New Undergraduate Student Orientation

What does social justice mean to me? What does social justice look like at Brandeis? How can I apply social justice to my academics, personal life, and life outside of Brandeis? These are a few questions that will be explored through our Social Justice Pre-Orientation program. You will have a chance to develop your own self-awareness and identity around the topic of social justice and be able to build a slew of resources and tools to engage effectively on and off campus with a social justice lens. With faculty, staff, student, and community members support, you will get a chance to learn and apply social justice learning and theory while also starting and building meaningful relationships with peers of different and/or similar backgrounds. Join our Pre-O and continue our collective efforts in bringing change to our campus and our world.

• Contact Elijah Warren with questions.
• Cost: Free
• Date and Time: Monday, January 11th-Wednesday, January 13th; times to be determined by the availability of participants

This Sustainability Pre-Orientation program will push students to think about their impact on the environment. Students will engage with staff and faculty at Brandeis to think critically about how they can be more sustainable, specifically related to their transition to college. Students will also get to know more about sustainability efforts at Brandeis and in the Greater Boston area, including a trip to Brandeis’ recycling and composting facilities.

• Contact sustainability@brandeis.edu with questions.
• Cost: Free
• Date and Time: Week of January 18; times to be determined by the availability of participants

Were you involved in community service in high school? Are you hoping to grow as a leader? Do you want to engage in the Brandeis and Waltham communities? Join other actively engaged peers in discovering how service can become part of your identity at Brandeis, while gaining the tools you need to become a leader in your new community. Participants will actively engage in community service, discover and reflect on the diverse populations, perspectives, and roles that exist in the Waltham and greater Boston communities; develop leadership skills; and become part of a community committed to personal growth through service and reflection. Students will explore the city of Waltham through the lens of community engagement, social justice, and local activism, while building relationships with prominent student leaders, faculty members, and community partners who are actively engaged in this work. Participants will leave the program with the connections, skills, and knowledge to jump into service at Brandeis and have a positive impact on their new community.

• Contact Sam DeMelim with questions.
• Cost: Free
• Date and Time: January 12-14; 2pm-5pm EST each day

Travel through time from the Revolutionary period to the founding of Brandeis University. “Pinkies up” for a get to know you tea and crumpets session with your fellow time travelers. Prepare for an eventful 24 hours of doing seek and finds in the archives and learning from historians, while competing in trivia from history to present day and playing a historic version of capture the flag- capture the liberty bell. Become a Supreme Court Justice, like Louie Brandeis, in a not so serious supreme court deliberation session. We will wrap up all of this excitement with a time traveler themed escape room. Come learn about history through different lenses. No time travelers experience needed.

• Contact Renée Nakkab with questions.
• Cost: Free
• Date and Time: Wednesdays from 8pm-9pm on January 6th, 13th, and 20th