2017–2018 Fellows Arrive and Orientation Begins
On Sunday, August 13th, all nine members of the 2017–2018 cohort of BU Humphrey Fellows arrived from Israel, Mexico, Moldova, Montenegro, Pakistan, Slovakia, Swaziland, Tajikistan, and Zimbabwe. Their profiles may be viewed on the Current Fellows page of this website.
The first week of the orientation program focused on familiarizing the new cohort with BU’s Charles River Campus, health and safety services and housing options. In the second week, Fellows learned about academic study, research and other opportunities for engagement at BU and in the surrounding community.
On August 23–25 we traveled to Hancock, New Hampshire for a retreat at BU’s Sargent Center for Outdoor Education. With the assistance of outdoor educator and facilitator (and BU alumnus) Chris Roland, we enjoyed getting to know one another better, team building, hiking, canoeing and campfires.
The day after we returned to Boston, we held a Host Family Reception at our 704 Commonwealth Avenue office suite. The new Fellows got to know their host families, some of whom are new to the Program and others who have annually hosted BU Fellows for more than two decades.
On Monday, August 28th, the Fellows met with 2004–2005 BU HHHP Alumnus Lishala Situmbeko and his wife Hope. Lishala shared several reflections of his own experience as a Humphrey more than a decade ago and provided a few recommendations for how to make the best use of the Fellowship year.
We are off to a great start!