Category Archives: Life at Sidney-Pacific

The new and improved SP ZipBikes!

SP’s ZipBikes in the west bike room.

Boston may lay claim to the title of most walkable city in America, but sometimes walking just won’t cut it. In such times, savvy citizens become savvy cyclists: Strap on a helmet, hop on a bike, and ride. But where can a non-cyclist find a bike?

Sidney-Pacific residents need look no further than the West Bike Room. The SP ZipBikes program, administered by the SP Bikes Chair, offers free bicycle rentals for recreational use by residents, around half of whom don’t own a bike. For those without personal vehicles, SP ZipBikes—checked in and out at the front desk—make shopping trips and distant errands a breeze. As with any public resource, however, bikes for common use cannot help but invoke a tragic general neglect. Time and again SP ZipBikes have been found damaged and unlocked in random places in the crowded SP bike rooms, costing Sidney-Pacific—and hence residents, through the house tax—the price of repairs, new locks, and new bikes.

To promote responsible bike sharing, the ZipBikes program is piloting a new temporary checkout procedure, starting on April 1st. Instead of checking out keys from the front desk, residents can reserve a bike using a shared Google calendar and pick up keys from the Bikes Chair the evening before the scheduled rental. Residents may reserve up to two bikes a maximum of two weeks in advance, with a one-day rental period. All bikes must be returned to the West Bike Room, and keys must be returned to the Bikes Chair by 10PM or by individual arrangement. If you would like to participate in the ZipBikes bike rental program, email the SP Bikes Chair at sp-bikes-chair@mit.edu for access to the ZipBikes calendar (spzipbikes@gmail.com).

While SP ZipBikes provides a free bike rental option that’s close to home, residents should also consider joining the alternative Hubway bike rental program. Hubway provides bike rental services within the Boston/Cambridge metro area for a daily or annual fee, with two stations on the MIT campus (Kendall and Massachusetts Ave.). MIT offers subsidized $25 annual memberships for students and affiliates, which is an incredible deal. However, while Hubway bikes are very convenient for short trips, the service provides only heavy commuter bikes and allows travel only within the Hubway network of stations—an extra fee applies for trips longer than 30 minutes. SP residents are thus encouraged to join and use Hubway for short trips and to lobby the SP House Government to provide high-quality road and mountain bikes for free full-day rental through the SP ZipBikes program.

Biking at Sidney-Pacific: By the Numbers

(Survey of 87 SP residents)

51% of respondents don’t own a bike, 22% own a road bike, 13% own a mountain bike, 17% own a hybrid (more than one option allowed)
75% of SP bike owners paid less than $400 for their bikes
60% of respondents have never rented a bike from SP
79% of respondents have heard of Hubway, but only 5% are currently Hubway members

By Joel Jean, outgoing SP Bikes Chair

A Decade of Caring: A Tribute to Roger and Dottie

Housemasters Roger and Dottie Mark.

It was a bittersweet moment for us to celebrate Roger and Dottie’s 10th and final year of being Sidney-Pacific Housemasters at the Alumni Reunion. The entire alumni crowd gave a standing ovation to Roger and Dottie in recognition of their innumerable and significant contributions to the SidPac community over the years.

Roger has been the one you want to talk to if you got into trouble, got lost in your research, or ever needed some wisdom about how to handle your work/life situation. He also inspired us with his DIY attitude about getting things done around SP, whether it meant taking a drill to the brick walks to fasten down cleats for the movie ropes, or hanging up racks for pans in the kitchen pantry. His passion to make Sidney-Pacific the best dormitory in the entire world, especially by developing outstanding student leadership, has been the impetus and motivation for the incredible reputation our community holds throughout MIT (and the world!).

Dottie has been the heart and soul of SP — keeping tabs on residents, attending their thesis defenses, weddings, feeding residents with her delicious cooking, and her always gracious hospitality. Dottie made us feel loved and cared for — SP was not just our dorm, it was our home.

Roger and Dottie, we are going to miss you so much, we are actually not going to let you leave…

To all the alumni, if you are in the vicinity of Cambridge this year, please drop by so we can say “HI” to you and hear about your post-MIT/SP lives!

Fondly,

Roland Tang and Annette Kim

Sidney-Pacific Associate Housemasters

Get a Green Thumb at the SP Community Garden.

“Earthboxes” belonging to SP residents.

While the wonders of modern agriculture are separating us further and further from our food supply, some residents of Sidney Pacific are contributing their part to reverse this trend by growing their own herbs and vegetables! To serve these residents, Sidney Pacific launched a community garden in Fall 2012, spearheaded by George Chen from SPEC 2012, SP plants chair Peng Shi and Assistant Housemaster Roland Tang. The vision of this is a community of garden lovers at SP who share and support one another in the joy of planting their own food.

The community garden is currently located in the SP courtyard, in the form of a series of “earthboxes”: self-watering devices containing to 2 cubit feet boxes of soil which are lent out to residents to plant to their hearts desire. This allows residents to take advantage of outdoor sun while respecting MIT facilities regulations that disallow planting on the lawn. Residents take complete ownership of their cubic feet of soil and grows whatever herbs or vegetables they like.

Over the next year, the community garden plans to grow its membership, strengthen the sense of community, and to enjoy the fruits of its first full harvest cycle. We plan to build community by having meals together, sharing advice and tips about planting, and going to plant together. Peng, the plants chair, is planning to complement this with other plants/gardening/nature events to reach more residents with such interests and build a wider community of nature lovers at SP. If you would like to join our community, please contact SP plants chair Peng Shi at sp-plants-chair@mit.edu.

By Peng Shi, SP Plants Chair

Coming Soon: Kendall Square Redevelopment

Artist's rendering of a redeveloped Main st., as viewed from the intersection with Ames st. Courtesy MIT

Artist’s rendering of a redeveloped Main Street, as viewed from the intersection with Ames Street. Courtesy of MIT.

Over the last two years, MIT’s leadership have worked to develop a framework, the MIT 2030 plan, to guide the development and stewardship of our physical campus over the next several decades. Though this project will likely take many years to fully realize, certain pressing areas like graduate housing and Kendall Square development are being phased first for action.

MIT has looked into developing some of its real estate portfolio along Main Street in Kendall Square since March 2010 and filed its first petition in the spring of 2011. The city then engaged a year-long community planning process, known as K2 (Kendall Square), to amalgamate the needs and wishes of various stakeholder groups (e.g. neighborhoods, business owners, real estate developers, MIT, etc). During this process, the GSC and faculty grew concerned that the existing petition was deficient in its preservation of academic land and provision of housing. The first reservation was offered chiefly by outspoken faculty that expressed concerns over commercializing MIT’s last remaining undeveloped campus land assets, which were originally allocated for future academic and research expansion space.

The latter point, regarding housing, was initialized by the GSC Housing and Community Affairs committee as a result of nearly two years of quantitative analysis of the surrounding housing markets. According to the GSC’s data, the Cambridge off-campus housing market was experiencing record low vacancy rates, booming rental prices, and a yearly influx of additional high-wage earners seeking housing. The concern, as articulated in an article in the Faculty Newsletter, was that there was already a housing crisis and that further unchecked development would result in neighborhoods that were too expensive and competitive for graduate students to viably access. This, in turn, would result in a diffusion of the off-campus community into more distant neighborhoods that would impact the way we do research and live. In order to better understand the needs of MIT’s community, the article then called for the creation of a student-faculty-administrative working group to “propose a vision for off-campus communities and outline actions to guide us in this uncertain and unkind market”.

Artist’s rendering of new shops along Main Street. Courtesy of MIT.

In response to these concerns, MIT Leadership commissioned a 2030 Faculty Task Force to evaluate the existing petition and make recommendations on next steps. The Task Force’s report made several recommendations, among them that MIT should indeed create a committee that looked at areas similar to what the GSC’s Faculty Newsletter article called for. The Task Force also gave the go-ahead for upzoning given a number of conditions were met prior to refiling the petition. MIT has since refilled and is now in the final stages of getting approval to rezone various parts of Kendall Square both commercially and residentially.

Although the proposed rezoning envisions some of the largest and most exciting changes to east campus in several decades, few students knew much about the project and even fewer harbored opinions. As a result, the Undergraduate Association, Graduate Student Council, and Postdoctoral Association decided to jointly co-host the first Institute-wide forum on Kendall Redevelopment to achieve the following three goals:

1. Allow students to hear the specifics of the MIT proposal directly from the MIT staff that wrote it.

2. Allow students to hear a diversity of opinion from MIT community members educated in the proposal.

3. Provide an initial venue for soliciting student feedback on the project.

In addition to being the first joint forum between undergraduates, graduates, and postdoctoral researchers, it also broke attendance expectations and forced the use of an overflow room. In attendance were approximately 140 graduate students, 50 undergraduates, 10 postdoctoral researchers, 10 faculty, and 10 administrators. Time was divided evenly amongst the pro, neutral, and against sides of the argument, and students were allowed to form their own judgments based on the discussions from the evening.

Below are the three most common sentiments for and sentiments against the petition, in order of decreasing precedence:

Sentiments For:

1. It helps MIT’s finances and grows our endowment: Students respect the critical importance of maintaining and growing our endowment, especially in the current sequestration climate. They understand that a healthy endowment is the principal enabler of the Institute’s support of its community.

2. It improves the eastern portion of campus and creates a gateway: Students desperately want to see something done to improve the landscape of the Kendall Square, add a grocery and pharmacy, and create a respectable entrance that better welcomes guests as well as links Sloan to main campus.

3. It creates an innovation center in Kendall and next to MIT: Many students appreciate the benefits of increasing the number of employers in the area and value of entrepreneurial activity though want to avoid what happened in University Park.

Sentiments Against:

1. This may significantly impact the housing market: Students feel concerned and helpless. In order to perform their job at the levels they are expected and the hours that are needed, losing viable near-campus housing options is very intimidating.

2. On-Campus corporate offices may interfere with the academic atmosphere: Students are uncomfortable with the apparent abasement of MIT’s culture and mission by selling potential academic land to corporations.

3. It limits the opportunities of MIT for expansion: This was a concern rooted mostly in the ability to find and grow lab space.

The vote on the MIT petition will take place in early April and likely shape the face and future of Kendall Square for many generations to come. If you’re interested to learn more or want to share your thoughts on the topic please do reach out and contact us at gsc-officers@mit.edu.

By Brian Spatacco (GSC President)

Overhead view of Kendall Square. The area of proposed redevelopment is highlighted in red. Courtesy of MIT

Yoga Class is back!

SP Residents take part in the weekly yoga class. Courtesy of Chelsea He and Velibor Misic

Due to the large success of the weekly yoga class last semester, a new class is open for the spring semester. If you’re imagining this class as the SP multipurpose room filled with people holding the strange poses like pretzels on yoga mats barefoot, you are only half right. True, yoga is generally practiced barefoot and the yoga mat is usually the only thing you need, but unfortunately not many people are flexible and/or strong enough to actually twist and hold up the pretzel pose.

Then what do you actually do? What is yoga all about?

Originally, yoga was more of a philosophical activity than just a physical exercise. It is one of the six orthodox schools of Hindu philosophy, and is all about “stillness of mind”. The physical training we usually associate with yoga is only one of the many ways to achieve this state of mind. The physical training part of yoga was designed to help the disciples to sit and meditate for longer periods of time. Russell Simmons said that “A push-up is not a muscle”. Like a push-up, yoga is only a tool to help us build up a muscle.

SP’s yoga class was my first experience with yoga, and I appreciate how it helps me relieve the stress of daily life in graduate school and keeps me healthy enough to counteract the many hours that I spend crouched over in front of my computer. The poses invigorate the small muscles that we don’t usually use while sitting around, and holding those poses for some time strengthens the body. Breathing is another part of the exercise, which calms down the mind and brings the focus to your inside from the busy outside world.

From my experience, the class covers everyone with a different level of exposure to yoga, from a novice to a long-time yogi. The instructor provides you with a set of options for one pose, so you can try the different options until you find a comfortable level of stretching. Yoga class is about listening to your own body and doing what is good for it.

If you want to try it out, please come down and join us in the multipurpose room, from 4 to 5 pm every Sunday! Also, SP inventory now offers a number of new yoga mats for residents who would like to join the class but don’t have the mats.

SP is also preparing another fitness class for the residents; details will be announced soon.

By Stephanie (Ahhyun) Nam (SPEC VP of Information)

Greetings from the Housemasters

Roger, Dottie, Annette, and Roland wish the SP family a joyous holiday season.

As January 2013 nears, Dottie and I enter our final six months as Housemasters of Sidney-Pacific Graduate Residence. We have hosted our last Thanksgiving dinner with our extended SP “family”, and just this month we watched as our last Christmas tree was trimmed in the lobby. It does not seem that long ago when we entered the building in August 2002 as brand new housemasters with the very first residents and an outstanding group of new officers and a newly designed government!

The past decade has rushed by, but it has been a deeply rewarding time for us. In fact, I think for me it has been the best period of my MIT career so far. We have seen the SP community develop into a supportive and vibrant home for an incredibly diverse and active group of nearly 700 friends and colleagues. We have had the privilege of working very closely with 11 sets of dedicated and creative officers, and Dottie has prepared more than 540 (and counting) dinners for weekly SPEC meetings! We are proud of the impressive leadership skills that have developed and rejoice at the friendships and even romances that have blossomed! Dottie and I are grateful for the wonderful collaboration and friendships we have enjoyed with our Associate Housemasters Keith and Brenda Hampton (2002–2005) and Roland Tang and Annette Kim (since 2005), and with Jack Ahern, our building manager.

We were looking yesterday at the photos documenting the fantastic 10th anniversary and reunion that was held this past summer, and as we looked at all the faces we realized how enriched our lives have been made by the many personal connections we have had over the years. I am sure that many SP alumni have had the same experiences. We hope that the friendships and professional connections made at SP will continue, that we can build a vibrant alumni association, and that periodically we will repeat our reunions!

On a personal note, Dottie and I will be moving out of SP at the end of June 2013 to make room for new housemasters, and an exciting new era at SP! We plan to move to a small coop townhouse in Jamaica Plain (near Jamaica Pond). The commute to my lab in building E25 will be longer than the 16-minute walk from SP, but will be quite manageable by car or even by bicycle. We would encourage you to look us up if you are in the area, and come for that “cup of tea and catch-up chat”. We do look forward to keeping in touch and hearing about your lives. Thanks for 11 great years and incredible memories!

We extend hearty holiday greetings to everyone!

Fondly,

Roger & Dottie Mark

Sidney-Pacific Housemasters

The Sidney-Pacific Experience: An Alumni Perspective

Sriram Krishnan attends SP’s 10th Anniversary Reunion Gala Dinner (Photo credit: Po-Ru Loh).

“My home away from home” is my impression of Sidney-Pacific every time I think about my days as a resident. By no small measure, the 10th year reunion cemented that viewpoint even more. It was truly a delight to be a part of a fabulous reunion weekend both as an alum and as an organizer. The reunion gave me a chance to meet many of my friends from years past as well as their families – a sign that the Sidney-Pacific family is ever-growing. The reunion committee’s work was quite an exciting adventure. I certainly indulged in the verve that many an SP event brings about. The reunion video was one such effort. Some years back, a bunch of us went through a similar exercise to put together an orientation video for incoming residents. We thought we did a fine job. However, one look at the reunion video and I am sure you will echo at our previous video: ‘What amateurs!’ In many ways, helping organize the 10th year reunion brought my involvement with Sidney-Pacific a full circle. I have been quite fortunate to have been part of the group of students that helped found Sidney-Pacific and I am indeed grateful to have worked alongside current SP residents to organize the 10th year reunion. I look forward to many more such events that bring SP alumni together.

I definitely would encourage alums to share tidbits from your own lives and stay in touch. We are several thousand strong in number and the uniqueness of Sidney-Pacific makes us a professional network unlike any other. It is up to us to continue to strengthen our connections.

By: Sriram Krishnan, SP Resident 2002-2007

Taking the Front-Row Seat: Sid-Pac’s Distinguished Lecture Series

Maestro Benjamin Zander speaks at the Sidney Pacific. Distinguished Lecture Series. Courtesy of Carrie Cai.

Maestro Benjamin Zander speaks at the Sidney Pacific Distinguished Lecture Series. Courtesy of CoSI.

“Have you ever considered why nobody ever sits in this row?” inquired Maestro Benjamin Zander, gesturing at the lonely row of empty chairs lining the front of Sidney Pacific’s otherwise packed multipurpose room. On the day after Hurricane Sandy, over 250 MIT students and community members ventured through the rain to attend Sidney Pacific’s Distinguished Lecture Series, one of the dorm’s longest-running traditions.

They came to attend a talk by Benjamin Zander, conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra and world-renowned TED speaker. Far from delivering a typical lecture, Zander led Sidney Pacific through an unusually interactive evening focusing on leadership, transformation, and personal growth through what he termed “the art of possibility.” Through colorful white board drawings and live piano demonstrations, Zander captivated us with tales of his personal adventures and life lessons. The front row of empty seats immediately filled with audience members who took up Zander’s invitation to engage in a mindset of possibility.

The Sidney Pacific Distinguished Lecture Series is hosted and organized by Sidney Pacific’s Committee on Scholarly Interactions (CoSI), which fosters community dialogue and interaction around intellectual, social, and political issues. We started off the term with a timely lecture by Christina Romer, former Chair of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, who spoke on economic issues at stake in the 2012 presidential election. The lecture drew a record-breaking number of attendees from MIT as well as students from neighboring universities, and Zander’s rousing lecture mid-semester was similarly well attended. We rounded off the fall with Sidney Pacific Faculty Night, an evening for students and faculty to get to know one another in a more informal, non-academic environment.

Behind the scenes, these events are made possible through countless collaborations with other Sidney Pacific committees, including the Music Committee, our Housemasters and Associate Housemasters, and our heroic House Manager and staff. Zander’s interactive lecture was enriched and preceded by a very successful 70-person Boston Philharmonic music outing to Sanders Theatre, organized by Sidney Pacific’s music chair (Nate Zuk). Moreover, the novel seating format at Christina Romer’s lecture was made possible by joint planning with House Manager Jack Ahern and his staff. Most recently, our CoSI dinner discussion on female work-life balance was facilitated by Annette Kim, Sidney Pacific Associate Housemaster.

Next Spring, we look forward to hosting a town-hall discussion with MIT President Rafael Reif, a multimedia lecture on the neuroscience of creativity by neurosurgeon and musician Charles Limb, and a talk on civic engagement by Ethan Zuckerman from the MIT Center for Civic Media.

As always, we invite any residents to get involved with CoSI by emailing us at sp-cosi-chair@mit.edu. Perhaps we’ll see you next time in the front row!

Carrie Cai,

on behalf of Carrie Cai and David Rosen (CoSI Co-Chairs)

Work out at the New and Improved SP Gym.

The SP gym. In addition to be being closer than the Z-center, the SP gym is also considerably less crowded (especially at 8:00 am when this photo was taken).

Want to work out without walking (or running) all the way to the Z-center? The SP gym is the answer for you. This year, SP athletics has worked hard to improve your workout experience. A number of new pieces of equipment have been added to the gym. Firstly, we have added an exercise bike and an elliptical machine. Also, the missing 15 lb dumbbell set has finally been replaced. Other new additions include jumping ropes, extension ropes and an inflatable kayak.

Elliptical Machine for cardio, punching bag for stress release.

In addition to all of this new equipment, we now have personal trainers available at SP !!! Anyone who is interested in having a personal training session or a group training session in the SP gym with qualified trainers from the Z center, should contact personaltraining@mit.edu to set this up. This can be set-up as one-on-one sessions or group sessions. The approximate charges for this are $50 per session (typically 1 hour). However, if the sessions are bought in bundles the prices per session would go down. Individual interested in personal training will be responsible for the charges.

This academic year was started by a fitness lecture by Lauren Hanley on How to Create a Workout. The lecture covered key topics such as types of workouts, motivation to work out, benefits of and the need to workout, nutrition, exercise programs etc.

Finally, SP is now offering weekly yoga classes in the multipurpose room on Sundays from 4 pm to 5 pm.

Keeping in shape (or getting back in shape) has never been easier, thanks to SP athletics!
By SP Athletics Chair Adi Bhujle (sp-athletics-chair@mit.edu)

Welcome to Sidney-Pacific!

SPEC 2012-2013. From left to right: Stephanie (Ahhyun) Nan, Stephen Morgan, Pierre-Olivier Lapage, George Chen and Jennifer Jarvis. (Courtesy of SP Photofile Committee)

The Sidney-Pacific Executive Council (SPEC) and the House Council would like to warmly welcome all of our new residents. You’re joining an amazingly diverse, active graduate community of almost 700 students. In order to serve and unite a community this large, SP has a wide variety of traditions and institutions, some of which we’d like to introduce here:

Hall Councilors and Hall Dinners: Sidney-Pacific is divided into 13 halls, and hall councilors are your floor’s representative. If you have any questions, concerns, or issues, they’re a great first resource to turn to. Plus, they organize monthly dinners and outings – basically, excuses for everyone in your hall to come together, hang out, and enjoy some free food. During orientation, each hall will be holding a mandatory hall meeting for all of its new residents to go over housing policies, roommate agreements, etc. Afterward, both new and returning residents are invited to the first hall dinners of the new academic year – please talk to your hall councilor for more details.

Sidney-Pacific Orientation: The next few weeks of Orientation are very exciting, and there are many can’t-miss events:

First, SP traditionally kicks off its orientation with Open Doors Night (Aug 27th, 7-10PM), an event where 30-40 residents, both old and new, host small room parties for an evening. It’s a great chance to break the ice, meet your new neighbors, and maybe even show off some of your culinary skills. We’re currently recruiting hosts. Contact your Hall Councilor for more information!
Then, we have our three staple large events – and the Big Crunch Feast (Aug 28th, 6:30-11PM), the Big Bang Bash Dance Party (Aug 31th, 9PM-1AM), the Orientation Brunch (Sep 2nd, 12-1:00PM), These are open to the entire graduate community and usually attract crowds of up to 400-600 people. SP is generally known around campus for its large social events (we have 2-3 every semester, in addition to orientation), so keep your eyes open for announcements during the semester. Some of the great events we held just this past year include: the Wine & Chocolate Party, a Halloween masquerade, an Iron Chef competition, Dumplings of the World night, and an Asian Street Food festival.
In addition to our large events, SP organizes a number of smaller events, such as trips to the Museum of Fine Arts and the Aquarium, an “arts crawl” through Downtown Boston, and sailing on the Charles. All of these great events are organized by members of the Sidney-Pacific House Council. For the full list of events, please check out the orientation calendar in this newsletter, the official SP orientation guide, or our online Google calendar (http://bit.ly/sp-mit-calendar).

SP residents enjoying the monthly brunch on a Sunday. (Courtesy of SP Photofile Committee)

Monthly Brunch: Every month, Sidney-Pacific and Ashdown each provide a free Sunday brunch (12:00 – 1:00 PM, MP Room on the 1^st floor) that’s open to the entire MIT community. From scrambled eggs to chocolate-chip banana pancakes, and from roasted potatoes to fresh seasonal fruits, our brunches are not to be missed. Just don’t forget to bring your own silverware – we’re all about sustainability here! We have an enthusiastic, committed team of residents who volunteer every month to cook brunch mostly from scratch for over 300 people. As always, volunteers get to skip the lines and eat first. If you’d like to help out behind the scenes, come down to the MP Kitchen anytime between 8 AM – 12 PM.

Weekly Coffee Hour: Every Wednesday night (9:00 PM – 10:00 PM), SP residents are invited to the MP room for free fresh fruits, snacks, and of course, coffee – there’s tea and other drinks, too. Occasionally, we’ll have specialty menu items (such as a seasonal soup) or additional programs (such as a bike auction or a hobby fair). Once a month, we partner with a student group for a larger, culturally-themed coffee hour; last year, we celebrated Cinco de Mayo (Mexico), Holi (India), Chinese New Year (China), Chuseok (Korea) and many other holidays with those respective cultures’ special cuisines.

Sidney-Pacific Inter-Cultural Exchange (SPICE): Even though SP residents represent more than 40 different nationalities, we believe that merely assembling a “diverse” group of people is not enough. The benefits of diversity come from actively sharing and learning about each other’s different cultures, beliefs, and worldviews. SPICE is a dinner discussion program that facilitates this cultural exchange. At the beginning of the year, residents who sign up for SPICE are assigned to groups of 10-12 people. Over the course of the year, these groups meet about every other week for a subsidized dinner; at each dinner, members of the group discuss a particular topic, such as “How does your family celebrate various holidays, such as the New Year?”or “What do you and your family consider to be taboos?”

Housemaster Dinners: We’re very fortunate to have Professor Roger and Dottie Mark, and Professor Annette Kim and Dr. Roland Tang as Housemasters to support our residential programming and development. New residents will have the chance to meet them, along with our adorable “Housemasters-in-Training” Joshua and Samuel, during our Housemaster Welcome Dinners in the middle of September. Please check your e-mail for your personal invitation. In addition, over the course of the year, residents will receive special invitations to other Housemaster gatherings, such as the Thanksgiving and Holiday dinners, dinners with professors, and so forth.

SP Interest Groups: Are you interested in attending a Boston sporting event? Do you often play Settlers of Catan and other board games late into the night? Would you be interested in learning about new places to eat or going out to a movie with your fellow SP residents? Over the past year, SP residents have organized these and many other great activities through SP Interest Groups. Basically, these are open, opt-in mailing lists that residents sign up for to connect with other residents of similar interests. In addition, if you can get a group of SP residents together for an activity, you can receive funding – that’s right, SP will partially subsidize that restaurant or concert trip. Go to https://s-p.mit.edu/myacct/interest_groups.php to learn more.

Volunteering at SP: All of the programs and resources run by the House Council would not be possible without the help of resident volunteers like you. Come on out, get involved, and meet other SP residents. There are many ways to get involved, from grilling at the barbeque to spearheading environmental initiatives, or even writing for this newsletter. No experience is required! You can find out about ways to get involved by signing up for the Volunteer mailing list in your “My Account” settings here: https://s-p.mit.edu/myacct/resident_edit_entry.php

Our vision for this year is: “Sidney-Pacific: Better Together” We understand that SP is a great opportunity for people from various backgrounds to meet and exchange ideas. From the dorm leadership to the casual resident of SP, we want to foster community and togetherness within the building. We hope you’ll make SP yours as well by joining us in some of these traditions. More importantly, we look forward to creating some new traditions – if you have any questions, suggestions, or ideas, please contact us at spec@mit.edu. Enjoy orientation, and we look forward to meeting you!

By SPEC

SidneyPacific SPeaker

Newsletter for the Sidney-Pacific Graduate Community