A LOOK BACK AT THE SEMESTER
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Contents
Immersion Understanding Local Challenges and Cultures
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Impact Civic Engagement and Innovation
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Community Student-Driven Communities and Initiatives
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IMMERSION: UNDERSTANDING LOCAL CHALLENGES AND CULTURES
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Immersion: Understanding Local Challenges and Cultures
Impact Hub SF
Photos: Michael Yang
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California is now in its fourth year of a record-breaking drought. What can be done to help mitigate the effects of the water crisis? Students met at Impact Hub Bay Area to discuss possible solutions to the drought with local entrepreneurs and activists who are working to help solve waterrelated issues.
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Immersion: Understanding Local Challenges and Cultures
Breakout EDU
BreakoutEDU — a platform for immersive learning games — invited students to play a full “breakout” game followed by a Q&A and feedback session with the game’s creator. Later, they prototyped puzzles to be included in future games.
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Photos: Norian Caporale-Berkowitz
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Immersion: Understanding Local Challenges and Cultures
Autodesk
During a seminar at Autodesk — a leader in 3D design, engineering, and entertainment software — students learned about the “Internet of Things” and its implications in today’s increasingly interconnected world. Later, they had an opportunity to use the Autodesk Fusion 360 software to design and prototype unique objects and explore the Autodesk Gallery.
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Photos: Tommaso Boschetti, Michael Yang
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Immersion: Understanding Local Challenges and Cultures
What I’ve Learned
Photos: Maria León Gonzalez
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As part of Minerva’s “What I’ve Learned” series — which provides students with unique access to practitioners and thought-leaders striving to drive impact in the world — Franklin & Marshall College President Daniel Porterfield led an engaging discussion around the value and importance of a liberal arts education.
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Immersion: Understanding Local Challenges and Cultures
GSV Labs
Students took a trip to Redwood City to visit global innovation center GSVlabs and learned about education innovation ecosystems and the role that startups play in them.
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Photos: Bethany Jana
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IMPACT: CIVIC ENGAGEMENT AND INNOVATION
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Impact: Civic Engagement and Innovation
Rebuilding Together Oakland
Photos: Alexandra Heselton
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Students crossed the San Francisco Bay to help Rebuilding Together Oakland (RTO) restore the grounds of the historic Cohen Bray House in Oakland, California. RTO is an organization that repairs and renovates homes in the area’s most vulnerable neighborhoods.
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Impact: Civic Engagement and Innovation
Concrn (Tenderloin)
Students met with Concrn — an organization that helps to facilitate compassion between people in San Francisco’s Tenderloin District. Following a discussion around the prominent social issues present in the area, they explored the Tenderloin Museum and received an eye-opening tour of the neighborhood led by a longtime resident.
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Photos: Maria Le贸n Gonzalez
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Impact: Civic Engagement and Innovation
SF Planning & Living Innovation Zones
Photos: Maria Le贸n Gonzalez
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What is the future of urban public spaces? Students considered this question as they designed high-impact interventions for San Francisco’s Civic Center and UN Plaza based on field studies they had previously conducted.
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Impact: Civic Engagement and Innovation
Portal
What would you say to a person on the other side of the world? Minerva students experienced Portals, a Shared Studios project that uses golden shipping containers with video conferencing capabilities to create meaningful connections between people in different parts of the world.
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Photos: Jonathan Skjøtt
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Impact: Civic Engagement and Innovation
500 Startups
Photos: Bethany Jana
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How do you take an idea with the potential to change the world and make it a reality? Students met and learned from team members at top startup accelerator 500 Startups and, putting what they were taught into practice, used real applicant data to assess their business potential.
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COMMUNITY: STUDENT-DRIVEN COMMUNITIES AND INITIATIVES
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Community: Student-Driven Communities and Initiatives
Community Garden
Photos: Maria Le贸n Gonzalez
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The community garden is a group initiative to provide current and future students with access to fresh, local fruit, vegetables, and herbs. Established in the first San Francisco residence hall, gardens are planned for each of the seven global locations.
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Community: Student-Driven Communities and Initiatives
MetaMorph
MetaMorph was conceived to inspire creative thinking within the student community and beyond. Working together, students create art projects that challenge participants to see things in new and unexpected ways.
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Photos: Maria Le贸n Gonzalez
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Community: Student-Driven Communities and Initiatives
Minerva Talks
Each week, a student, staff, or faculty member hosts a Minerva Talk — an opportunity to share personal stories with the student body. Through these formational moments and meaningful dialogues, students learn to engage with their peers and other members of the Minerva community on a deeper and more emotional level.
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Photos: Maria Le贸n Gonzalez
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Community: Student-Driven Communities and Initiatives
Feasts and 10:01s
During the first semester of the Founding Year, assignments were due on Sunday night at ten, so at 10:01 students began gathering in the kitchen to prepare a meal together. These group dinners were conceived as a way of contributing to a collaborative creation, while sharing food from each of their homes and cultures.
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Photos: Ayo Seligman, Maria Le贸n Gonzalez, Bethany Jana
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Thank You This past semester has been a collection of so many remarkable moments. Without your generous contributions, many of them would not have been possible. On behalf of the students, staff, and faculty at Minerva, thank you for your continued support.
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