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Greetings and welcome to the fall semester! We are so excited to serve you and your student this semester—even from afar. These last few months have been challenging for us all, and we deeply appreciate the great resilience, empathy, patience, and humor that our Blue Jay families and students have demonstrated through it all. Though this semester looks different, the Hopkins community remains dedicated to supporting you and your student.
All the best to you and your student,
Kesha Williams
Director, Parent & Family Relations
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Greetings from the Vice Provost for Student Affairs
Dear Blue Jay Families,
I hope the arrival of fall finds you and your Blue Jays safe, healthy, and adjusting to this unconventional semester. Here in Baltimore, my colleagues and I are happy to be working with our students again and finding new ways to offer support and opportunities to stay engaged and connected through virtual platforms. From the Recreation Center’s free virtual group fitness classes to the recent virtual iteration of the Student Involvement Fair, we are doing our best to be adaptive and innovative while maintaining the quality of our student services.
This approach extends to our efforts to keep parents and families connected to the university. We will be continuing our webinar series to update Blue Jay Families on various topics throughout the semester. There will also be additional opportunities to contribute to the student experience directly through the Blue Jay Family Ambassador program. And perhaps most excitingly, this year we’ll be taking our annual Family Weekend online! Mark your calendars for October 2–4 and visit the Family Weekend website for details on events and registration.
Though on-campus activities may be paused, rest assured that our Student Affairs team is as committed as ever to helping your students succeed. Please encourage them to reach out to us whenever they need assistance.
Sincerely,
Alanna W. Shanahan Vice Provost for Student Affairs
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Virtual Family Weekend is Oct. 2–4
We're thrilled to announce the schedule for this year's Virtual Family Weekend, which will be held Friday, October 2 through Sunday, October 4, 2020. While we're unable to gather on the Homewood campus this fall for this great Hopkins tradition, we're just as excited to "see" all of our families and come together for a weekend of innovative programming and Blue Jay pride. Highlights include a town hall on spring planning; coffee with President Daniels; sessions on Life Design, Hopkins Votes, Academic Advising, and supporting your student during midterms; dance and music performances, and much more. Click below to view the full schedule of events.
As part of Family Weekend, we also want to showcase our families from across the globe! To be featured, all you have to do is submit a family photo by September 30. The photo with the most Hopkins spirit will earn a prize! We will present our collection of family photos following the Arts Showcase by Homewood Arts Programs on both Saturday and Sunday evening.
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Staying Safe at Homewood
While Johns Hopkins operates in a largely virtual environment this semester, Campus Safety and Security remains steadfast in its efforts to ensure the safety of our Homewood community and those students living on and nearby campus.
What campus safety resources are available while the university operates in a virtual capacity?
While the university has shifted to virtual instruction, our deployment of safety and security officers continues at normal levels both on- and off-campus, and all security services—such as walking escorts—remain available 24/7. The only alteration to services is the addition of facial coverings for every officer and adherence to all CDC recommendations for reducing the spread of COVID-19.
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Life Design Lab Presents FutureFest
The Life Design Lab's FutureFest is an exciting new 100% virtual career fair styled in the vein of a music festival. FutureFest seeks to reshape and reimagine traditional employer/student relations by providing four days of seminars, competitions, workshops, and networking events aimed at overall professional and personal development. The festival will run from September 28 through October 1 with pre-festival workshops on September 24 and 25.
Encourage your student to visit the FutureFest website to register and view a full list of events.
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Registered and Ready with Hopkins VotesThe 2020 elections are right around the corner, and the Hopkins Votes initiative is here to help our students take part. Hopkins Votes assists all eligible students in registering and becoming active voters in every election. After registration, Hopkins Votes follows up with voting plan strategies and reminders of key deadlines to make sure students’ votes are counted and their voices heard. In addition to a variety of digital outreach efforts, Hopkins Votes is holding Voter Tuesday office hours where volunteers will be available for one-on-one conversations via Zoom to answer questions about casting ballots and encouraging others to participate using the Hopkins Votes toolkit.
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Parents Fund Supports Upgrade to New Hopkins Groups Platform
Thanks to the important support of the Hopkins Parents Fund, student organizations transitioned this fall to the newly upgraded Hopkins Groups platform. This platform allows Blue Jays more autonomy within their organizations and provides them with enhanced communication options such as chat features, meeting scheduling tools, newsletters and upgraded websites, and increased financial transaction and accounting transparency.
Student organization leaders added 494 organizations and university departments to the platform and over 500 virtual events this fall! The Hopkins Groups platform also made it possible to conduct the first-ever Virtual Student Involvement Fair.
Involvement in student organizations is a key way for Blue Jays, both incoming and returning, to find community and build skills through their co-curricular experiences. The new Hopkins Groups platform is a critical tool for our students, and would not be possible without the generous support of the Hopkins Parents Fund. The entire Blue Jay community is grateful for this significant improvement to student leadership and the vibrancy of student organizations at Hopkins.
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Important DatesAug. 31–Oct. 26
8-week Term 1
Sept. 28–Oct. 1
Oct. 2–4
Oct. 27–Dec. 23
8-week Term 2
Nov 23–27
Thanksgiving Break
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JHNeedsU Campaign
Johns Hopkins recently launched a new health and safety campaign, JHNeedsU, that aims to prevent the spread of COVID-19, promote resources available through the university, and emphasize personal responsibility. JHNeedsU signs and materials are posted in and around Hopkins facilities and across digital platforms to remind our community to "Help Us Protect Each Other." Students are also encouraged to sign a Student Compact to affirm their commitment to following public health guidelines.
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Become a Family Ambassador
Blue Jay Families are invited to volunteer on one of several committees to assist and support other families. If you are interested in serving on a committee, please visit the Blue Jay Family Ambassadors webpage for more details.
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New Wellness Resources
For a complete list of wellness resources around the university, visit the Wellness Website.
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The Parents Internship Network
Parents can play an instrumental role in providing experiential networking and mentorship opportunities and internships for Blue Jays! Here are three instrumental ways you can help: Engage with students in a mentorship role through OneHop; post a nano-experience in the newly launched Bridges initiative; or post an internship opportunity in Handshake. Interested but have questions? Please contact Margie Carney at mcarney5@jhu.edu.
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Visit the Hub for the latest university news and events.
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Contact Us
Be sure to also "like" our Facebook Page to find resources and opportunities for your student to get involved!
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