2024.03.24
- Why this event?
- Workshop Structure
- Learnings
The Dough Diggers: Navigating Institutional Aid workshop took place in Room 311R in Allbritton. The event was conveniently held during lunch time and fit into my busy schedule perfectly. I’m glad that it did because this workshop was extremely helpful. As the organizer of the event put it, “people are the best source of information because websites get outdated but people evolve.” I was unaware of the vastly different sources of institutional aid offered at Wesleyan. Despite the organizer’s words ringing true, I believe that we can do better as a community. We should compile a comprehensive list of resources and host the information that was shared at this meeting on the web. It won’t be updated regularly enough but it will be helpful for times where we don’t have the fantastic Dough Diggers event being organized. That is definitely going into my list of project ideas on Notion.
The organizer, an active member of the Allbritton Center, was very knowledgeable on the various different parts of the university organization. The first part of the event was a rundown of all resources offered at Wesleyan from University-sponsored endowment funds for broad experiences to department-specific funding. The experience of the panelists, representatives from the Gordon Career Center, Global Engagement Center, and the Sustainability Office, were also shared. Another important highlight was the walkthrough of asking for funds from various sources. After the lecture/panel part of the event concluded, the event opened up to project ideas from the audience. Although there was a QR being passed around, I didn’t have access to my phone and was unable to scan it. Therefore, I was not able to register my attendance for the event and get the slides after the event. I will reach out to Jen to find out the organizer’s email address and ask for the slides as they seem to be valuable information I can use to build the comprehensive list. One way I would organize the event differently would be to have a sign up sheet of paper alongside the QR code. This would ensure that people like me get to access the information sent via email and have a fuller estimate of the number of participants.
What did I learn from this event? The university has resources such as the Green Fund, Fund for Political Engagement, the Career Development Fund and more. These funds differ in size and specification and the quick runthrough was incredibly helpful in discovering resources based on my specific needs. Looking at all these resources made me imagine what can be done and start brainstorming on how it can be done. I also learned about funding sources that help student development such as the Career Development Fund which can be used for conference transportation and lodgings fee, professional business clothing, and more over the course of my four years at Wesleyan. Although it’s 500 dollars total per student, it can go a long way, and it makes me bolder and more eager to search for conferences and complementary professional experiences. I’m currently adjusting summer plans as I write this reflection and this event has definitely had a substantial impact on what I plan to do.
