The Year of Planning: Block 5 Update

JILL: Hello and welcome back to the spring 2013 semester. I hope each of
you had a great winter break and were able to spend some time resting and relaxing
with family and friends
Instead of doing our normal welcome back message, I want this message to focus on
our Year of Planning progress
Similar to last semester, this is an important time for Colorado College
as we complete the Year of Planning.
Kicking off the semester, last Friday, we had the Year of Planning Winter Conference.
At the conference, we shared the results of our community's hard work
thus far that culminated in our plan's goals. More importantly,
we shifted our efforts towards developing initiatives, the specific ideas for
reaching our goals.
Instead of hearing from me, I thought I would let you see and
hear what happened.
as you'll see this is an exciting time for CC and hope that you continue to
be involved and engaged.
JESSICA: I was in the session today about off-campus blocks, mostly blocks abroad.
We talked a lot about the access to them, and hopefully extending the
financial aid that now goes to the semester programs abroad and extending that into the blocks abroad
which would be really cool, kind of letting the people who don't really have the time to do
an entire semester abroad just doing a block abroad, and not having
a financial barrier to that. Just really excited.
HEATHER: So Ryan Hammes and I presented today on innovative
practices in student life programming,
to integrate
the curricular and the co-curricular
and increase student experience
with diverse peers, and combining the
work that we do
in, for instance, student life
with the academic focus students have in classes
DYLAN: I went to a session on interdisciplinary teaching
and how we can expand
the possibilities of the block
to reflect more powerfully across disciplines.
So do a biology class, and a humanities class
or physics and music,
and how that might be possible
a very productive discussion on what is interdsciplinarity, and what kind of
place it has on a liberal arts campus
like Colorado College.
ANGELA: My group today was absolutely inspiring.
I'm always re-invigorated as a young alum
to come back to campus
and connect with students, staff and faculty who are all united in a common purpose
to make this place even better than it already is.
In our conversation, we really held students first
and the future of this place as the most important
tenet of our discussion, and that is only possible
because of the dedication of the faculty
of the staff, of the students involved, and the trustee representation
So again, constantly inspired every time I come.