Kirstyne “Kirie” Lange has been selected as an intern for the Sadie Nash Leadership Project (SNLP) in New York this summer. For the next nine weeks, she will be blogging for The Campanil about her experience.
The second week of dean training was really bittersweet. It was nice to wrap up group work as this summer’s 14 Sadie Nash deans and also prepare to get acclimated to the space at Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey.
My weekend was really great. I connected with Tianna, a Mills alum, on Sunday and we went out to meet up with some of her friends at the New York City Pride Parade. It was a great experience and tons of fun, especially considering the recent passing of gay marriage in the New York state.
I had an amazing time being there in solidarity with thousands of people. Since plenty of the streets were blocked off, we were able to walk to even more celebrations.
The commute for Week Three consisted of 1) walking 4 blocks from my neighborhood to the NJ Path Train, 2) taking the train for 45 minutes with one transfer and 3) walk 11 blocks to the Rutgers campus from the Newark Penn Station.
I discovered today I could just take the light rail from Newark’s local subway system. Then I’d only have to walk 3 blocks which I’ll be adding to the route from now on. The walk is great, but killer on my feet.
On Tuesday, we met with our faculty. I was very excited to be a part of the courses I was selected for. The “Image as Power: Women and Girls in the Media” instructor has a great outline and it’ll be great exploring the influence of television, movies and magazines. This course will also help me create a workshop on safe social networking as a dean. If you have any ideas or tips on what I could add to my curriculum, feel free to share!
Yesterday, I met with a few of my Nashers and will be getting to know them more throughout the summer. Many of them are looking forward to meet new people and be exposed to new experiences. They all seem really surprised that I came all the way from California to participate in the program but I simply couldn’t pass up the opportunity. As nervous as they are, I know they’ll really love what the Sadie Nash Program will have to offer in the next six weeks.
Today is the orientation for all 55 Nashers and their parents and guardians. I’ll also be meeting with my faculty for “Protest, Protect & Poetry: Feminist of Color Politics.” I really can’t wait to meet everyone and I’m looking forward to the Summer Institute starting next Tuesday.
To keep up with Kirstyne, you can follow her on Twitter @QweenKirie.
Read more of her related posts here.
If you’re a member of the Mills community who’s interested in blogging about your summer adventures, contact miu@thecampanil.com for more info.
