About Student Project Grants
VP of Finance Kevin Zhai strips for cash.
Applications are due this Saturday! Please spread the word.
The blog
After applications are submitted and accepted, we will be blogging the progress of some of the student project grants, with photos by some of the best student photographers on campus. We’ll blog to support and celebrate the work of our fellow students, to keep everybody accountable for the money that they are spending, and also to produce a small record of our achievements at the end of the semester.
Think big! And if you want to get involved as a blogger, photographer, or videographer, please email yourPROJECTS.ccsc at gmail.
College Walk Foosball:
One very ambitious example from two years ago: “Our project will bring together the Columbia community through a unique two-day combination of art, music, sports, and teamwork. We plan to build a life-size human foosball on College Walk, which would be open to Columbia community. Participants would be strapped in harnesses connected to PVC pipes and would link arms to move from side to side to kick an oversized ball into the opposing team’s goal. The PVC pipes would be held in place by plywood supports, while the walls of the foosball table would be painted with Columbia themed images, including Alma, Roar-ee, CC and Lit Hum writers, as well as iconic scenes from New York City.
International food club
Our project is to hold a mini international food festival, with the goal of increasing Columbia students’ exposure to dishes from different parts of the world. The idea began because the majority of group members recently returned from semesters abroad, and some are international students themselves, and all of us have brought back different components of the cultures that we lived in, with the culinary culture being a common theme among us. Our final product would be an array of dishes from which attendees of the food festival could sample, and from which they could also learn a little bit about the traditions and culture from which the food originated. Along with each group member preparing 2-3 dishes, he or she would write a brief informational sheet explaining certain aspects of the food and a little bit about its country of origin, noting any particular aspects of the food that stand out or share something insightful about the culture of the country. Those who attend the dinner festival would have the opportunity to try different foods that they never knew existed, as well as learn more from the student-chefs themselves about the cultures they experienced abroad.
While John Jay may be a cultural experience for unwitting Columbia freshman, the rest of the Columbia student body generally is forced to rely on grocery stores, delis, restaurants, and the chicken and rice carts in order to get their fix of limited international cuisine. A dinner that features cooking by international students and study abroad returnees would expose Columbia students not only to certain unusual international cuisines and dishes but also to the cultural traditions behind those foods, as well as to the international experiences of their classmates. The entire project would be an exercise in cross-cultural exposure. Food can be an excellent representation and even partial explanation of a region’s culture and traditions, so the festival would give Columbia students exposure to both.
International Food Festival:
Here’s one example of an idea from 2009. “Our project is to hold a mini international food festival, with the goal of increasing Columbia students’ exposure to dishes from different parts of the world. The idea began because the majority of group members recently returned from semesters abroad, and all of us have brought back different components of the cultures that we lived in, with the culinary culture being a common theme among us. Along with each group member preparing 2-3 dishes, he or she would write a brief informational sheet explaining certain aspects of the food and a little bit about its country of origin, noting any particular aspects of the food that stand out or share something insightful about the culture of the country.”
Intellectual Intercourse:
Here’s another example from 2009. “We’d like to create a space for students and professors to critically reflect on the Core Curriculum. We hope to create an online publication that would not only provide helpful review materials for students, but provide information that isn’t necessarily an integral part of every class. By focusing this semester on the syllabus of Contemporary Civilization, we aim to do the following: contextualize the texts included and thereby provide a reflection on the process of canonization, examine the interdisciplinarity of the text and thus illuminate their relevance to the everyday lives of students, and provide a useful, accessible tool that students can use when studying for their exams.”
Make something new
So why are we doing this, you might ask? Well, we’ve asked you (the students), and we’ve listened. We think that these grants are a way of addressing several of the largest campus issues of the past semester (as well as perennial issues): stress, mental health and wellness, general feelings of campus malaise, the war on fun, etc. So we’re just going to throw money at these problems, you ask? Well, in a sense, yes! But we’re asking you to help us. CCSC is a limited body of individual students and we can only do so much, and have only so many ideas (and sometimes they suck!). This is an attempt to tap into the most important resource at this school — you! So take it upon yourself to think about what you see on campus. Then go out and do it! And don’t worry about money…that’s what we’re here for.
