UArts Day 2018 Participation Highlights

The second annual UArts Day was held on Friday, October 6, with almost 1,000 students participating in a wide variety of activities. UArts Day is a campus-wide celebration that builds community, expands our connections to Philadelphia and strengthens the creative and professional skills of our students.

Students engage in city-orienting and professional practice events. This year’s events for students included the Great Race, a line-up of more than 50 city-wide challenges exclusively for new first year students; and Inside-Out Sessions a series of workshops, field trips and engagements exclusively for upper-class students. At the end of the day, Pine Street was closed and students, faculty and staff gathered for a block party with food trucks and music.

The diversity and quality of the programs our students enjoyed were truly remarkable. Below is a recap - a “UArts Day by the numbers” report - on the activities of our students, and some highlights of contributions made by departments and individuals.

Participation Overview:

1,300 estimated attendance at Celebration & Block Party

382 Great Race participants (first year students) who played in the app; completing a total of 1,678 Great Race Challenges. One student completed 31 Challenges!

602 Upper-class students attended Inside Out Sessions.

Programming Efforts & Overview:

60 Challenges for "The Great Race" first-year student activity were completed across the categories of “MeetUp”, “Professional” and “City” were programmed by faculty and staff across the university.

15 alumni were directly involved in programming the Great Race, hosting MeetUps or participating in Professional Challenges.

20 Inside Out Sessions which ranged from field trips and site visits, to intensive workshops and game days for upper-class students, were programmed and organized by our academic departments. Many of those contained events within events.

9 external guests were invited to lead Inside Out upper-class students sessions.

5 Inside Out Sessions for upper-class students were off-site visits to institutions like The Analog Watch Co., Design Science, APIARY Magazine, and the Walnut Street Theater.

3,500 specialty food items were served to our students, faculty, and staff in 4 hours by 7 external food trucks.

Great Race Participation Highlights:

30 different city challenges were completed across the city by our students, public art visits, theater walk-bys, and music venue drop-ins. Throughout the day, we had students in Rittenhouse Square, Chinatown, Spring Garden, Old City, Queen Village, and Fairmount.

230 first-year students started the day with Group Selfie Challenge in Solmssen Court.

92 first-year students found their way to Love Park, and took that classic Philly photo under the LOVE statue.

75 first-year students participated in the I AM UARTS Collage, the completed collage now hangs in Campus Life in Hamilton Hall, room 151.

56 first-year students completed the "Find a Job Challenge" hosted by Career Services.

53 first-year students said "Hi to Title IX!", learning more about resources on campus and reviewing the Domestic Violence Awareness Month Calendar of Events.

35 first-year students visited the UArts Library History Challenge, learning about the history of UArts.

26 first-year students participated in Face to Face with your Advisor, visiting Academic Advising staff in their offices and meeting staff.

23 first-year students attended "The Naked Roommate," a conflict resolution workshop hosted by Residence Life.

 

Inside Out Participation Highlights:

240 students attend the Fluxus Art Carnival, a collaborative event sponsored by the School of Art, School of Dance and School of Music.

48 students registered to go to the movies at Ritz theaters in old city with film department faculty.

39 students registered to be part of an Animation Film jury panel during the Animation Film Festival.

32 students registered to hear about post-graduate life from a Brind School Alumni Panel.

23 students registered, and many more stopped by, the Therapeutic Horticultural Garden to plant bulbs and create art with radishes.

15 students registered to create a mobile app with Product Design.

And there were several other successful field trips and workshops happening throughout campus, each sponsored and organized by our academic departments!