The following entry is Benjamin Boas’s (Brown ‘06.5) speech given at Brown University’s Midyear Completion Ceremony. It is published with the permission of the author.

Members of the faculty, deans, friends, and family, thank you for coming to celebrate this great occasion.

Fellow classmates, I have three words to say to you right now‹we are done!

We’ve toiled through years of college, some more than others and some less.

We’ve listened to lectures, participated in seminars, crammed for exams, and cranked out pages of research that were due the next day. We’ve put in our time, and many of us have put in more than that. We’ve worked, traveled, taught, trained, explored and learned. Each one of us, in our own individual unique way.

And now, we’re done. Members of the prestigious and exclusive class of 2006.5, we did it!

Now what?

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The following entry is Andrew Marantz’s (Brown ‘06.5) speech given at Brown University’s Midyear Completion Ceremony. It is published with the permission of the author.

Aporia, Education, and “Real Life”

A widespread feeling of loss pervades the minds of students who often come to universities to learn right from wrong, to distinguish what is true from what is false, but who realize at the end of four years that they have deconstructed their freshman beliefs, values, and ideologies, but have created nothing to replace them.

That’s not really the beginning of my speech. Nor is it a passage from Sylvia Plath’s application to Smith. Actually, it’s from Brown’s course catalogue, from a description of a course called The Shaping of World Views. Let me repeat that last part: students “realize at the end of four years that they have deconstructed their freshman beliefs…but have created nothing to replace them.”

Right away, we can learn a couple things about Brown. First of all, Brown is the kind of university where you can take a course on how to patch up your worldview. No wonder we’re ranked as the happiest college-this course is like group therapy! I can’t imagine a course at Chicago called “No-How Are You Feeling?”

But what I really want to point out about this course description is its implicit claim: namely, that college is a place where bright-eyed, bushy-tailed teenagers go to have their dreams shattered. Is that true? Should we change our motto from “In God We Hope” to “A Widespread Feeling of Loss Pervades”? Is that really what a Brown education does?

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The participants of the Fall 2006 Urban Education Semester program will be presenting their final projects on Wednesday, December 13th and Wednesday, December 20th.

Venture Colleagues interested in attending, should contact the central office for more information.

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Two groups of Venture colleagues will meet at Sarah Lawrence College in December.The Engaged Life Working Group is made up of colleagues from career offices and public service centers. This group works to improve their individual practice as it relates to support for students interested in public interest work, exploring socially-responsible careers and what it means to live a socially-responsible life. The group has been meeting annually to share best practices, learn about trends, and plan out collaborative projects.Colleagues from study abroad offices and community-based learning centers have been meeting since 2004 to engage in dialogue about study abroad experiences that achieve global citizenship learning outcomes. The ongoing dialogue has resulted in sharing information about our current practice and generating ideas about some collaborative projects that we may engage in together.Colleagues interested in learning more about either of these meetings can contact us at: info@theventureconsortium.org.

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Venture’s Engaged Life Working Group recently updated our Public Interest Work Resource Guide. The guide is a printable PDF document that contains books, listservs/websites, and events that can help students find opportunities in socially responsible work.

If you have any feedback or sugguestions for the guide, please share your feedback.

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The Urban Education Semester is an interdisciplinary, academic immersion program in New York City that gives students the opportunity to study the theory and and experience the practice of urban public education. Deadlines for the Spring 2007 Urban Education Semester are approaching.

Applications are due to your UES Campus Program Coordinator on Monday, October 23, 2006.

Interested?

>> learn more about UES

>> contact your UES Campus Program Coordinator

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Exploring Options is an interactive website that helps you connect your interests with some of the many job, internship, fellowship opportunities, and networking resources available.

Over the summer, Venture staff added more information to this section of our site. You will find it easier to navigate, and we hope that you find the resources useful as you look for ways to live out your social justice commitments, ideals, and values.

If you have comments about or suggestions for our exploring options section, please share your feedback with us: info@theventureconsortium.org.

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Congratulations to the participants of the Spring ‘06 Urban Education Semester program who recently presented their final projects.

This semester’s students were Rebecca Benjamin (Swarthmore), Giselle Castaño (Brown), Lauren Dammier (Wesleyan), Carrie Derderian (Franklin & Marshall), Sarah Langer (Swarthmore), Alicia Pantoja (Brown), Ruby Stardrum (Wesleyan), Miyo Tubridy (Brown), and Lizza Weir (Brown).

Interested in UES?

>> learn more about UES

>> Contact your UES Campus Program Coordinator

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