On Friday June 12th, 60+ students who are entering Berklee for the Fall 2009 semester and 35+ of their parents, guardians and guests will visit Berklee for the one day Berklee Life Off Campus (BLOC) workshop presented by the Student Activities Center. The SAC has three primary goals for the day.
The first goal is to provide attendees with critical information for searching for apartments in the Boston area including what to know before signing a lease. There are great deals, landlords and realtors our there but there are bad ones as well. A presentation by Kunevich & Lau Realty will provide attendees with the knowledge and tools to make good decisions in their search.
The second goal is to introduce non-residential entering students to each other as a way to begin to build community amongst them. Knowing and seeing that they are not alone as a first semester student living off campus is a huge step in achieving comfort before they arrive for classes in August. Moreover, at last year’s June Off Campus Housing Orientation some students who met through our small group sessions went on to find an apartment over the summer and live together their first year.
The third goal is to begin to allay some of the fears that parents, guardians, and even students have of living on their own – many for the first time – in this city. Many calls to our front desk are from parents concerned about sending their child to live off-campus. For this goal, our best line of defense are students who themselves were in the same situation in first year. Over lunch, current Berklee students will share their experiences about searching for apartments, moving in, commuting throughout the city, and more. Attendees will hear success stories as well as stories that are educational in terms of situations to avoid.
Advisors from the Office of Admissions, Paul Noonan from Public Safety, professional and student staff from the Student Activities Center, Peer Advisors, and others will be on hand throughout the day to offer our perspective during sessions and to interact with attendees informally between sessions.
Many thanks to Admissions, FYSAP, Auxiliary Services, and Dining Services for their support creating and executing this workshop.
If you run into BLOC attendees next Friday and you have a useful “life in Boston” anecdote or one that might assuage their fears, please pull them aside and share.
For more information about BLOC visit http://www.berklee.edu/housing/off_campus.html where you can download a pdf of the advertisement.
Contact the Student Activities Center at x2560 with questions.
Tamia Rashima Jordan, M.Ed.
Assistant Director Orientation and Student Support Services
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