<p>mhc48-what a drag! Your d and her Delaware classmates will always remember Irene. I’m still stuck in New Orleans, unable to get a flight back to NY til Wednesday. I know of some Long Island Tulane freshmen who are missing the whole move in experience as well as the first 3 days of class bc they can’t get a flight out. Still no power at my house on the North Shore of Long Island.</p>
<p>I live in the middle of Long Island, right at the Nassau/Suffolk border. About a third of the families in our town are still without power. We are lucky to have it, and so my refrig is filled with my mother’s and cousin’s contents.</p>
<p>Good luck to all who are still dealing with some real problems. We have seen lots of big trees down in our neighborhood, crushing into houses.</p>
<p>One unfortunate family took down a big tree the day before the storm because they were afraid it might not withstand the winds. Instead their neighbor’s tree landed on their house, causing extensive damage. Ironic!</p>
<p>Still no power here in northern Nassau county. Sitting outside grilling all the thawed meat from the freezer. Will stick the cooked food in a friends freezer.</p>
<p>
My husband and kid went to the UMCP event that showcases the honors/scholars programs and whatnot. IIRC, there were several days scheduled and one of them may have conflicted with one of the Jewish holidays, but that may have been the one that was specifically for African-American and Latino students and I guess they thought there wouldn’t be a huge amount of overlap.</p>
<p>My husband came away very, very impressed with the presentation. The day started badly because the directions and signage were poor and there didn’t seem to be anyone to tell them where to go. But once they found where they were supposed to be, he was very happy with the experience and even commented that the lunch was delicious. My kid softened from “I really am not going to go to Maryland” to “I guess I could go to Maryland if I had to.” They were treated very nicely by faculty, and my husband even got a business card from someone who volunteered to look into a problem my kid was having with the application–and the person actually followed through. So, they do a nice job of selling the school and making the kids feel wanted, so I’d say it’s probably worth attending if you are on the fence about what Maryland has to offer. </p>
<p>The B/K interview day was, as noted, a re-run of this program. Those were also held on school days with little advance notice. And if you also want to do an overnight and admitted students day, well, that’s another day off from school.</p>
<p>Think we’re going to abort the New England college trip we had planned for this week. Were going to CT, MA and RI and I fear the local roads may be a challenge, not to mention the powere outages. Does anyone from that area have any storm related updates? Disappointed that we will have to cancel.</p>
<p>Thanks, Vandy. 
I credit Spectrum with original use of the word collaborative (this was a little while back). It hit home for me, too!</p>
<p>Thinking of you folks on the Eastern Shore and hoping things are easing up!!</p>
<p>I have to ask – Am I using the term correctly? I was told once it’s more common to use the word shore than coast on the East Coast, er Shore?</p>
<p>New Haven still has some significant power outages and downed trees, but life is pretty much returning to normal. All roads are passable.</p>
<p>I think the correct term is the East Coast. When I think of eastern shore, I think of just the outer edge of the states that have a coastline. This storm really hit pretty far inland. Pennsylvania has no coastline but lots of towns were flooded and are still without power.</p>
<p>East Coast has been hit pretty hard in many places. I would imagine that most West Coast folks interested in places like Puget Sound are happy to wait for more info ?</p>
<p>Vandy </p>
<p>You might want to check out St Mary’s in your search for colleges.</p>
<p>So sorry for all of the hassles everyone is going through. Hope everyones power is restored soon and the clean up happens quickly.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for all the responses about UMCP and filling out the supplement asking about other colleges. You are all great!</p>
<p>D worked on her activity list/resume tonight and started another application…yay! We also reviewed her to do list along with deadlines. She took two supplements up to her room to read the essays and to brainstorm. She emailed both teachers who are writing her recommendations and they are both on board. One of them gave her a little bit of what she was writing and it should be an incredible recommendation! I think things are starting to come together.</p>
<p>So sorry to hear of the power outages and other storm related damage so many are experiencing. Over the weekend - it just seemed like so much of the media focus was on the NC coast and NYC - but when watching the evening news tonight - so much devastation in NJ, NY, VT and CT. I feel very lucky that we had no power loss or other impact at our home and wish all of you who are affected a speedy return to normal.</p>
<p>I hope that the power is on and things are back to normal very soon for those of you feeling the pain from Irene. My S1 is flying to New England tomorrow, fortunately he didn’t book his flight earlier in the week. Hopefully the airport won’t be too crazy. From New England he will be flying to Scotland for his study abroad semester. I hope he has everything packed. I expect it will be a bit more difficult to ship those forgotten items internationally.</p>
<p>Deborah, Haha, thanks for the credit I don’t remember where that terminology came from for us. I think maybe from a college tour of a school that presented itself in a favorable light to him. When S1 and I were doing the college search “collaborative instead of competitive” became the buzz words we used to describe the schools he was searching for. I agree the phrase definitely works to describe the feel of this thread…</p>
<p>As for S2 he is on week 2 of senior year. He has the apply texas ap completed but hasn’t hit send yet. SAT tutoring began this weekend, so far so good. The year is off to a good start.</p>
<p>“Eastern Shore”</p>
<p>Has a special meaning around the Chesapeake Bay. It refers to the eastern shore of the BAY. Thus the eastern shore of maryland is the part of Maryland on the DelMarVa peninsula. Both the eastern side of the peninsula (on the Ocean) and the western side (on the bay). The Western Shore of the Chesapeake are the counties west of the Bay, closer to DC and Baltimore. </p>
<p>A body of water (river, bay, or ocean) has shores. A body of land (a peninsula or continent) has coasts. The eastern shore of the north Atlantic, would be the west coast of Europe. </p>
<p>People new to the Chesapeake region sometimes get this mixed up (and call St Michaels the “Western Shore” which it is NOT). Thats okay, as long as they learn from those folks who have been here longer ;)</p>
<p>Hurrican impact at RPI Hillel </p>
<p>The welcoming brunch on Sunday was delayed till Monday (Monday classes were canceled) </p>
<p>DD had mixed feelings about the first shabbat dinner/service. The kids were very friendly and nice, and the dinner was good, but the service was shvach (weak). They skipped Kabbalat Shabbat except for Lecha Dodi (the psalms at the beginning of Friday night services) even though they did an otherwise traditional service. Kabbalat Shabbat isnt technically required, so they were still accommodating the more observant, while trying to keep it shorter for those intimidated by too much. But as DD said, Kabbalat Shabbat with good tunes, and enthusiastic participation, is the BEST part of the friday night service, and the part most likely to entice people to participate more. After a year on Nativ, with folks so into their Judaism, and with services with so much intensity, and with singing afterward (instead of going out after shabbos dinner) she was feeling somewhat lost. She intends to try to improve the service - she has enough sense to only want to introduce (by teaching it) one song, and to wait till she gets to know people better, realizing she is only a freshman - but aside from those practical steps, she was feeling down. We had a long talk about this just after Shabbos Saturday. She walked Sat AM to the local C shul, and that was fine (though mostly older people in the small shul). As far as she can tell no one else on campus is fully shomer shabbot, and the few who “take it seriously” are all upperclassmen, and guys, so she felt a little awkward trying to hang out with them. Of course she was able to talk with hallmates Saturday afternoon, but as she said, its not the same spending shabbat with people who arent also thinking of it as “shabbat”. I mentioned that if she can swap her friday afternoon bio section some weeks, she can go elsewhere for shabbat some times - to visit her friends on campuses with more shomer shabbat folks, or even to family in NYC, or maybe to U of Albany down the road - but she wants her community at RPI. She is thinking of deciding to end her shabbat observance early, maybe at 3PM, till graduation, or at least till she finds someone else commited to shabbos on campus. Or to try to find a leniency for doing studio work (she could in theory just read, but thats a long time for an ADHD kid to sit and read, for school or pleasure, and not swap it out with more active work). She is going to call a newly minted rabbi she knows from USY activities, to get general advice. </p>
<p>havent had a long talk with her since Sat night. from her brief communications and facebook posts, she seems enthusiastic for classes (and resolved a schedule issue she had). Im not sure how the brunch went. She does seem to find the Hillel kids friendly and tight knit as advertised, but mostly “cultural Jews”.</p>
<p>Brooklynborn, is there a Chabad there? If so, she might want to try it out.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Theres a chabad at UAlbany, and I think second that serves the rest of the northern part of the capital region. I think they visit all the campuses now and then, but no permanent presence in Troy.</p></li>
<li><p>DD is really not the chabad sort. She doesnt want to “mikureved” by chabad - she wants to mikurev folks for Masorti She will “utilize” a chabad when it fits her plans (she and her pals stayed at a Chabad run hostel in Tzfat) but she’s davened with Women of the Wall, etc. One of the downers of returning from Nativ is the sense that everyone (everyone Jewish, I mean) is either haredi or (effectively) chiloni, without the center - observant, egalitarian, modernist, intellectual - that she values. She can find what she wants in Israel (though even there its a minority) and I know (and have been trying to tell her) she can find it among the millenial generation folks in the centers of the great metro areas - ESPECIALLY NYC. She knew going in she wasn’t going to find it at RPI or in Troy - but the culture shock is hitting a bit hard (or at least it was Saturday night)</p></li>
</ol>
<p>When the opportunity comes up I will suggest to her she try the O shul in downtown Troy - probably more modern O, and thus more attractive to her than Chabad. Though its absence of a website suggests to me its either dying, mainly elderly folks, or both. That would at least give her a sense of something beyond the Hilllel and the C shul (which though nice, may not have anyone observant other than the rabbi, who commutes - (but where does he stay?) from his full time gig in Schenectady) </p>
<p>The Hillel rabbi is the rabbi of the R shul in town - even though she is Reform, still a good resource on what can be done to improve Hillel.</p>
<p>Hi all. We finally got power late last night and so today we were able to go through D’s first drafts of her essays. School starts tomorrow, so glad that we did this. I would like someone outside of family to read the essays, but D is hesitant (well down right ornery). There is someone at school whose job it is to help the kids, but D used her last year for her summer program essay and did not like her. Does anyone have a suggestion as to what type of person to ask? I thought about the guidance counselor, but I imagine she is very busy already with all the other college stuff and getting ready for school starting. Thanks and I am so glad to hear that everyone is safe, if a bit drenched. We have some water in our attic so the house fan is being replaced and the drying service will do the rest. Take care all.</p>
<p>Here in Philly the term “Shore” is understood to be any of the New Jersey shore towns (Cape May, Ocean City, Wildwood, etc)…people say they are “goin’ down the shore” to mean they are going to the beach in New Jersey…</p>
<p>Phillyartmom: First I have to tell you that whenever I open this thread from my email it goes straight to your post, “My daughter just got back from Italy…” It makes me smile every time! At our HS English teachers are willing to help but sometimes want a little time like a week or two to get it done. There is a College and Career Counselor who is a former English teacher and she is also willing to review essays. (I guess she is equivalent to the person your daughter doesn’t want to use.)We have a family friend who does professional editing and has been willing to look at essays and makes gentle informative suggestions with an effort to educate. Then there is S1 who is brutally frank with feedback.</p>