I found it useful to think about Rose Scholars as a program and how we can improve it. Since I have been a member since my Sophomore year, it is interesting to think about how it has changed and how it can continue to change for the next year. I agree that it would be beneficial to provide more opportunities for the scholars to bond and have more discussions. I suggest that there be prompts at the end of discussions to allow individuals to speak to each other in smaller groups about the material that was presented. I typically do this with my friends after rose scholars, but I feel that it would be valuable to have access to different perspectives.
One thing I will say about the Rose Cafe events is that they are a great opportunity to explore topics I would not have gotten exposure to often. In learning from experts about their research, or people on campus about their work, I am able to exercise the knowledge I have obtained in my coursework by thinking about these topics through the lens of my own perspective. That is, thinking about different things with regard to labor, policy, and inequality. I appreciate having this ability, and the requirement of one event for week forces me to make time for this.
One thing I think could be an improvement in the events is to offer varied speakers or implement more of the speaking events on campus. I often find that there are lectures I would love to attend but have to forego them because I must attend a rose event that day and there is not enough time to attend both. I also agree with a suggestion made to offer more social events that count as events as I think that this could be a fun way to get to know other scholars and maybe make for a generally different vibe during the cafes.
I definitely agree with your point about providing more opportunities for Scholars to bond. My friends and I always discuss the Cafe’s and other events with each other after we go to them, but we don’t really ever branch out from one another and hear other Scholar’s thoughts about the events they attend. I think this would be a great way to improve the program and really make it seem like more of a community, to break away from initial friends that you go into the program with. While I recognize the same people as being part of the program, since we often attend the same events, I rarely know their names or anything about them at all except for the fact that they live in Rose House and are here for the Scholars program. I think it would be beneficial to even have some sort of introduction to the program at the beginning of each year so that these relationships can form and the program can really foster a sense of community.
I agree with more social events as well. This would allow us to step out of the educational aspect that college gives us all. We would just be able to chill essentially.
I agree that there should be more events catered towards building a community with other students in the Rose Scholars program. I also think that some of the speakers should be more varied. I noticed that a lot of the are focused on liberal arts and humanities, but there are very few professors that talk about research in STEM fields or computer science.