Know Your Resource: Flipping Failure

The Flipping Failure initiative is a collection of video and audio stories told by MIT undergraduate and graduate students about their path toward resilience when faced with academic challenges. The resources currently available include:

• 23 stories (including six newly published) about struggling with academic/professional performance, finding a career path, coping with mental health struggles, transitioning to academics and life at MIT, managing competing priorities, and the effects of a global pandemic, to name a few.
• 62 coping strategy videos, grouped into 19 categories, such as effective study methods, cultivating mindfulness, recognizing unhelpful ways of thinking, prioritizing health and well-being, and building community, among many others.
• A newsletter, which provides timely, relevant, and valuable information on academic resilience and Flipping Failure for the MIT campus community and beyond. You can sign up for it HERE.

By sharing their stories and the strategies that helped them cope, MIT students aim to help their peers discover their own paths forward during challenging times. MIT students interested in crafting their story to add to the growing collection are encouraged to indicate their interest here. The goal is to normalize help-seeking for students facing difficult academic challenges and encourage healthy engagement with adaptive coping strategies that help students “flip” perceived personal failures into opportunities for learning and growth.

May is AAPI Heritage Month

AAPI Month is a celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islanders in the United States. This month celebrates the contributions that AAPI people have made in the USA (Credit @raibow_lounge_mit). Celebrate AAPI Heritage Month at MIT and beyond in May: 

• Visit the South Asia and the Institute Library Exhibit
• Attend the Asian Craft Break hosted by WXGS and MIT AAI 
• Join the Korean Cultural Association at AAPI Music Fest
• Boston Globe - 8 Ways to Celebrate AAPI Heritage Month Around Boston
• Attend Opera Night with the Boston Lyric Opera — Representation Matters: AAPI Voices & Stories at the Boston Public Library
• Go to an APPI Comedy Show

BULLETIN BOARD

Become a Wellness Ambassador

Wellbeing Ambassadors are students who are passionate about promoting a culture where they and their peers can prioritize their wellbeing. The WAs strive to create environments where they and their peers can care for their minds and bodies, build and foster relationships, and clarify a sense of purpose. Working closely with administrators and other student organizations, WAs are equipped with the knowledge, skills, and resources to impact the culture of wellbeing in their local MIT communities (i.e. residence halls and FSILGs, student groups, athletic teams, and academic departments) and the broader MIT community. Apply here. 

MITES Semester Positions

You can help make STEM fields more diverse, inclusive, and equitable. Apply to join the instructional staff at MIT Introduction to Technology, Engineering, and Science or MITES (formerly the MIT Office of Engineering Outreach Programs). The programs provide transformative learning experiences that bolster confidence, create lifelong community, and build an exciting, challenging foundation in STEM for middle and high school students from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds. You can learn more about the programs on their website. They're seeking undergraduates, graduate students, and working professionals from a variety of backgrounds (STEM, Humanities or Interdisciplinary) to teach in the MITES Semester and MITES Summer programs.

MITES Semester Positions:

• Online Facilitator: $15/hr; Part-time (Remotel; ~3-8 hr/week, June through January
• Program Facilitator: $17/hr; Part-Time (Remote); ~8-12 hr/week; Mid-May through Mid-January
• Project Course/Science Writing and Communication Instructor: $30/hr; Part-Time (Remote): ~10-18 hours per week; June through September
• Physics/Calculus/Computer Science Course Instructor: $30/hr; Part-Time (Remote): ~10-15 hours per week; June through September
• Curriculum & Instructional Support Specialist: $33/hour; Part-Time (Remote); May through September

MITES Summer Positions:

• Teaching Assistant: $15/hr; Full-Time (Residential): 40 hr/week OR Part-time (Non-Residential): 20 hr/week; Mid-June through July
• Program Facilitator: $17/hr; Full-Time: 40hr/wk; June through July
• Instructor: $30/hr; Part-Time: ~24 hours per week; Mid-June through July

You can find more information, including full job descriptions and how to apply, on this website.

Sally Kornbluth 18th President of MIT Inauguration 

MIT celebrated the inauguration of President Sally Kornbluth yesterday afternoon. The festivities kicked off Saturday and concluded yesterday with the inauguration ceremony.

The Inauguration Ceremony livestream recording is available on MIT's YouTube page.

Key Campus Support Resources

If you need to talk or connect, please know you can reach out to the Student Life Office or your program office as well as the resources listed below. 

• DoingWell: Key support resources for the MIT community.
• Student Mental Health and Counseling Services: Working with students to identify, understand and solve problems, and to help transform that understanding into positive action.
• Student Support Services: An easily accessible hub of support for undergraduates.
• GradSupport and the Graduate Assistance Information Network offer a wide variety of resources to help grad students and families deal with the unexpected.
• Free, confidential, 24/7 assistance is available for faculty, staff and postdocs from MyLife Services.
• MIT Office of Religious, Spiritual, and Ethical Life: Chaplains are available to offer support and counsel to anyone in the MIT community.
• Dean on Call: Students living on campus can dial 100 from campus phones or 617-253-1212 to reach MIT Police, then ask to speak to the dean on call. The dean on call is available Monday through Friday, 5 p.m.–9 a.m., and on Saturdays, Sundays and MIT-observed holidays.