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Community Service Bulletin

Thursday, November 18, 2009

Spotlight

The 2009 MIT Giving Tree is here!

Please join your fellow MIT community members in supporting this great MIT holiday tradition. Through the Giving Tree, you can donate gifts to children in the Boston and Cambridge area. Each year, over 500 MIT staff and students provide gifts to over 600 children affiliated with 13 local service agencies. Co-sponsored by the MIT Public Service Center and the Panhellenic Association, the Giving Tree allows participants to choose specific gifts for specific children, making the gift-giving process a more personalized one for all. Here's how to participate:

  1. Stop by the MIT Public Service Center (PSC) in 4-104 between November 23 and December 14 (M-F, 9-5).
  2. Pick up a gift label for a child (or choose more than one!).
  3. Purchase, wrap, and place the gift label on your gift, and return to the PSC in 4-104 NO LATER than 10 a.m. on Tuesday, December 15.

More information at http://web.mit.edu/mitpsc/programs/givingtree/

Questions? Email mitgivingtree@mit.edu.

One-Time Opportunities

Ongoing Opportunities

One-Time Opportunities

Learn techniques for professional success with UPOP’s Susann LuperFoy! (11/18)
Susann LuperFoy, the Executive Director of UPOP, has put together a presentation on techniques for success in the workplace that can be used for a future summer internship, in a term-time job or Community Service Work-Study position, or even when searching for a job after MIT.  Come by for a quick workshop to learn some new techniques.

The workshop will be held on Wednesday, Nov. 18 from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. in Room 2-139. Refreshments will be served.

Attend an MIT Habitat for Humanity Spring Break Info Session! (11/23)
Every spring break, the MIT Chapter of Habitat for Humanity sends 14 MIT students on a trip to a Habitat affiliate somewhere in the United States. Past destinations have included cities in Louisiana and Florida. Come to our information session – it’s on Monday, November 23 from 7:30-8:30pm in room 1-135– and learn about this year's spring break service opportunity. Make a difference this spring break!

Please direct questions to mit-habitat-exec@mit.edu. You can also visit http://habitat.mit.edu/ for more information.

Join the MIT Museum for the Friday After Thanksgiving: Chain Reaction event! (11/27)
Volunteer at the MIT Museum’s Friday After Thanksgiving: Chain Reaction event! This super-fun event has teams build their own chain reaction machines out of mousetraps, jars of honey, beach balls or whatever they can find at home. Then, participants are invited to Rockwell Cage to join together their contraptions into a mega Rube Goldberg-like machine.

We are looking for help in two shifts: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. for setup, or 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. for during the event and cleanup. Tasks might include managing activities within our kids’ area, helping out with the audience participation ball-machine, assisting teams with the building of their machines, selling tickets and helping with general logistics. On average, 1,200 – 1,500 people show up for the event so there's lots to be done.

All volunteers receive free admission to the event (though all MIT ID holders get in for free), a MIT Museum American Apparel T-Shirt, and complimentary breakfast or lunch. To participate, e-mail MIT Museum Programs Coordinator Debora Lui at dlui@mit.edu. You can also find more information about the event at http://web.mit.edu/museum/programs/fat2009.html

Help assemble Lego kits to teach biology to students in the Edgerton Center! (12/9)
Manipulating Legos representing DNA, RNA, and amino acids will help high school students learn about DNA replication and gene expression! MIT’s K-12 Outreach Program, along with MIT’s Edgerton Center, has developed science and technology school programs (http://web.mit.edu/edgerton/outreach/ACT_LL.html) and now many science teachers want to share these biology lessons with Lego kits in their own classrooms.

Volunteers will assemble (by copying patterns) and organize components into kits that can readily be used by students ages 12 and up. While no science knowledge is required, this project does require fine motor skills and attention to detail, carefully and repetitively building and manipulating small Legos, copying patterns and carefully checking quality, super gluing together some parts, and filling and checking boxed sets while standing.

The event will take place on Wednesday, Dec. 9 from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. at MIT. There is also an optional pizza dinner that will take place from 5:45 p.m. to 6:15 p.m., for a cost of $8 per person. To sign up, register online using MIT Smartrans at https://alum.mit.edu/smarTrans/register-login.vm?eventID=37942&groupID=146

Ongoing Opportunities

Tutor students at Prospect Hill Academy High School!
There are currently many Prospect Hill Academy students in grades 9-12 who would greatly benefit from working with MIT student tutors. PHA students need help in the following areas: Two students with Spanish, three students with physics, two students with history, and one student with biology.

As a tutor, you will meet with a student at the PHA Central Square campus – located at 50 Essex Street, Cambridge, MA, 02139 – one day a week, from 3:15 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Your role is to help the student successfully complete homework and projects in the classes that he or she struggles with most.

Interested students should contact Kaitlin LeMoine at (617) 284-7911 or klemoine@prospecthillacademy.org. You can also check out www.prospecthillacademy.org to learn more about the school.

Help the local Cambridge Science Olympiad Team!
Become a volunteer advisor to the Cambridge Rindge & Latin (CRLS) Science Olympiad team, preparing high school students for the March 2010 competition. Volunteers assist with research and troubleshooting, and act as sounding boards to students on the team. Events might include Ecology, Disease Detectives, Chem and Physics, Designer Genes, Robotics and more.

The time commitment is once per week for 1-2 hours in the late afternoon, on your chosen weekday. The kickoff event will be held Tuesday, December 8, 2009, from 3:00 to 4:30 pm in Room R326, CRLS, 459 Broadway, Cambridge. Contact Laura Margosian at lmargosian@cpsd.us or (617) 349-6794. You can also find out more information about Cambridge School Volunteers at www.csvinc.org.

Nominate a high school teacher for the MIT Inspirational Teacher Award! (Deadline: 12/9)
Would you like to thank a high school teacher who inspired you?

Nominate your favorite high school teacher for the MIT Inspirational Teacher Award and get the chance to connect that teacher with a great bunch of MIT resources. Visit http://web.mit.edu/inspire/nomination.html to complete the online nomination form by December 9, or learn more about the award by visiting http://web.mit.edu/inspire/index.html. If you have questions, please contact Linden McEntire at mcentire@mit.edu or (617) 253-8065.

The MIT Public Service Center is not responsible for the quality or safety of outside service agencies, and does not screen volunteer placements or projects. The Community Service Opportunities bulletin is published once a week by the staff of the MIT Public Service Center. If you have questions, feel free to call us at 617-253-0742, or stop by 4-104.

To subscribe to or unsubscribe from the email list, please visit mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/psc-volunteers.

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