1) Meaning--both of the word and place of your legacies
2) Journey--both the personal journey of your legacy holders as well as their collective journey through their travels at Minerva
3) Ritual--what will be revealed, discovered, and pondered beginning at orientation and throughout the four years.
- Place = still unknown (somewhere in Laurel Heights, possibly a viewpoint at corner of Euclid and Mason? Or the view from Lone Mountain, which is just south of Laurel Heights?)
- Meaning =
- Laurel traditionally refers to the plant “Laurus nobilis”, a bushy plant with leaves referred to as “laurels”
- In ancient times, a wreath of laurels was adorned as a “high honor” for being victorious or achieving some higher accomplishment of the soul (for people with distinctly precious & uncommon insights)
- It is a modern symbol of “peace” and “victory” and sometimes used for academic awards, such as graduate level degrees
- The laurel branches are often used on items given in honor of some high achievement, but also confused with the olive tree branches as the shape, size and form of the leaves is similar
- The phrase “don’t rest on your laurels” is to remind one not to be satisfied with past successes, considering further effort unnecessary … the phrase “look to one’s laurels” is to be careful of competition and not to lose rank
- Personal Interpretation
- With a long history, the laurel plant has played a role in cultures across the ages, a recognition of achievement by varying standards as societies transition over time. To be a “laurel” legacy is to consider what this word has meant as a symbol in the past, and to look forward to see what it might mean in the future. This means to ask questions, and NEVER rest on one’s laurels.
2) Journey--both the personal journey of your legacy holders as well as their collective journey through their travels at Minerva
- Each Laurel legacy needs to uncover their own meaning of the word, and thus their own interpretation of what it means to be a legacy overall as prompted by the note they will receive. The journey will be both personal and collective, a result of the rituals detailed below. No further information here as the ritual should make the process of the collective journey clear.
3) Ritual--what will be revealed, discovered, and pondered beginning at orientation and throughout the four years.
- As I have yet to determine the precise location of the “Laurel” legacy, this will remain a challenge -- an unknown fact for the new legacy members to assist in uncovering.
- Upon the IC arrivals, each will receive a handwritten note with a wax seal. This will only occur for the first year, future years it will be digitized through a google folder with email invitations/information. A “slack” channel will also exist for the Laurel Legacy Community so we can stay in touch via this channel, share google files, etc.
- Each note will contain the following:
- A description for why they have received this note (the extent of the information depends on when the IC are informed of their legacy word, as soon as I know I will add the exact phrasing to this document)
- Details for the challenge activity for finding the location
- The following questions (students will be asked to respond with initial reactions, thoughts, and not to worry about “knowing” the exact answer yet, this is to prompt discussion at the group eating event as we each find answers to the below questions both for ourselves and for us as a collective)
- Do not search the internet to assist in these answers, simply use your mind and original interpretation
- Define Laurel
- What do you consider (1) success (2) victory (3) honor (4) achievement, both for yourself and for others?
- What does the phrase “don’t rest on your laurels” mean?
- What do you want YOUR legacy to be, both within and beyond the Minerva community?
- After responding to the above questions, feel free to use external resources (external from your own minds) to assist in your interpretations
- Please complete This Card Before the group legacy gathering on “X” Date at “X” time
- Do not search the internet to assist in these answers, simply use your mind and original interpretation
- LOCATION unknown
- As such, searching for the legacy location will be part of an ACTIVITY for the IC members. After the location is determined and we go there together, we will design a scalable activity so future years may share in the process of discovering the location.
- During 1st semester (orientation week or otherwise) the Laurel legacies will travel as a group to Laurel Heights, once there each member may explore the surroundings in search of the physical location.
- When the location is confirmed with Gabi, she will let everyone know where to meet after 30 min. of free exploration in Laurel Heights, we will regroup and join for breakfast/lunch/dinner (depending what time of day this activity will occur based on other orientation week plans) at a location (possibly “Beautiful” a yummy cafe with great food, where I went my first visit to Laurel Heights in search for the legacy location) in Laurel Heights
- At that location together, I will ask each student for the “note” they received and use it as a prompt for the gathering discussion
- Here we will discuss how we, as a collective want to define the first iteration of the Laurel Legacy and how we want to hold each other accountable to the values we derive from this legacy word, both on personal, individual levels and as a group
- I will share my thoughts for how to be a cohesive group and see what the feedback is
- I want there to be a thread between the legacies in different years and cohorts, and I will start defining how this thread can develop during this dinner
- BUDGET
- ~ $50/legacy holder will be used for
- transportation to the legacy location
- the group meal
- materials for the note cards (only the 1st year)
- Remaining funds will be put in a collective account and used to support initiatives the legacy group finds:
- victorious, successful, exemplary of not “resting on one’s laurels”, honorary, achieving, etc.
- ~ $50/legacy holder will be used for