This year Spouses & Partners Connect organized three events for Orientation Week: the Learning Fair, a Campus Tour and a Sunset Cruise. All our events were a success!!  Berenice Torrecillas gave us a summary of the events, and Siria Ledezma shared personal reflections on her relationship with MIT Spouses & Partners Connect.

Berenice-

We had more than 160 people in the Learning Fair with around eighteen organizations from MIT and off campus, sharing information about English Classes, Cooking, Photography and the diverse services offered at MIT, like the sports facilities, childcare, insurance coverage and more. The Learning Fair introduced the MIT community, and especially newly arrived spouses, to all the resources and useful information to support them in their days to come as part of MIT and during their lives in the Boston Area.  

The Sunset Cruise was a great opportunity for a smaller group of new and old Spouses & Partners Connect members to meet others in the "same boat", comparing notes on beginning life in the Boston area, while enjoying a wonderful sunset along the Charles River.

The Campus Tour was also a very popular, stroller friendly event. This year we had around 50 attendees plus some strollers and 15 volunteers! Well informed guides led a walk around the campus, pointing out the services and buildings that you don't hear about in the normal MIT tour, but which might be useful for us at some point. We focused on the places that are good to know about during our time at MIT, such as the Medical Center, Work Life Center, International Scholars Office and International Students Office, Student Center and Z Center and their services.

Siria-

Volunteering with MIT Spouses and Partners Connect during the orientation gave me the opportunity to meet new people from all over the world and find good friends. Each event I helped with was a new experience for me, where I experienced new challenges and happiness.
 
This year it was amazing to see the great turnout, which exceeded our expectations based on last year’s attendance, and included a lot of spouses with children who joined us on the Campus Tour.  For me, helping to organize the orientation events is a way to give back to MIT Spouses & Partners Connect a little bit of the support I’ve found since the first time I arrived. My best satisfaction is when I see how I help new spouses find their own friends and become integrated with the MIT community, living and enjoying their new lives.

Photo credits: Learning Fair by Barbara Lipohar Staples; Sunset Cruise by Shakti Lieten; Campus Tour by Saranya Padmanaban