Tri-College Summer Institute

<p>I don't know whether the program will be good or not. It sounds good, but I would have to stop work a bit sooner in order to go. Can someone tell me some specific things that people do there? My high school has something like this, but it wasn't very good, as in people who don't know what to say try to sound incredibly deep but didn't really know what they themselves were talking about. I don't want to spend a week doing this and asking myself, "Why am I here?" For example, white students pretending to know how it feels to be a Chinese immigrant in a non-diverse community. I would not want to be a workshop like that. How many of the students are minorities?</p>

<p>Tri-co was 100% minorites for 20 years until two years ago when Linda Chavez and her Center for Equal Opportunity used the Michigan affirmative action supreme court decision as justification to threaten to sue Swarthmore. Swarthmore's lawyers reviewed the program and decided defending it would be difficult, so they opened enrollment up to white students as well.</p>

<p>It's a good program from everything I've read. Particpants enjoy it. However, I doubt it would make or break for your enjoyment of Swarthmore.</p>

<p>Last year (my year at Tri-Co) there were maybe 15 students who self-identified as white out of the approximately 90 students. Those numbers aren't really important, though - I don't personally know any (although there are sure to be some) participants who didn't enjoy the experience as challenging and strengthening. You also have to remember that the seminars are not just about race - they're about class, gender, religion, sexual orientation, privilege, and much more. I really loved my Tri-Co experience, although I certainly felt good-uncomfortable many times, and I know many people who regretted not applying or going. Aside from it being a really amazing time, you also get to know people ridiculously well in a week and have a community going into school as well as at the other Tri-College schools (a useful tool for later!). If you want some examples of what we did, we did a privilege walk, a lot of up-down exercises ("stand up if..."), big- and small-group discussions, "fishbowl" exercises (people sit in the center surrounded by the others and talk, this one was insanely intense, on class...), skits, watched presentations, had journal groups - as well as nightly social events and meals and our year had a Tri-Co dance, haha. They change workshops every year, reworking them to make them better, but that's what we did. You're always tired and always talking or thinking or questioning, and never bored.</p>

<p>Honestly, if you're not sure, there's a Winter Tri-Co every year. Although the flavor is a little different from Summer Tri-Co, it makes sense to give your spot to someone on the waitlist (if you're at Swat, it's a LONG one - it's not really an issue for Bryn Mawr/Haverford) and apply for Winter Tri-Co after talking to people if you decide you want to do it later. But I recommend it to everyone.</p>

<p>That was very helpful. What's a privilege walk? I'm not a dancing person and never will be. If I do go to Tri-Co, I probably will hide in the bathroom during the dance. But I probably shouldn't let that stop me from going. I definitely want to take advantage of what Swarthmore has and go to one of the Tri-Co programs. When are the winter ones, usually? I hope it's not during winter break.</p>

<p>Probably during winter break, which is quite long. You'll be ready to go back to college!</p>

<p>There is also a three-day study skills seminar at the end of winter break, put on mostly by upperclass Swarthmore students. My daughter got some really good time management/survival skills out of it.</p>

<p>A privilege walk is when everyone starts out in a long straight line (think 90 people in a row across a field), and statements are read off ("My parents have had to worry about where our next meal was coming from", "I went to private school", etc) and depending on the instructions you either step back or step forward or stay where you are for each statement. By the end, everyone is spread out all over - it's really powerful. Oh, and I forgot the Trust walk! At the end, you do a blindfolded trust walk with all 90 people, in a long huge snake holding on to each other's shoulders. You do one at Swat orientation, but it just doesn't compare when it's with 10 people...it was awesome.</p>

<p>Haha, none of us were dancing people...it wasn't something you could hide from - by a dance, I meant at the beginning of every session they'd make us get up and do a ridiculous dance we all learned the first day. We just had some funny SRPs (student resource person - upperclassmen from the Tri-Co schools who ran or helped out with workshops) who made up a dance for us to do, and by the end everyone enjoyed it. If you decide to do Tri-Co, your SRPs may or may not do this. :P</p>

<p>The winter one is usually the last few days before winter break ends, but winter break is a month - it's definitely not a big deal to come back a few days early, and most of us are definitely ready to be back by then.</p>