Environment-Seth and Maddie

Here we go the 3 words are, drum roll please:

Breathtaking: Because when you walk into Melville Lounge for the closing ceremonies on Friday night after a week of grueling 8am-11pm days with amazing service and see that much energy, excitement and emotion its the only natural reaction. Seeing the end product and the change in the first years, the staff members and us as coordinators really is mind blowing, and can occasionally stop you from breathing-be cautious.

Inspiring: This program cuts summer a week short for 750 college students to do community service? and they do it voluntarily? You must be kidding! Its inspiring to see the dedication, the passion and the enthusiasm that every Fysoper and Fystaff has for community service and the change that we can make in just one week.

Unforgettable: Because of all the great things that I’ve experienced at BU my two FYSOPS have left me with so many ridiculous experiences and amazing friends. But most importantly I’ve developed a t thirst for service and a knowledge of the issues that will always keep me doing community service during my career here at BU and beyond.

Keep it green guys and keep turning in those applications
Seth “Coach” Orensky

Ksenia and Jeremy’s Words of FYSOP Wisdom

Words of acceptance

“Courage. The courage to step outside your comfort zone.

Commitment. The commitment to help your new home and community.

Celebration. The celebration of 13,000 hours of service that we will contribute.”
~Ksenia

“Experience creates awareness.”
After volunteering throughout the Boston area, first-year students will understand more about their city and recognize that Boston is much larger and more diverse than just the Boston University campus.
~Jeremy

Also, an update on the Guantánamo detainees that were to be sent to Palau. Check it out!

And, one of our sites, the New Entry Sustainable Farming Project, has some cool information about what to do with exotic locally grown produce.  Enjoy!

-Ksenia and Jeremy

3 words (or 6) from Disabilities…

From Kimberly:

To me Fysop is….
Alive (adjective): 1. marked by alertness, energy, or briskness 2. marked by much life, animation, or activity

Fysop is one of the most exciting experiences I have ever experienced.

Illuminating (verb): 1. to enlighten spiritually or intellectually 2. to make clear : elucidate

Fysop is an amazing eye-opening week. It truly is an educational experience.

Revolutionary (adjective): 1 constituting or bringing about a major or fundamental change 2. of, relating to, or constituting a revolution 3. tending to or promoting revolution

Fysop really does make a huge difference in such a short amount of time. The work we do is truly revolutionary.

From Keith:

 Stupendous: Like Stupendous Man from Calvin and Hobbes. FYSOP just makes you wanna run around in a red cape.

 Repeat: You want to redo everything, from sites, to cheers, to games, to the whole program. 

 Hippie: See picture at left. But seriously, during FYSOP people are just nice to each other, drive around in vans, help make the world a better place…peace and love.

Elders tres palabras about FYSOP

Mike’s word word words:

Epic- FYSOP is an amazing program where 600 first-years and 150 upperclassmen come together to do about 11,250 hours of community service. That’s longer than it takes to read the Iliad. Epic I’d say
Caritas- Latin Word for charity but carries with it the added meaning of total selfless love. FYLOVE
Dance Party- What could be more fun? Besides Karaoke… (For those of you who haven’t been following along, FYSOP karaoke is a huge hit at orientation)

Brittany’s three thrilling th–words.

Unique: For my summer job last year, I spent my days and evenings behind a hostess podium at a restaurant. Standard. The year before that, I babysat. Cliche. This year, I get to work in an office with 17 crazy people who are my age, putting together an awesome community service program for 600 first-years. Need I say more?
Hectic: As much as I LOVE everyone here, sometimes the work paired with the personalities in this office can be a little…ahem…overwhelming. Let’s just say I’m running more this summer than I did during the spring semester, because I really cherish that alone time. Nevertheless, the crazier it gets, the more I love it.
Amusing: Sometimes I feel like I’m back in my junior year summer, babysitting again. I used to love to babysit because kids’ personalities never cease to amuse me, I’m always laughing and often impressed with the way they think. Although I’m not working with a bunch of 5,8, and 10-year-olds, the plethora of interesting personalities and opinions in the office keeps me on my toes. The issue areas all have something to offer, and sure, most of them involve heavy stuff, but there’s also a lot of really inspiring and funny things to be learned about FYSOP issue areas.

34 Letters=6 Words About FYSOP, Hunger Style

Euphoria- different atmosphere, your in a new time, place, setting, meeting people who are looking to have a great time/ bond with you

Woot- every once and a while, you just wanna say WOOT WOOT!!!!! (Celebratory sound of expression )

Spontaneity- sparks of ideas, never knowing what can happen, different interactions every second of the day, experiencing feelings that you may have never felt before

I personally choose these three words cause they were the first three words that came into my head. I am all about being spontaneous and then along with that came WOOT! FYSOP is all about celebration and cheers. FYSOP is a setting that is like a utopia which brings euphoria
-Danny

So instead of picking three individual words I went with a three word phrase: ROCK THIS CITY
I picked this phrase for a couple reasons but mostly because FYSOP really does ROCK the city of Boston. The past two years I’ve done FYSOP have been the most exciting and thrilling ways to kick off the year at BU and I’m even more pumped to start off this year.
- Steph

Your Food Lovers 4ever
Danny & Steph

How do Katie and Eddie feel about FYSOP?

Eddie:
My three words that describe how I feel about FYSOP: Giddy, Overwrought, and Fervent.
I chose giddy because I’ve definitely been really giddy about FYSOP 20 and am SO pumped! In conjunction with that, I feel overwrought-meaning extremely excited-about working with our staff. I look forward to staff training. And finally, fervent is pretty self-explanatory…I’m just really excited!!!! YEAH CHILDREN (btdubs, best issue area ever!)

Katie:
So far, the past 2 FYSOPS and now my THIRD make me feel…MOTIVATED, INFLUENTIAL, & HAPPY! FYSOP gets me super motivated for the year to come, and I could not imagine starting a school year without it. FYSOP also give me the feeling that I am influential: as a volunteer in the sense that I am able to give something back to the city I spend so much time in; as a staff member because I got to really interact with first-year students and be with them their first week ever of college; now as a FYCO I get to help shape FYSOP 20 into what hopefully will be the best yet! And finally, HAPPY! FYSOP is full of so much love, compassion, caring, friendship, laughter, ect…essentially all the things I look for everyday, but is almost a guarantee for the week of FYSOP! Many of my happiest moments at BU have been during FYSOP and I know it will continue to bring others that same happiness and I cannot wait!

Mi casa es su casa

Hey! Its Coral and Ray or Coray! as we like to call ourselves.
We’ve been digging up some information about homelessness in Boston and we just want to share it with you crazy cats. President Obama has seen the extent of the housing crisis in Massachusetts, and he’s allocating $45 million dollars to the state to aid in homelessness prevention programs. Hopefully, this money will reach those who need it the most. In other Boston-related news, Governor Deval Patrick has recently partnered with the One Family organization in his mission to end family homeless. If you’re craving more info visit
http://www.onefamilyinc.org.
BUT, don’t leave all the good-doing to the politicians: Apply for FYSOP today!!!!!

Hugs and Hisses,
CoRay

HH FACT: The living wage in MA is $8.00, but the living wage is $22.65.

“Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I’m 64?”

Yo yo check it,

All the elders be in the hizzouse! Sorry about that… All apologies to the faithful following of readers we’ve accumulated since last week (all 1/2 of you). We’re still on a mild karaoke high from Thursday night. In case you haven’t heard, we FYCOs get to help out at orientation and that involves running a karaoke booth. The awesomeness is best characterized by Ray Curran (H&H FYCO) free styling about FYSOP.

The noble adventurers B-rit and M-ike got their feet wet in service (and literally) by going on not 1, not 2, but Thuh-ree different site visits in and around Boston last week. Dang flip-flops and puddles… The sites were amazing and there’s going to be tons of activities to do with the elders.

But not all elders have the luxury of staying in assisted living facilities. Although the national homelessness rate has dropped in past years (it dropped 30 percent between 2005-2007), the recent economic situation has put a strain on many citizens, especially elders. The Social Security payment is not enough to cover the cost of living in an expensive city such as Boston. Mortgages, groceries, and prescriptions come at a higher cost than in other areas of the country, and elders are often left struggling to meet their payments. Many students would be surprised to learn that there are more elders in this city than they think…

Because– Boston is ruled by kollege kidz right? Wrong! Kind of. Persons over 65 years of age make up 10.4% of the population of Boston. This is lower than the national average of 13%, but they are not as migratory as the typical college student. Speaking of Boston and the elderly, the Boston Commission on Affairs of the Elderly would like to call attention to very real issue of heat exhaustion that the elderly and those with medical conditions face on hot and humid days. Do your part to be a good neighbor and keep an eye on those who may be at risk. Thank you!

These two young whippersnappers are rolling out of here.

Brittany and Mike

GOTTA GET THAT!

It’s June. School’s out. But this week, across the country, everybody should be taking a test. This week is National HIV Testing Week, a week of testing sponsored by various local organizations, the CDC and the National Association of People with AIDS to encourage HIV status awareness.

This nationwide movement to learn about our status is not only imperative but empowering. According to the CDC, nearly “250,000 of the one million people living with HIV/AIDS in the United States are unaware of their status.” Getting tested is the key to solving this discrepancy. As The Black Eyed Peas would say, GOTTA GET THAT.

Being the great city that it is, Boston is doing its part. Our local organizations are pushing us to take the test. In fact, the AIDS Action Committee is hosting a dialogue on HIV testing in Massachusetts coffee and conversation-style on June 24, 2009 from 12:30-2 pm at 294 Washington St. If you’re here for the summer, you should definitely check it out. They’re going to be talking about increasing routine testing, questions of written informed consent and how we can better implement those recommendations made by the CDC.

If you can’t handle a whole week of testing celebration, just know that National HIV Testing Day is June 27th.

Either way we hope that you get your awareness on this week!

WORD.

FYLOVE,
Sarah and Shannon

(http://www.napwa.org/programs/nhtd.shtml)

LET ME SEE THE CHILDREN!! WHAT’S THAT YOU SAY??

Enter Week 2: Children are on a roll!!

So your fabulous coordinators have been hard at work and are off to a great start getting all their work done. We’ve learned some pretty interesting and hard hitting facts about children, especially in the city of Boston, in the past week.

For instance, over the past two decades, Boston public schools have made huge strides in improving the education system. More schools have been built and districts are putting in energy to improve childhood education. Since the incorporation of the state exam, Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS), schools have been pushing for excellence and high standards. This test assesses knowledge in English, Math, Science, and History. Boston Public Schools have slowly been improving as more students are scoring in the “Proficient” range, but there is still a large amount of the Boston student population that scores in the “Needs Improvement” range.

Outside of academics, Boston has been building community centers and improving after school programs to keep children off the street. Roxbury has gone through dramatic changes in just the past ten years. Crime has gone down and more nursery and community centers have opened for low-income families. Your two coordinators have many sites planned to go into Roxbury and work with the kids, which will be a great opportunity to for others to see the growth in the city.

Another serious issue that we have been looking into is child abuse in the Massachusetts state area. Child abuse is severely under reported since many of the children are too young to come forward. Last year, Boston Medical Center had 454 suspected cases of child abuse or neglect. Also, in this year alone, there was a 34% increase in reported cases. The problem with reporting child abuse in Massachusetts is that the hospitals receive little to no funding for child abuse and neglect programs. The hospitals could be doing so much more given that they received money for the services that could potentially save many lives.

While we’ve been doing a lot of research on our issue area, we still have a ways to go. This information may be hard to cope with sometimes, but the great thing is that education of these issues can lead to great service of these issues. We hope to make this FYSOP a great a contribution to the children’s issues of Boston!

Hard at work