*

Get a jump on your sophomore year, reconnect with your classmates, and take stock of where you are and where you want to go next.

This year's Sophomore Reboot will include the following:

Small group lunchtime discussion with faculty about picking a major and adviser
An interactive workshop that you choose from the list below
Good food and useful swag

*Students participating in the CEEDS workshop will not go to a lunchtime advising discussion; that discussion will take place with the CEEDS workshop leaders instead.

Registration

As of July 26, 2012, Sophomore Reboot registration is for the waitlist only. If you signed up before this date, you will receive an e-mail soon with your workshop assignment. If you would like to sign up for the waitlist, please fill out the registration as indicated below; you will be notified by mid-August if you get in off the waitlist.

All sophomores are invited to sign up for the program, but space is limited (both in the program as a whole and in specific workshops).

Your name

99 number

E-Mail

Workshops

Each student will participate in one 90-minute workshop. We encourage you to extend yourself a little bit with your workshop choice—think about trying something that isn't an area you think of as a particular strength or one you naturally address with a lot of your course choices.

Please rank at least your top three choices by number (1 is first choice), and we will do our best to accommodate you with the space available. You must rank at least three workshops you're willing to attend, but you are welcome to rank more than three if they interest you. If you are not interested in attending a particular workshop, leave it blank.

Think Globally, Learn Locally: The Environment at Smith

CEEDS (Center for the Environment, Ecological Design and Sustainability)

Where is the MacLeish Field Station? What is that? Pack a picnic and join us for a tour of the Ada and Archibald MacLeish Field Station and the new Bechtel Environmental Classroom – one of the most sustainable buildings in the world. This workshop will introduce students to the landscape and resources at the Field Station, along with the opportunities provided by Smith's Center for the Environment, Ecological Design and Sustainability, such as the Sustainable Food Concentration and Mill River Projects.

Please note: Students participating in the CEEDS workshop will not go to a lunchtime advising discussion; that discussion will take place with the CEEDS workshop leaders instead.

Noon: Bring your lunch and load into vans

12:30–2 p.m.: Picnic, conversation, and exploration of the Field Station

2:30 p.m.: Back on campus

The Museums Concentration: Analyzing an Art Gallery

Center for Community Collaboration

How is information about art communicated in a museum gallery? Does the layout of the space impact your experience? How are decisions made about the displays and what kinds of information are provided? Join us at the Smith College Museum of Art to think more about these questions with museum staff. After this gallery workshop, you will be ready to enter any museum and think more critically about what you see and experience. The session will also include an overview of the Museums Concentration and a chance to ask questions about the program's application process.

Speak Up: The Art of Effective Speaking

Debra Carney, Jacobson Center

From asking and answering questions in class to delivering a formal presentation, public speaking is an important part of your academic career and central to many professions. In this workshop, we'll discuss the qualities of effective speech craft and delivery as well as how to analyze audiences, manage stage fright and work with visual aids. Participants will also view and discuss some model speeches and engage in several public speaking exercises.

What Can You Do in the Archives Concentration? A Hands-on Exploration of Fabulous Stuff

Susan Van Dyne, director of the Archives Concentration

We'll meet in the archives and get our hands on "the stuff"—photos, Smith students' scrapbooks and letters home from college, and Sylvia Plath's drafts. We'll puzzle out how to read the stories behind what's pasted in a scrapbook—how do students from the 1880s and 90s construct themselves as "college women"? What rituals and traditions did they create? What did they rebel against? What do you recognize from your own life at Smith in their feelings and adventures?

Smith's archive contains an invaluable collection of Sylvia Plath's working drafts for her poetry. How can looking at Plath's drafts tell us more about how her poems revised the experiences she lived through? We'll look at drafts for "Daddy," one of her most famous poems, to see how much Plath, like all poets, struggled with writing it.

Once you've touched these treasures, I promise you'll want to know more.

"Dear Kate...I mean, Dear Professor Queeney...I mean..." – How to Confidently E-mail and Meet With Your Professors

Jessica Bacal, director of the Center for Work and Life

Have you ever found yourself writing and rewriting an e-mail to a faculty member, unsure of how formal to sound? Have you ever wished that you had a good reason to go to office hours so that your favorite professor might get to know you better? This workshop, developed with the input of over thirty Smith faculty members, will give you the information and teach you the skills that you need to engage confidently with Smith faculty via e-mail and in person. These are important skills to learn at college; practicing them will also allow you to gain comfort with the professionalism that you'll need during internships and jobs.

Global Engagement Here and Abroad

Global Studies Center

How will your education at Smith prepare you for a life of global engagement? In this workshop, we present a panel of students, faculty and staff to discuss opportunities and challenges for understanding global issues in the classroom and beyond. Whether your interest is in how to engage in global issues locally (at Smith, in the Northampton community, in your home town), or internationally (through study abroad, internships, or a project during the summer or January interterm), this workshop will help clarify your own interests while also presenting a framework for integrating global learning and engagement into your educational choices.

A Sophomore Career Toolkit

Jason Bauer-Clapp, Lazarus Center for Career Development

Get a head start on career planning—even if you have no idea what career you want! Sophomore year is the time to explore connections between your Smith experience and post-Smith options. In this program, you will consider your strengths and areas of interest, and you'll learn about resources for exploring careers and finding internships. Finally, we'll help you start developing materials to effectively market yourself for internships and other opportunities.

Writing: Beyond the Basics

Jacobson Center for Writing, Teaching and Learning

In your first year, you learned and practiced the basics of academic writing. What skills should you be honing now in your sophomore year to prepare yourself for junior and senior work in the major and graduate school or the working world thereafter? What strengths can you capitalize on and what weaknesses must you attend to in achieving your new goal? What can help and hinder you in achieving your goal? In this workshop, led by a writing counselor at the Jacobson Center, you will reflect on the writing you did in your first year and develop and plan for the sophomore year. In preparation for the workshop, select the best piece of writing from your first year, reread it and bring it to the workshop.

"How Do You Say...?"

Jennifer Matos and Gail Norskey, Center for Community Collaboration

Authentic communication is an important element in building community. In this interactive session, participants will gain new tools on how to have authentic (and sometimes difficult) conversations. Strategies in this toolkit can be used in your personal lives, Smith lives and your collaborative community lives. Participants will learn new communication techniques and receive information about the new concentration in Community Engagement and Social Change.

Biomathematical Sciences Concentration

Biomath contributing faculty

Would you love to spend your life trying to understand life? Are you curious about how diseases spread, about how spirals are formed in nature and what proteins, snails and pineapples have in common? Do you love puzzles and math? The Concentration in Biomathematical Sciences might just be for you.

In this workshop, we will travel through shape space using proteins, plants and snails to discover patterns that math reveals. Bring your imagination and sense of play as we examine the geometry of life. We'll collect some plant and snail data and use protein databases as we demonstrate the power of mathematics to help us understand the complexity of life. We will also present an overview of the Concentration in the Biomathematical Sciences and explain the application process.

Faculty Recommendation

Sophomore Reboot will kick off with an informal discussion, over lunch, about choosing a major and a major adviser or any other advising-related topics you'd like to bring up. These lunches will take place in small groups of 10 to 20 students with at least two faculty members per group.

We'd like to hear your suggestions either about specific faculty you'd like to talk with and hear from, or about specific departments/programs/concentrations you'd like to be represented. Once the program is finalized, you will have the chance to sign up for a particular discussion group. We can't promise that we can get the exact faculty you ask for, but this information will help us create a set of groups that match your interests as much as possible.

You certainly do not need to have a major in mind for these discussions, and in fact even if you do have a possible major in mind, you might want the chance to talk with faculty outside that department or program. So please think not only about your field(s) of interest but also about which faculty seem easy to talk to and like they might give you helpful advice and perspective, regardless of field.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I participate in part of the program but not all of it?

No—by signing up you are agreeing to participate in the full program. If you have a conflict that Sunday, please leave the spot for someone else. Based on student feedback from the last two years, we have shortened the program so you can participate fully and still have time for other activities that day.

If I get into the program, what do I need to do to prepare?

Participants will receive updates over the summer via their Smith e-mail accounts to make sure the details of the program are clear. But your main responsibility is simply to show up that Sunday ready to think about the year ahead and to challenge yourself a little bit.

I have more questions about the program; where can I ask them?

E-mail Professor Kate Queeney, faculty director of advising, at kqueeney@smith.edu.