Secret (and not-so-secret) Snowflakes

Hello again, 02A parents! I can hardly believe first semester has come to a close, but we're zeroing in on the last week with finals! In an effort to give the girls some ways to relax and destress before the craziness of the week, we had a handful of fun things going on within the wing. We've had movie nights, tea & facials, and most recently, we did our secret snowflake gift exchange! Each girl who wanted to participate was able to get the name of a fellow wingmate, and make/purchase gifts for them, along with clues to who they might be! The exchange went off without a hitch, and everyone seemed to enjoy it! I think a personal favorite was when Katya Romanov '20 got fellow wing guide Alison Deng '20 and for the final gift, gave her a jar full of tiny notes, each one wrapped up and including a heartfelt message from Katya herself. Alison was definitely teary-eyed from it, and I have to admit that I was as well.

The closeness of the wing has grown over the past few months, and I'm really impressed with how the upperclassmen are not only welcoming to the Sophomores, but have been open to the new Juniors and Seniors in the wing as well. In 02A, I make it clear to students that there is an expectation to being a student in my wing, especially a Senior; everyone is to be kind, interact with each other, and actively take part in the wing. For Seniors - whether they're a wing guide or not - I add being a leader to that list. And this year, they have most definitely surpassed my expectations in that regard. It truly brings me so much joy to see the bonding moments, the hugs shared after check, the conversations about their day before in-room, and how much fun everyone has together at programs. We have a great bunch of girls this year, an I'm very grateful for each of them.

Enjoy the picture barrage of love!
♥ Robyn & the lovely ladies of 02A

Our Seniors are the best!

Sometimes the stress can get to the Juniors, but roommates Jaden Turner & Grace Okorie keep their cool.

Winter Break info

Hello all!

In an effort to make it simpler for you all when finals & break time come, I added the room cleaning expectations here for your viewing pleasure, to ensure that both your child and you know the expectations for them before they can be cleared for break.

I'll also be communicating with your students about this, as they will need to sign up for a check out time with me (unlike other Extendeds, since this is a week long check out span) so make sure they're communicating with you too!

I hope you'll help me in encouraging your child to start cleaning early, and to ensure that all of their  assigned tasks are completed before trying to sign out. If you have any questions, please let me know!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1edcuk7k3cIz27Kmg8VQQi0qgULcf90EtH2YbwpcR7-M/edit?usp=sharing

♡ Robyn

Spooky Season!

One of the favorite months of the year at IMSA seems to be October; Halloween season, the start of fall, Homecoming, and for 02A, our dinner date! It's a month jam-packed full of adventure (and Wing Wars hasn't even started yet) but it's a fun one, for sure.

This year, the wing voted to make the theme "spooky" and many dressed up in costume; a group of them got together and dressed up as mice, which was both odd and adorable. Both the girls and their dates had a great time, as there were all different types of food; we had Panda Express, pizza, salad, and ice cream! The highlight of the evening, however, seemed to be the pumpkins; Sophomore Madeline Fields Halva and her parents donated pumpkins for each roommate pair, and they were able to paint or decorate them however they wanted! 

Madeline also brought back several bushels of apples from the October extended, and we were able to do a carmel apple night for halloween! Myself and the other 02 RCs even got in the Halloween spirit, and dressed up as the Mean Girls, while a group of 02ers dressed up as various Dr. Seuss characters, and got several compliments!

Still trying to figure out how this group didn't win best costumes!

The 02 RCs had their own fun with Halloween this year.

Happy Hauntings!

♡ Robyn & the lovely ladies of 02A

What's your Love Langauge?

The last month has been a whirlwind for the girls of 1502A. We've had several programs, wing events, and the bonding has only continued to grow among the girls. We also are "fostering" a few students from B wing while Candice is on maternity leave, so it's been good to see the wing being welcoming to those girls as well.

One of our favorite things to do in A wing is to make every program into a creative opportunity. I personally love making door decs, and think it's especially fun when the girls get to make their own, to showcase a little bit of their personality. A program that I always do towards the start of the year is What's your Love Language? -- Each girl takes the love language quiz (https://www.5lovelanguages.com/profile/teens/) in an attempt to discover the way that they best show and receive love from others. I've found it to be a very useful tool, for myself and the girls in the wing, so that we know what way to best approach someone else who may need our help, care, or understanding. The girls got to make a door dec with their love language on it, so that way before entering each other's rooms, they could take note of the way their wingmate would most like to receive appreciation. Just because I love hugs, doesn't mean that I should automatically give one to Katya if she's having a rough day; she would prefer words of affirmation, to know that she's doing a great job, and that I believe in her. Similarly, I try to treat each of the girls according to their language, and have encouraged them to do the same. A group of us who speak physical touch have even developed somewhat of a nightly routine of hugs before bedtime, which I know warms my heart just as much as it does theirs.

If you're interested in figuring out which language your child speaks, I encourage you to talk with them! I'm sure they'd love to be able to explain their feelings, and get a chance to showcase how they best show that they care.

Happy (almost) October!

♡ Robyn & the lovely ladies of 02A

New Year, New We!

The 2019-2020 school year has already started off with quite a bang, with a successful move-in, Welcome Week, Convocation, and a big birthday celebration for yours truly, put on by the wing!

One of my favorite parts of the school year is when everyone gets settled in, and tries to figure out who their "people" are; who are the friends that are going to get them through this upcoming school year, and who will be there to talk them down when they're frustrated, or help them with a tough problem set, or even make them tea on a stressful night. Something that I've noticed about 02A over my past four years here is that it is very much a community where, coming into it, you already have some of you "people" built in. It's a very welcoming, friendly, and open community, and I am proud to see that atmosphere has continued into this school year, at least from what I've seen so far. Seniors are interacting with underclassmen, and everyone has been really great towards our Sophomores. As I mentioned above, the wing even put together a birthday celebration for me, decorating the wing and putting up a "Happy Birthday Robyn" sign on the whiteboard, which they got most of the hall to sign. I had bought ice cream and the fixings for root beer floats, intending it to be a fairly relaxing evening, but the wing surprised me, as they often do.

Within just these first few weeks, I've seen the girls bonding over the celebration for me, coordinating their Convocation pictures, stressing out over classes, and staying up late to have heart-to-heart chats. If this first month has been any indication of how the school year will go, we're in for a good one.

Until next time,
♥ Robyn & the lovely ladies of 02A

P.S. I'm not great at technology, but I wanted to include a few pictures from our first few weeks! Hopefully as the year goes on, I'll be able to make the blog look a little cleaner (we have plenty of CompuSci students at IMSA who I'm sure can help) so I appreciate your understanding as I try to improve my blogging skills.

Welcome to Alice's Wonderland!

The first of what I hope to be many pictures with Gabi Georgieva '22.

The best hall staff on campus: Mia (D), Kristen (C), Candice (B) and myself (A)

The wing can clean up pretty nicely!

A picture of some of the decs I was surprised with for my birthday!

My "card" from the girls of 1502! 

Thumps Up

Happy 2019, parents of 02A!

So far in the wing this year, we've spent a lot of time talking about resolutions, and trying to be our best selves. We started out the new year with a New Years Resolution program, and were able to talk about things that we want out of 2019; each of us decided on four things we wanted -- something to start, something to stop, something to learn, and something to try. Each of the girl's did a great job coming up with their four things, and it led to some great bonding among the wing.

To continue building our relationships in the wing, we had a program called "Thumbs Up" -- essentially each of them got to reveal a bit about themselves and their personality through a series of questions, and then got to understand their similarities with each other.

The questions were each assigned a different color, and the girls got to decorate a sheet with their name on it based off of which of the items pertained to them. Some even took up my suggestion to label each thumbprint, so we could really get to know them even better. Take a look at how a few of them turned out!

Livia & Tori proudly display their handiwork!

Even the twins found a few differences in their thumbprints!

The wing really seemed to enjoy not just the artsy part of it all, but they also liked getting to understand what they had in common with other wingmates. It was one of our most attended programs of the year so far, and I was so glad to see so many of the girls eager to attend.

Next time you're on campus, go ahead and ask your daughter if you can see hers, and see what she was able to share with all of us in the wing. I'm sure most of you won't be surprised by what they put, but I know I personally was able to learn a lot about some of the girls that I didn't know!

I hope you're all staying warm and taking care of yourselves. With the weather getting worse, we're looking forward to staying in and having some more wing bonding in the near future. I'll be sure to share pictures of that for you all to see as it happens!

♡ Robyn and the lovely ladies of 02A

Oodles of Fun (and Noodles!)

Hello again, 02A parents!

The past month of activites has been very eventful for our wing, and the weeks seem to have flown by. It seems as though we just returned from Thanskgiving break, and here we are preparing for Winter break. In the time since then, we had our first dinner date, our first wing dinner, and several programs full of fun (and we even managed to learn a few things along the way).

The week after returning from Thanskgiving Extended, we had our dinner date, which was made very successful thanks to the donations that all of you made! We were actually able to do Noodles & Company, which worked out well with those in our wing who have allergies, along with chips, cookies & water. It was a fun time for all, and it was a good way to kick off the holiday season, as Junior roommates Lauren Pickett & Katya Romanov did a fantastic job with the Christmas decor!

The girls each had a great time, taking advantage of our photo props, and we got good feedback from their dates as well, so in all, the evening was a success! It will be hard to top next semester, but I'm sure we'll do our best. Take a look at the moments the girls captured below!

Aside from our dinner date, we celebrated Sophie's birthday with a pizza wing dinner, compliments of her mom, and the wing really enjoyed getting to sing happy birthday to her, as did I!

Sophie wearing our wing's designated "birthday babe" hat

We've also been able to do a handful of programs, partially thanks to donations some of you have made off of our wing wish list, so I thank you kindly for all you've done so far! We had an essential oil program, where we got to discover the benefits of different oils, and each girl got to make her own air freshener, of sorts, using baking soda and the oils mixed together in a small mason jar. Ask to see it the next time you're in the dorm -- hopefully you'll notice the rooms smelling a bit brighter than usual! We also decided on our #Goals for the remainder of the school year, and discussed how we could help each other, using our areas of expertise, to support one another in achieving them.

As somewhat of a follow-up to #Goals, we had a program where we were able to work towards more tangibly achieving some of those goals. Each girl was able to choose a way in which they best track their goals, and the progress they make on them. They got to choose a template by which to do so -- ranging from a weekly or monthly one, to a general "to do list", to a short and long terms goals sheet -- and they got to find a new way to hold themselves accountable for working on them. We were able to utilize the wet erase pockets & markers we were gifted from the wish list to ensure each girl got to have her own lists, and the night was a big hit! We'll be checking in next month to see how it's been going for everyone.

And that was most of what was happening this month! It was very busy at times, but the girls can now almost say that they've completed the first semester, and I couldn't be prouder of them all!

If you would like to contribute to any of our future programming, bulletin boards or wing events, here is the link to our wing wish list. We are grateful for any and all donations you may be willing to give, and we thank you in advance!  http://a.co/hW1pA2V 

I hope you have a fantastic and restful break with your girls, and the rest of your families.
With love and warm wishes,
       ♡ Robyn & the lovely ladies of 02A