In an effort to promote unity and positive attitudes on campus, the University is beginning to implement the six winning ideas from last spring semester's contest, the Johns Hopkins Community Project.
The challenge now, said Director of the Counseling Center Dr. Michael Mond, "is figuring how to follow up."
The Counseling Center's Student Advisory Board has started suggesting ideas on how to continue strengthening the community and implementing the winning ideas.
One idea they have suggested is creating a Web site regarding the JHU Community Project, allowing students to share other ideas and volunteer to work on the winning ideas.
Mond said that the idea for the contest "arose out of a discussion by the Counseling Center Student Advisory Board about how to make Hopkins a more caring place in response to the tragedies last spring."
The call for submissions was sent out in April, and the winners were chosen at the end of the semester. Fifty-seven proposals were submitted, with 40 coming from students and 17 from graduate students.
Student submissions were appraised by five faculty judges, and faculty and staff proposals were judged by two Hopkins professors.
Since the project winners were decided at the end of the semester, the University has not had "an opportunity to implement any of them yet," stated Mond.
However, he said that the Counseling Center's Student Advisory Board would like to work with the community to follow up and implement some of these ideas during the coming year.
"The JHU Community Project was designed to solicit ideas from students, staff and faculty to help foster a caring community at Johns Hopkins University," Mond said.
The six winning student ideas all focused on bringing Hopkins closer to Baltimore, as well as connecting the entire student body.
One idea, by senior Michelle Samson, was to paint a seascape mural on the back wall of the brick facade in front of the "Beach" to brighten the campus and draw attention to one of the major campus landmarks.
Samson even created a petition and collected student signatures in favor of her idea.
"Dis-Orientation," by junior Alena Balasanova, proposed having a second orientation at the beginning of the second semester during freshmen year, building more on the friendships in a student's residence hall, and in much smaller groups than the Orientation at the beginning of the year.
Another winning submission dealt with the idea of a bi-monthly community dinner for the Hopkins campus, complete with games, athletic events and musical offerings.
Arguing that "Hopkins is Baltimore," graduate students Ann de Leon and Regina Galasso, with the assistance of Professor Citlali Miranda-Aldaco, composed a presentation about making Baltimore more accessible to Hopkins.
Their ideas included adding food carts to surrounding off-campus areas, having the school sponsor a city-wide treasure hunt, inviting speakers from Baltimore to come and lecture at the Homewood campus and connecting graduate students with undergraduates to foster friendships between the schools and create mentoring opportunities.
Katelyn Schmidt, a junior, agreed that Hopkins needs to be more connected to Baltimore, suggesting a "Fall Break-Out Day" during the yearly Fall Break to encourage students to try new things in Baltimore.
Her suggestion of having shuttle stops at the Walters Art Museum, American Visionary Art Museum, Fell's Point and Little Italy was designed to allow students to enjoy many of the fun things that Baltimore has to offer.
"The Nest" has already become a part of the Hopkins community, since winner Jason Fodeman submitted his statement in the winter of 2005.
Fodeman's "Nest" is the name for the student section at Hopkins lacrosse games, and can be found on T-shirts and flags that students bring to games.
Mond said, "Many of the proposals and ideas were excellent and well thought out, [sadly] we only had the funding to provide 6 prizes."
These six students received prizes of $250, while eight faculty/staff members received a certificate of recognition for their proposals. All the prizes were awarded before the end of the spring semester.
The project was sponsored by the Counseling Center in conjunction with the Counseling Center's Student Advisory Board and the Dean of Students' Office.
