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FIRST YEAR STUDENTS I have found that First Year Students are the most accessible students as an entity on campus They seem the most enthusiastic and ready to become involved because they are just beginning their college career and are excited and eager to meet new people. Also, they are the easiest to find because the majority of them live in the residence halls on campus. Before the first year students came to campus. I hand wrote funky postcards and sent them to their home addresses. I made sure to welcome them to the University of Minnesota and introduce myself. I wrote about taking them to a free lunch or coffee when they arrived at the U. Very few students took the initiative to call me themselves, but it�s a good way to start introducing yourself and Hillel to a new student. At the kick-off barbecue many First Year Students recognized my name from the postcard they had received and it served as a wonderful talking point in those awkward first conversations. |
| Within the first few weeks of school I realized that this group of students were not interested in only hanging out with first years, but sought out events open to all students. From then on I began planning Hillel wide events and targeted first year students to attend. The successful events targeted for only First Year students were the First Year Student Appreciation Dinner and MJET: More Jews Eating Together. For the FYS Appreciation Dinner the FYS Chair and I sent out very professional vellum invitations and had a very fancy meal made for the students. Upperclass students worked as servers and greeters. My young cousin Aaron played piano while approximately 40 new students ate their dinners in the auditorium. I made an extra effort to make the event look extremely elegant and I believe this was integral to its success. MJET only began in the late second half of the year. Every Friday at Sanford I would meet with mostly freshmen to eat lunch and gather with all the Jews we could find from 12-1pm in the dining hall. Sanford historically has the most Jews living ther; as well as the best food selection in the Residence Halls. This program became really popular by the end of the year. One Friday lunch we even sang the Birkat HaMazon along with some popular camp songs in the middle of the cafeteria. |
| Some Other Successful FYSH Events Harmonize of Hunger : Bluegrass Style Committee of dedicated FYS planned Havdallah and large-scale concert event Ice Cream Social Free Ice Cream at Coffman Union Shabbat Out and About Free Shabbat dinner rotating in the residence halls. Rock Climbing Free pizza and rock climbing at the St. Paul Student Center Ultimate Frisbee U of M Recreation Intramural Team Team of 10 guys played Ultimate Frisbee in the Fall. Rosh Hashana Goodie Bags Each welcome goodie bag contained a cd that I made, High Holiday schedule, candy, and information about Rosh Hashana. Not So Successful FYSH Events Scavenger Hunt I decided to scrape the scavenger hunt idea and just go out for free pizza at Old Chicago after driving through a little of downtown Minneapolis. Must See TV Night Not many people came. Kosher Sushi I believe it was a night when many students had class. |
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