Announcing Our Recruitment Contest Winners!

Over the summer I announced a recruitment contest as a way to recognize and reward the work our amazing RAPPORT and RAPP folk do promoting RAPP to the campus. I feel I'm late in announcing these results, but I'm still excited to announce them nonetheless!

Two awards were offered: One for most referrals, another a random draw where people got their name entered for each person they referred.

For most referrals, we're recognizing Christie of RAPP XXIII! Christie not only is a general advocate of RAPP and active member of RAPPORT - constantly spreading the word about our group to people in many groups she's a part of - but this year she also presented about her experience in RAPP to students participating in the University Honors Program Retreat. Together with Erin of RAPP XXIV, she presented about RAPP and distributed specially-prepared introductions and applications. Thanks for your continued support of RAPP, Christie!

Our random draw winner was Eddie of RAPP XXIII! Eddie had great odds in the drawing because he was tied for second in terms of overall referrals. Eddie has been a very active member of RAPPORT and a huge promoter of RAPP. Not only does he talk with friends and student group peers about RAPP, but he let me put him on the spot at several student welcomes to talk about RAPP. He represented us amazingly each time! Eddie also was a great help during the interview process - regularly stepping in and helping conduct interviews of our RAPP XXV candidates. Thanks for being such an involved and active RAPPORT member, Eddie!

-Rebecca

Second Meetings = Spectacular

This week our RAPP XXV groups met for the second time. It was great coming together again and exploring issues of race at UC. We also worked on the traditional RAPP Agreement and did some good ol' pre-testing. Great work, RAPPers! Next up, retreat!
Since I didn't take pictures of them at their first meeting, here are some shots of the Wednesday group in action at their second meeting.

-Rebecca

Bearcatastic Weekend!`

We had a busy weekend around these parts! Homecoming and BRIDGES Walk were both Saturday. Friday we participated in the Homecoming 5K and many attended the Good Asian Drivers show (sponsored by Diversity Education, GenderBloc, and the Women's Center, among others).

Rather than post a million photos, I threw them into a Bearcat Spirited video.

Pictured in the video:
Homecoming 5K:
SALD staff; Emma (XXIII); Adam (XXV); Kate (XXIII)

Good Asian Drivers:
Jamie (friend of RAPP); Emma (XXIII); Jojo (XXIV); Anthony (XXV)

BRIDGES Walk:
Courtney F (XXV); Coya (XXIV); Eddie (XXIII); Jojo (XXIV); Brice (XXV); Ashley (XXII); Dr. Livingston (friend); Chika (XXIV); Queenie (XXIV); Bethel (XXV); Patrice (XXIII); Brittany (XXIII); Mieshia (XXIV); Martha (XXV); Nloh (XXIV); Jessica (XXIV)

Homecoming Parade:
Dan (former facilitator); Women's Center, RED, and SALD staff & students; Tad (XXIV); Latoya (XXIV); Lisa (XXIV)

-Rebecca

RAPPers at the Homecoming 5K

SALD and RAPP folks at the 2009 Homecoming 5K to Grant Wishes Today!

Most of the SALD staff before the walk (L-R: Nick, Stacy, Terri, Nicole, Rebecca)
Kate of RAPP XXIII shot the 5k for The News Record.

Adam of RAPP XXV ran the full 5k.

Emma of RAPP XXIII volunteered at the 5k. Thanks for the giveaways!

-Rebecca

Film Friday: Environmental Issues

In honor of yesterday's Environmental Sustainability Day, sponsored by UC Sustainability, this week's Film Friday offerings will be about environmental issues.

Come by our usual FF spot (6th floor open space, Steger Student Life Center) at our usual FF time (1:00PM) and enjoy a good film, good popcorn, and good conversation.

Folks who get there at 1:00 will get to choose what we watch. Options this week include Trashed: This is the Story of Garbage... American Style, An Inconvenient Truth, or the National Geographic show Human Footprint.

Join us at BRIDGES Walk for a Just Community

This Saturday is the annual BRIDGES Walk for a Just Community. Our group will be participating in this event again this year!

The walk starts at Sawyer Point/Yeatman’s Cove on the riverfront – UC provides transportation there from campus to save you the trouble of finding parking downtown.

Shuttles run from Dabney Circle (http://www.uc.edu/architect/documents/Logistics/logisticsbw.pdf - intersection of Daniels St and Commons Way; between French, Dabney, Daniels and Schneider halls). The first shuttle arrives at 8:15AM and run every fifteen minutes until 9:30AM.

I’ll be trying to take the 9:00AM shuttle – feel free to meet me there or to meet up with me & other RAPPers down at the walk. I’ll have a RAPP sign to help you find me. If you have a RAPP shirt, I encourage you to wear it as a layer (it’ll likely be cold at the start and warm up – so wearing layers will help you stay comfortable!).

The walk goes from Yeatman’s Cove, through downtown, across the river into Newport, through Covington and ends where it started. It’s usually a beautiful walk and people from all over the Cincinnati community participate.

UC provides shuttles back to campus following the walk. They’re advertising that we might be back in time for UC’s Homecoming Parade which starts at noon (so, show your Bearcat pride in two great community events in one day!).

For more information on Bridges Walk: http://www.uc.edu/justcommunity/Walk_as_One.html

RAPP & RAPPORT folk halfway through BRIDGES Walk 2008 (L-R: Stephanie, Rebecca, Anouk, Un, Deanna, Ashley, and Lisa)

Chika & Rebecca celebrate finishing the BRIDGES Walk 2008

-Rebecca

RAPPer Spotlight: Sarah H

One of our new RAPP members is Sarah H. I first met Sarah through a group she was starting on campus that is now a growing and effective voice for women on our campus, UC Feminists. Sarah completed a summer internship in Washington, DC with the Feminist Majority Foundation this past summer and runs the blog Writing with Lipstick.

Sarah and the group were out today in TUC helping students contact their representatives about Health Care Reform. They partnered with the local Planned Parenthood to provide phones to call with and information on how to connect with one's senators and representatives. More information on the calls they made can be found at this action site.

Sarah's a new member of RAPP, but is quickly becoming an "old hand" at organizing.
(pic-Sarah and UC Feminists in action)
-Rebecca

First Year Summit Success

Friday's 7th Ohio First Year Summit was an enjoyable time for me. I got to connect briefly at lunch with Kim McGinnis (RAPP VIII member RAPP coordinator and other assorted leadership for a decade in RAPP's teens). I got to learn a lot about how to best serve an important segment of our Bearcats. I got to learn about a variety of resources available to students and staff (I really enjoyed talking with the representative from the Association of Non-Traditional Students in Higher Education).
The RAPP presentation was focused on creating a dialogue and I enjoyed the conversation I had with those who attended. It was a great group with many strong ideas and even better questions.
What do you think about this question:
How would one successfully translate a program like RAPP into an on-line course environment?

Not many pictures taken; none that came out at least. :(
-Rebecca

Our Second First also Smashing Fun

I - the person usually irritating folks with my camera - forgot to take pictures of our first meeting of RAPP XXV Wednesday.

Though there's no photographic evidence, I can attest that our group filled the room both with their bodies and with their good conversation. I'm very excited about the entire RAPP XXV now that both have come together.

Next up on the RAPP calendar? Two things on Friday:

1. I'll be presenting "Self Awareness & Social Justice" at the 7th Ohio First Year Summit. This interactive workshop will explore the impact of RAPP on first year students and the tools in which we use to encourage increased self awareness, increased sense of connection to campus, and increased awareness and agency around social justice issues. Many thanks to the many students who provided feedback for the presentation!

2. Another Film Friday! As I'll be at the Summit, Un Kyong of Diversity Education will be hosting this week's Film Friday. Our choices will be from the selections of this year's Latino Film Fest. Film starts at 1PM on the 6th floor of Steger Student Life Center!

Shots from our First Meeting

RAPP XXV is finally underway! Our Tuesday group had their first meeting last night. Despite the many illnesses out there, most of our group was able to come together and spend some time getting to know each other and exploring some interesting questions on communication and the nature of racism.

A few pics from the night:

Getting to know each other through a "wagon wheel" activity.

A small group discussion (Tiffany, Martha, Tad, Anthony, and Suzi).

A lot of small group discussions (up front: Laura, Yuzhen, Simón, and Trisha)

RAPPORT Back in Action in '09

I find that first meetings are great fun! It's a chance to connect or re-connect. It's a chance to see where you're headed. It's a chance to have some fun before the serious business of social justice kicks in (which, can still be fun in the doing, but but I think is pretty serious in nature).

Last Wednesday was our first RAPPORT meeting of the '09-'10 school year. We reconnected, we chatted about the year ahead, and we trooped over to the Latino Film Fest hosted by Diversity Education.

Tonight will be another exciting first - the first meeting of RAPP XXV Tuesday group! Can't wait to have us all together!

Emma (RAPP XXIII) and Jojo (RAPP XXIV) strike a pose.

Coya texting while Jojo and Geneva smile for the camera (all RAPP XXIV).

Nicole (RAPP XXIV), Jen (Diversity Ed. GA), and Mia (RAPP XXII) getting ready to head to the film.
-Rebecca

Much is Owed Our Interviewers

Interviews this year's RAPP group were conducted from July through this week. Considering we had over 70 people complete interviews, it was a lot of time talking with folks! We never could've gotten through so many interviews and had such a quality of conversations if it weren't for the many RAPPORT members and a RAPP friend who helped out conducting interviews and providing feedback on the candidates.

A great big thank you to the following folk who pitched in on interviews:

Jojo Brannon (RAPP XXIV)
Eddie Cancel (RAPP XXIII)
Nicole Cassini (RAPP XXIV)
Gabby Givens (RAPP XXIV)
Tad Miller (RAPP XXIV)
Jen Rush (Diversity Education GA)
Krystal Smith (RAPP XXIV)
Brenna Travis (RAPP XXII)

An extra big thanks to Jen (pictured above), who isn't even a RAPPer but stepped in as the Diversity Education GA and co-conducted the most interviews of our dedicated group!

-Rebecca

Welcome the Newest RAPPers!

It's been an exciting day!
The more recent part has been our second Film Friday showing, which was great fun. I enjoyed watching Companeras - a film from this week's Latino Film Festival that profiled America’s first all-female mariachi band, Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles - and the conversation we had afterwards about the music, the people, and the issues they faced, particularly around sexism.
The more exciting part of the day was in the morning. We welcomed our RAPP XXV members into the group! All new members were emailed and called this morning with the results of the application.
It's been a busy and challenging time this recruitment in many (positive!) ways. We had 170 people express interest in joining RAPP, nearly 80 of whom pursued membership through applications and interviews.
We've welcomed our newest members and have a waiting list of folks hoping to get in by the second meeting.
I've been overwhelmed by the interest and am excited going forward with our two, full groups! We have an amazing team of facilitators and RAPPORT members who've done much work getting the group in place. Many thanks to all who helped spread the word, promote RAPP at events, and interview our candidates!

Student Activities Fair

It's the end of a season - info table season! Today's Wellness & Student Activities Fair, organized by the UC Wellness Center and Student Activities Board, was the last info table of fall quarter. Given the amazing response in applications we've had this year so far, we promoted RAPP XXVI - next year's RAPP group.

It was a great time - the usual fun of info tabling plus a chance to visit with a lot of RAPPers!

Brittany of RAPP XXIII staffed the table for a while.

Emily of RAPP XXIV stopped by.

Eddie - RAPP XXIII member & active RAPPORT member - stopped by for a quick visit.

Blake of RAPP XXIII staffed the UC Alliance table.

For once I DIDN'T wear a RAPP t-shirt - I donned an SAB "Get Active!" one instead.

Latoya and Britt'eny continued their on-going debate on whether RAPP XXIII or XXIV is better.

Latoya found some support from Asha for her argument about the superiority of RAPP XXIV.

-Rebecca

RAPPORT Goes Into the Streets

One of the foci of RAPPORT is service to our community. We have an on-going relationship with the Lower Price Hill Community School in which most of our service will be completed. We started of the 2009-2010 school year with a fun event elsewhere, though.

Into the Streets is one of the largest community events organized by UC's Center for Community Engagement each year. RAPPORT members (as well as several prospective RAPP XXV members - yay!) registered and participated in the event Saturday morning. We joined groups of students working with 20 local community organizations for a wide variety of projects.

You can see the UC students at work in CCE's on-line photobook. Below is Jen Carter, GA with CCE, giving our groups instructions before we headed out for the morning's work.

-Rebecca

Turner Scholars Welcome Event

When I hear a student is Turner Scholar, I immediately assume they're an outstanding individual. Like most assumptions, I base it on the people in the group I've met before. Since many a RAPPer has been a Turner Scholar (or is it the other way around?), I've had the pleasure of meeting many. Through them, and through participating in the Turner Selection Committee, I've developed great respect for the program's academic rigor and community-minded nature.

Because of all of that, I was exstatic to get to attend the recent Turners Scholars Welcome!


Picture taking after the delicious dinner (provided, btw, by RAPP VI alum Dr. Bleuzette Marshall of the UC Foundation).

The RAPP display at the event. We're on track for continuing the great tradition of Turner Scholars in RAPP this year!

-Rebecca

Good Reason for No Film Friday: LGBTQ Meet 'n' Greet

This Friday we won't be hosting a Film Friday screening. Instead, RAPP folk are invited to attend the LGBTQ Meet and Greet hosted by the UC Women's Center.
The Women's Center has been helping women, their allies, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender folk and their allies for 30 years at UC. The LGBTQ Meet and Greet is an annual social get-together and networking opportunity.
Stop by between 12-2PM on Friday, October 2nd, on the 6th floor of Steger Student Life Center.
If you're a former RAPPer, drop by the office before or after to help out with interviewing RAPP XXV candidates!