Contrary to the regularly scheduled cafes, this event was set up by Dean Hill to give and receive feedback from current Rose Scholars and what lies ahead for the future of the program. And this being my second year in the Rose Scholars program, I was here to witness the changes that Dean Hill and Professor Blalock decided to implement, such as the online sign-up sheet and capacity limit for certain events. At first, I didn’t quite like this change since I was always used to attending the Wednesday cafes to get my requirements done. I did it primarily because it took the least amount of time. However, since the online system was implemented, there were times that I had to attend different Rose Scholars events. One that I have come to particularly enjoy is the Friday movie nights. Even though they are a bit longer, I realize that I enjoy watching a movie that pertains to different cultures or studies and have been attending them since.

Likewise, a few of the Rose Scholars voiced their concerns about the capacity limits. I took it as a net positive since this creates an incentive for people to participate in the community. If you want a slot, then you have to be active and sign up for it early instead of just dropping in and treating it like a requirement. In addition, I think some other scholars raised wonderful points about the programming of the Scholars program. Every week, there are time scheduled events and we can expect them to be the same. However, since everyone’s time commitments are different, it would certainly be delightful to see events being shuffled around the days of the week while preserving the time slot.

And lastly, I really feel that the Rose Scholars program could contribute more to socializing people within Rose House. Most of the participants either come in groups or attend for the sake of the requirement. I believe that if there were events that have the sole purpose of letting other house members meet each other, it could foster better interest in the community offerings. All in all, I think this was a great talk and I’m glad to see the effort that is being put in for the development of the program.