An Affair to Remember

Greetings friends, incoming students, etc.

To the incoming students: welcome. Congratulations on choosing the Humphrey Institute for your graduate studies. One of the greatest aspects of the Humphrey Institute is its student body and the vast experience that many people bring in pursuing degrees in public affairs. It is unfortunate, however, that as graduate students we can become so wrapped up in our studies that we miss opportunities to get involved with knowing our peers and colleagues.

This summer many students, including myself, are doing their professional internship outside of the Twin Cities. It is a requirement of each student of the Humphrey Institute that he/she complete a professional internship, which relates to his/her degree concentration. Some, like myself, have opted to do internships outside of the United States. Others decide to focus on opportunities in Washington, D.C. Still there are many with Humphrey ties in the Twin Cities who like you get bored over the summer and like to stay active.

So this post is a call to people of the Twin Cities to extend a welcoming to our new peers. Allow me to give you a couple of options of things going on.

• Every Friday at 5pm, students from the Humphrey Institute have a pick up game of Ultimate Frisbee at the field across from the law school at 229 19th Avenue South in Minneapolis.
• The Operations Committee of the Humphrey Institute holds its "Third Thursdays at 3:00" Social Hour every third Thursday of the month at 3:00pm in the Freeman Commons of the Humphrey Institute. This is a great way to meet staff, faculty, and students of the Humphrey in a non-formal setting. Contact Ted Peck at peckx015@umn.edu for more information.
• The Humphrey community action group CHANCE holds its meetings every other Friday (next June 1st) to talk about the Cedar-Riverside Neighborhood in which the Humphrey Institute is housed. Email Chance@umn.edu to get more information

The Comments field is open for others from the Humphrey to add information about ways to meet up over the next several months. If you have any questions, please click on my name (on this page) and send me an email. I will try to communicate with you to the best of my abilities while in Mombasa, Kenya. To all the second years (everyone who was a first year like myself) try to connect with all of these new faces. Let's make them feel as welcomed as possible.