I hope that all have arranged schedules for the semester with which they are happy. Get those schedules signed and submitted! I hope you enjoy the learning and I wish everyone the best with their academic work.
As you navigate your courses, focus on the learning. Don’t worry too much if you hit glitches We all hit glitches. (If you knew everything why would you be here?) Remember that we have Trumbull writing and quantitative tutors affiliated with the college. Make use of their services.
Our Trumbull tutors are: Conor Walsh: Conor is our new residential college mathematics and science tutor for Trumbull. He is a 4th year graduate student in Economics, and he is eager to start work helping you. Adam Sexton: is the residential college writing tutor for Trumbull. Adam is a Lecturer in English with an BA from University of Pennsylvania and MFA in writing from Columbia. He’s helped many Trumbullians with their writing and I’ve heard lots of good things about his help. Their offices are located on the Buttery Level one floor below and directly underneath the main Trumbull College offices. (Go past the entrance to the elevator on that level and duck just around it to find that corridor.)
Try very hard not to compare yourself with other students. Don’t compete with other students. Instead, concentrate on learning what you need to learn and on finding areas of work that you love. I know, I know that competition against others was a large part of what got you here to Yale. But you are here and you are all talented – in a wide variety of different and overlapping ways. Support, encourage and learn from one another (within the bounds of the Yale College undergraduate regulations, of course!) Celebrate one another’s successes; sympathize with one another’s glitches. The bonds you form with others are every bit as important as the skills and knowledge you’ll be acquiring.
Intramurals. We’re off and running with the intramural schedule now and I want to be sure to thank our IM leaders, Josh Swerdlow, Elizabeth Calabresi, Zoe Henry, Aidan Houlihan, and Adia Klein for all the work they do to organize Trumbull’s IM participation and to make it fun. Remember that you can participate in just one IM event or many. Remember that you don’t have to be great at the sport – just enthusiastic. Of course, we want to win our games (Moo-rah!) but getting exercise and socializing a bit for breaks and for your physical well-being is just as important if not more so.
My own congratulations go to our two first year players-of-the-week Max Leung (my own advisee! I’m so proud!) and his fellow first year, Bryan Lopez (I am proud of all our Trumbullians).
Sailing thanks: Thanks to all who went on the sailing trip on Saturday. It was good to have so many people come and to have a chance to chat. I hope you enjoyed it despite the fact that, somehow, the weather went from being way too hot here in New Haven, to a bit too cool and a bit too wet. I promise those of you new to this area that fall in New England is lovely. Do plan to get outside and enjoy fall as the leaves begin to change color. Our graduate affiliates will be sponsoring hikes and we’ll be moving on to such things as apple picking (and then turning to eating those apples and cooking with them) and pumpkin carving.
I also thank Associate Head Polner, OM Deb Bellmore, Senior AA Debbie Rueb, Service Assistant Karen Eisenman, and Tasha Boyer and Stephanie Spear (they helped on the way home) for their support of the trip.
Think about using the Trum-Pottery studio: Trumbull is fortunate to both have a pottery studio (with a new kiln and wheels), a pottery studio aide and also a number of graduate affiliates and one new post-doctoral fellow (in physics) who really know what they are doing pottery wise. If you know what you’re doing pottery wise, do make use of the studio. If you do not, don’t worry! We’ll be announcing regular sessions at which you can learn. There’s no ongoing commitment. You can go to one session or many.
Sign up for Weekly Mindful Meditation Sessions: Professor Molly Crockett from Yale’s psychology department will once again lead a jointly sponsored (Silliman/Trumbull) meditation class one evening each week. In the fall, it is held in Silliman (with Trumbullians included). In the spring it is held in Trumbull (with Sillimanders included). It lasts about an hour. Sign up in the Trumbull Office if you are interested. We’ll then send the details to you! The first session is scheduled for Monday, September 17, from 7:30 to 8:30 PM in the Good Life Center (4th floor, room 417). Subsequent dates will be available soon. If you are a first year student ask FroCo Tasha Boyer about this. She has been a regular participant and supporter of these sessions. Our resident fellow Linda Wargo can also tell you about this and I participate as well.