In college, it can be hard to find opportunities to give back to the campus community. 

At Root and Stem, a club at the University of Minnesota, members have the opportunity to connect with youth in the Twin Cities community through various events, teaching the necessary skills and knowledge for a future career in STEM. 

The club, founded in 2022, aims to provide a safe and collaborative space for women and nonbinary students in STEM while supporting the local community through volunteering at local events for young people who may be interested in STEM subjects, said president Sydney Rakow.  

Root and Stem hosts an annual summer camp through the University’s Recreation and Wellness Center, and partners with the Masonic Cancer Center and the Minnesota Academy of Science to work with underprivileged youth to engage them in science activities, Rakow said. 

The annual summer camp, called Rooted in Stem, takes place on the University’s St. Paul campus, Rakow said. 

All camp activities are planned by the club and include things like making an egg drop and other STEM-based projects. Activities take place at the Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering makerspace. 

The club also works with high schoolers at the Masonic Cancer Center to give them resources for navigating the college decision process. 

Rakow said being involved in this club gave her a new perspective on the privilege of education. 

“Being in a position of privilege, it’s really important to give back to people who aren’t in the same position,” Rakow said. “I was never worried about going to university, but I think there are a lot of people who aren’t sure if that’s right for them. As a university student, I think it’s really important to speak to the youth who really feel unsure about it.” 

Rakow said she has enjoyed seeing the club gain members and unite for a cause. 

“It was something that I wasn’t sure if people would be interested in, as I said, but I’m really happy that we found a good group of people that I feel like are really engaged and willing to help out with the club,” Rakow said. “It means a lot to me.” 

Melissa Daniel, vice president of the club, said mentoring middle and high school students feels rewarding, and she hopes students feel fulfilled too. 

“I’m a STEM major, and I know that it can be tough and frustrating,” Daniel said. “I know that  when I was in middle and high school, I would have loved to have older students help with stuff and guide me.”

As a student at the University, Daniel said connecting with the community outside of campus helps her to feel like she is making a difference in the community as well as at the University.  

“I have never had an experience like this, I’ve never been like a mentor,” Daniel said. “It just makes me feel like I’m making a difference, to be a leader not just for like the younger students, but also for fellow students at the U.”

The Art History Club at the University of Minnesota unites students studying art as well as those interested in the subject through various events and opportunities, including museum visits, guest speakers and social events. 

The club was revived in fall 2023 after taking a hiatus due to COVID-19. In an effort to bring students studying art history closer, department members reached out to club president Teagan Londo and other officers to get the club started again. 

Londo said she has always had a huge interest in art history. Since being at the University, she said she and the other officers are all very active within the art history department. 

“We wanted to make it accessible for more people who maybe weren’t as available to do extra lectures or do extra work outside of classes,” Londo said. “But we still wanted to be a resource for people who had a general interest.” 

Since the art history department is relatively small, the club tries to get people involved and connected, Londo said. She added the club events are centered around art but often include a craft or fun activity that aims to teach members about art. 

“We try to make those connections and get people involved where we can,” Londo said. “It’s just a really fun way to get people into the conversation without just kind of droning on about one particular piece that maybe they’ve already studied. We try to go outside of the box a little bit.”

Camille Dauplaise, the club’s marketing officer, joined last spring in hopes of making more connections with others in art history. 

“I think that it’s kind of a small major at the U and a lot of the time you don’t have chances to talk to other people in your classes, since usually you just go and listen to the lectures and leave,” Dauplaise said. “I felt like it would be a fun way to make friends and also, I had seen some of the posters from previous events like visiting museums and auction houses.” 

Dauplaise said she decided to study art history because she was always interested in the topic and wanted to work in an art museum. 

As someone interested in contemporary art, Dauplaise enjoys learning about social movements and protest art and plans to study the topic further in graduate school. She said she enjoys finding the hidden details and stories behind the art she learns about in class.  

“I definitely see art as a means of expressing yourself, and I look at art throughout history as a way to kind of track human behavior and politics and change in society,” Dauplaise said. “I usually don’t make art myself. Growing up I enjoyed making art, but I feel like I never explored making it myself. I always like going to art museums, and I just find it visually beautiful and interesting.”

University of Minnesota Graduate Labor Union (GLU) members voted to ratify its first contract with University administration from Dec. 2 to 6. 

Once signed, the contract will raise pay for graduate workers, increase their protections in the workplace and cover fees to offset semesterly student fees. For the contract to go into effect, the Board of Regents needs to sign off.

Bargaining Committee member Sam Boland said he hopes the regents will approve it at their next meeting on Dec. 12 and 13. If not, Boland said the bargaining committee is asking the Board to call a special session to approve the contract in January. 

In an emailed statement to The Minnesota Daily, University spokesperson Jake Ricker said it is not feasible for the regents to go over the agreement at its December meeting, though they are working to schedule a special meeting.

Boland said as with any union contract, it will be violated at times, and it is up to GLU members to enforce their rights and file any grievances or unfair labor practices. 

“The University has committed to training all faculty who supervise graduate assistants on the contract,” Boland said. “To make sure that everyone understands the rights that it guarantees and what all the obligations are university and obligations of graduate assistants.” 

“We’re excited,” Boland said. “The process is over, and so now we have to enforce it.” 

The agreement provides graduate assistants with a $27 per hour minimum wage as well as annual wage increases, student fee support, paid personal days and other workplace protections, Ricker said.

Ricker said the University appreciates the support of GLU members in approving the agreement, and planning has already begun to implement the contract.

Office of Human Resources Vice President Ken Horstman said in the statement that the University is now focused on ensuring the University implements the agreement systemwide. 

“Our focus is on ensuring that the University complies with all of the terms and conditions of the agreement systemwide, and we are working diligently to expedite the implementation of this agreement,” Horstman said.

Boland said there is still work to be done on a contract for fellows, and the bargaining committee is hopeful the process will begin in the spring semester. 

“We will be working with the University to determine who should be included within our bargaining unit,” Boland said. “Who’s doing labor on behalf of the university, versus receiving a fellowship as financial aid? We’d like to have our fellows have the same contract as our graduate assistants.” 

While many students at the University of Minnesota opt to go abroad for an entire semester, it can be a challenge for some to fit a full semester into their schedule. 

The University’s Learning Abroad Center (LAC) offers programs over winter break for students looking to go abroad for a shorter period of time or to beat the cold weather. 

LAC Director of Programs Zach Mohs said full semester abroad programs can be a lot for students. He added there may be other factors hindering their ability to go abroad for that long, and a winter break session is a great way to combat that. 

“It’s typically a time where I would say students don’t have as many commitments, and most of the programs leave typically right after Christmas and then get back before spring semester starts,” Mohs said. “So again, there’s that window that works really well in general with those programs.” 

The weather in Minnesota is also a draw for students to go abroad over winter break, Mohs said. Programs offered in Mexico, Australia and Thailand are popular for students for that reason. 

For programs in Mexico especially, students can take Spanish-intensive courses while abroad, which can be helpful for those looking to improve their understanding of the language, Mohs said.

In the winter break sessions, students typically take one seminar course with varying credits. Taking any course abroad can provide a cultural context to supplement the course. 

“It’s nice to get credits done at a time when most people are not making progress,” Mohs said. “Whether it’s a liberal education requirement or language requirement or a major requirement.”

Paige Dubbin, who graduated from the University in July, studied global health in Thailand last winter break. As a pre-med student, she said it was difficult to find a program that fit her schedule. 

The global health program in Thailand was a perfect fit for her interests, Dubbin said. While in Thailand, she visited hospitals and other wellness places to gain perspective on how healthcare works in other countries. 

“I was really curious to learn why and what makes it such a popular tourist destination, and now I know why, Dubbin said. “Because it’s wonderful.” 

Dubbin said she learned a lot from her time abroad, especially how religion plays a part in the culture of the country. 

“We went to temples every day. We met with monks every day. We learned all about their culture and their religion,” Dubbin said. “That was something that I had never really known anything about, and it was interesting.”

Dubbin also visited elephant conservation camps, where the group discussed morality and what is humane for animals.    

​​”One thing I learned was how morality is often associated with status,” Dubbin said. “But I felt like it would kind of be wrong for an outsider to judge how the Thai people were humane to these animals when I’ve never seen an elephant in my life until I got there. It was really cool to learn about all these different viewpoints and get access to all of that.”  

Going to Thailand changed Dubbin’s life, she said. One thing she loved about going abroad was meeting people and learning the culture of the country. 

“It was the biggest life-changing experience ever,” Dubbin said. “I would not be the person I am today without that trip.” 

The University of Minnesota’s Recreation and Wellness Center aims to have inclusive and accessible spaces for all students through inclusive programming, intramural sports and more. 

The RecWell has adaptive equipment in its gym spaces and offers adaptive intramural sports to promote inclusivity in health and wellness for the campus community.

Cardiovascular equipment like a wheelchair roller for stationary, treadmill-like use, strength equipment like wheelchair-accessible cable machines and other equipment such as floats for adaptive swimming and more are available for all to use at the gym.  

Along with adaptive equipment, the RecWell offers adaptive sports like goalball and wheelchair basketball.   

RecWell Assistant Director of Facilities and Intramurals Shandon Sutherland said a culture of community and inclusion for all students is one of the RecWell’s goals. 

The RecWell has many inclusion-centered programs including the Small World Coffee Hour, an event where students can connect with each other while drinking coffee and eating snacks, Sutherland said. Last week, goalball players hosted a demo of the game during the coffee hour and socialized with fellow students. 

Sutherland said there was a need for accessible sports, especially goalball, on campus. He said students came to him with requests for a space to play goalball at the RecWell.   

“We’re always thinking about adaptive programming, it’s more than just checking a box,” Sutherland said. “What we really look for is if these students come to us to communicate a need, and then we pretty much do everything we can to make it happen.” 

Next semester, the RecWell hopes to provide even more inclusive and accessible events and resources for students, Sutherland said. 

Although there is a wheelchair basketball program in place, the RecWell has seen a lull in the program and is hoping to start it back up again, he said. 

“We’re trying to find those regulars and people who are really committed and passionate about it to form that community,” Sutherland said. “Having a community around programs like this is really what pushes it forward, rather than just putting it out there every week.” 

The RecWell also plans to host an Adaptive Sports Night at some point early in the spring semester. The event will be in collaboration with the Exercise is Medicine Club and will feature a guest speaker panel and set aside time for attendees to play adaptive sports. 

However, Sutherland said this inclusivity and accessibility extends beyond athletic programs, including wheelchair-accessible bathrooms and locker rooms. 

Sutherland encouraged students to reach out to RecWell staff via email or through social media, as they are always looking for new opportunities for students. 

“Our tagline here at RecWell is, ‘You belong here,’” Sutherland said. “Everything we do is about creating a place and a space where everyone feels like they belong.”

The University of Minnesota’s physical activity program offers a vast array of courses for all students, aiming to keep students active. 

From classes like curling to individual posture and exercise, students can try something new or hone existing skills. 

According to the physical activity program webpage, the program collaborates with Intercollegiate Athletics, the Department of Recreational Sports and the University Equine Center to host courses in many University facilities, including Huntington Bank Stadium. 

Curling instructor Lionel Locke said his class is held at the Frogtown Curling Club in St. Paul, the closest curling arena to the University. 

At a curling club, Locke said the ice needs to be very flat and must have more texture than ice in a hockey rink, which is why the class is held at a curling arena rather than a hockey rink.

“It’s a very precise game,” Locke said. “Ice conditions change based on the humidity of the arena, the temperature of the ice, the temperature of the inside air, whether or not it’s drafty and how many players are curling at the same time. All that has an effect on ice conditions, which affect each individual curling shot.” 

This curling class is mainly for beginners, Locke said. In the class, students learn the rules of the game, the history of the sport and how to play.    

For part of their final grade, students will play a game of curling at the end of the course against a group of more experienced curlers, Locke said. 

“That’s a good test for me as an instructor to see how well I have taught the students and how well they’ve learned in order to play an actual competitive game against someone who already played for five years or even more,” Locke said. 

Locke started curling when he was eight and has stuck with the sport ever since. In addition to teaching at the University, he also teaches individual and group lessons at a couple of other curling clubs in the Twin Cities area. 

“It’s a lifetime sport for me,” Locke said. “I’ve been a competitor my whole life, and I think I’m just giving back to the curling community, what I’ve learned and about the game as a curling instructor.”

The University also offers individual posture and exercise as a physical education class, which covers various exercise modalities students can do on their own, instructor Amanda Frayeh said. 

Those modalities include yoga, pilates, resistance training and high intensity interval training. 

“The idea is that all of these different exercise modalities help to develop body awareness,” Frayeh said. “We also talk about how these activities can help with stress management and overall just being more physically grounded and mentally clear.”

Frayeh was asked to develop the class in an online format and has been teaching it that way ever since, she said. 

“Because this online format was so popular, we’ve just kept it and it seems like it’s really meeting a need,” Frayeh said. “So it’s just a great way that they can try out a new activity, and they can do the comfort of their dorm room, and not have to worry about other people judging them.”

Each week, the class does two exercise sessions, a goal-setting assignment and a weekly exercise schedule that students plan themselves.

Overall, Frayeh hopes this class can be a stress reliever for students. 

“Students have so much stress and so many things that they’re juggling,” Frayeh said. “I think this helps them just carve out time to breathe and just take a little bit of a mental break from those things and be more mindful of their bodies.

The University of Minnesota and its Graduate Labor Union (GLU) reached a tentative contract agreement on Friday with proposed changes to benefit GLU members. 

GLU members will be voting from Dec. 2 to 6 to ratify the University’s proposed contract which includes a minimum hourly pay raise, protections from harassment in the workplace, fee subsidies to offset the cost of semester fees and time off for personal days.  

GLU has been in bargaining negotiations with the University since September 2023, with negotiations suspended in October due to a Maintenance of Status Quo order issued by the Bureau of Mediation Services. 

The order was issued the day after the University filed a petition with BMS to determine whether or not fellows should be included in the contract negotiations. 

Once bargaining resumed after several negotiation sessions, bargaining members reached a tentative agreement with the University, which will be voted on by GLU members next week. 

Members will vote on the ratification of the contract next week, bargaining committee member Sam Boland said. If members vote to reject the contract, they will authorize a strike. 

Boland said striking is still a possibility, but committee members realize it is not something all of GLU wants. 

With the threat of the strike, Boland said the bargaining committee was able to push the University to give GLU an offer they believe a majority of their members will ratify.  

“There’s a lot of fear about retaliation from advisors or from the University and particularly amongst graduate international students,” Boland said. “We realize that there’s not a huge appetite for a strike right now, and that’s not something that we want to force all of our members to have to make that decision.” 

Boland said he knows not all GLU members will be pleased with this contract, and he does not expect ratification of the contract to pass with “flying colors.” He said it is important that GLU members understand what is at stake and make the best decision for themselves in voting. 

“We really just want as many people to vote as possible, because this needs to be a decision that is made by the majority of our unit,” Boland said. 

Although the contract is not what some members had envisioned, Boland hopes members consider the progress the bargaining unit and GLU have made, although he encourages members to vote any way they want so they feel represented.  

“We knew that this contract didn’t have all of the things that we were expecting it to have but ultimately we have to consider the will of the membership and the huge amount of progress that we’ve made,” Boland said. 

Mini Medical School celebrated 25 years with another successful fall session that ran from Nov. 6 to Nov. 20. 

The program, run by the Office of Clinical Affairs at the University of Minnesota, is a virtual event hosted twice a year in the spring and fall. 

Sessions are open to greater community members with an interest in medicine and offer a glimpse into the health sciences at the University. 

Topics differ in each session. In the past, the program covered topics such as food and nutrition, mental health and aging. 

This year’s Mini Medical School, “Bones Across the Ages,” discussed bone health. Through three virtual sessions offered on Nov. 6, 13 and 20, participants learned about pediatric and adolescent orthopedics, sports medicine and geriatric bone health from faculty members from the University’s Department of Orthopedic Surgery. 

The Mini Medical School was founded in 1999 as an in-person event in Moos Tower. In 2020, the event shifted to a virtual format, which was able to reach a wider audience, Communications Project Manager Gao Vang said. 

“It opened it up to people from across Minnesota, people who wouldn’t be able to have made it otherwise, we have people tuning in from across the country,” Vang said. 

The program is usually free, Vang said, and while the organizers are still fine-tuning the virtual format, its goal is to make health sciences accessible to the broader community. 

With the community-driven approach in mind, Vang said the goal of Mini Medical School is to answer community members’ questions and connect them with expertise and research to understand answers to their questions and advancements made in the field. 

“If we can bridge that and connect the community members with knowledge here and research that’s happening in real-time, advances that we’re making at the University, I think that’s really the ultimate goal,” Vang said. 

Vang said a lot of attendees are retirees who may have a lot of questions about aging. The Mini Medical School aims to share their knowledge as best they can, she added.

Ann Van Heest, vice chair for education in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery, was this year’s moderator. Van Heest said she enjoyed getting to hear colleagues speak about their areas of research. She said the Department was a natural fit for this year’s sessions.  

“Our department has about 100 physicians and affiliates who are part of our musculoskeletal health care,” Van Heest said. “We had never participated, and they’re looking for new topics every time, and we’re a very common health problem.” 

In medicine, healthcare literacy, which is how well you read and understand health, is often talked about. To Van Heest, it is important for the public to have an understanding of their own health and improve their healthcare literacy. 

“Your literacy in healthcare is how much you know and understand about your own health and the health of others,” Van Heest said. “And so it’s important for everybody to improve their healthcare literacy, to better understand their own health and the health of their friends and family.”

The University of Minnesota’s Cooking Club incorporates community by allowing members to create meals at their meetings every other week.  

The club, revived last semester after a several-year hiatus, is open to students of all cooking abilities. In the past, members made pasta from scratch, had a cookout and made Halloween snacks. 

Club president Katie Nordling said she joined last year after seeing flyers around campus.

“When I was in high school, I found a home leading things,” Nordling said. “When I saw that there was an opportunity to become a part of the leadership team for the cooking club, I pounced on it because I thought it would be super cool.”

As president, Nordling has many responsibilities but enjoys the sense of community and accomplishments of cooking. 

“I enjoy when I find a recipe for something and then I make it and I get to see it turn out,” Nordling said. “Being able to take the time to try something new, to figure out how it works, and then once you know how it works, make it. Then once you’ve made it you feel like you’re on top of the world.” 

Head chef Bobby Buehler learned to cook from his mom and took an interest in cooking from her.  

“I started helping out in the kitchen a lot, and it eventually turned into me making dinner for us sometimes,” Buehler said. “I really enjoyed it when other people enjoyed the food that I made. I started working in kitchens and the service industry, and I just love that something as simple as making a meal for somebody can provide an experience and real emotion.”

A fourth-year food science major, Buehler said he learned a lot about kitchens and food systems and hopes to bring that knowledge to the club next semester. 

Buehler said he plans to teach club members about the basic ingredients they should have in their food pantry, how to cook great recipes on a college budget and understand where their ingredients come from. 

“I just want to give as many people the tools necessary to be able to eat more than prepackaged ramen,” Buehler said.

Nordling said her experiences and the welcoming environment made her want to stay involved, and she hopes to continue that feeling for new members.

“We just want to make a warm place where you can come and cook together, have fun together and make something new beyond possibilities that you thought you couldn’t do,” Nordling said. “We’re open to all experience levels, if you’ve been a master chef for 10 years, or if you have never picked up a whisk once.”

Books and Beyond, a book club at the University of Minnesota, builds a community of book lovers during their meetings. 

The club holds two monthly meetings. One meeting focuses on a book discussion and the other on book-themed activities, such as games and making crafts. In the past, the club has made puppets, played a ping pong game with poetry, and watched a romantic comedy or murder mystery movie.  

Co-President Siobhan Crowley helped found the club in fall 2022. She said she and Co-President Lauren Vander Pas both wanted to join a book club, but there were not any available then. 

“We just decided to start one,” Crowley said. “At the end of our freshmen year, we started doing all the administrative stuff that you have to do to start a club, finding other officers and things. We’ve been with the club ever since.” 

Crowley said the club has become a community. Being in a leadership role allowed her to make sure the club fostered positive relationships between members. 

According to Crowley, it has been amazing to watch members enjoy club activities and learn new things about books and themselves.

“It’s just wonderful to also feel like I’ve had a role in kind of making that happen, of knowing that these two people became friends, and they wouldn’t have done that if they hadn’t met each other at this event,” Crowley said.

Books and Beyond attracts lifelong and new readers alike, Crowley said. The club reads a wide variety of books voted on by the club’s members, ranging from romance books like “Meet Me in the Margins” to memoirs like “Crying in H-Mart.” 

Vice President Kelli Kozlov said being a club officer means she can do more for the community. By working with people and helping in community engagement, she feels she can make the club a valuable space. 

“A book community is super valuable, at least to me,” Kozlov said. “So I was like, ‘If I can contribute to that and make that happen, I think that would be super cool.’”

Along with monthly meetings, the club often does community service events. On top of having a community of readers through the club, Crowley said they hope to give back to the community. 

The main two nonprofits they did events for were Reach Out and Read, which provides books to children’s hospitals in Minnesota, and Books for Africa, which provides books for children in Africa, Crowley said.  

“We went and had a couple events with them, where we would sort books and pack for them,” Crowley said. “The other one that we’ve worked with is called Books for Africa, which has a kind of similar premise, where they send books over, and we also help them sort through the books.”

An avid reader since high school, Kozlov said she joined the club to talk about books with her friends.

“It’s kind of that feeling of nostalgia or just that warm feeling that comes with people that understand you or are interested in the same things,” Kozlov said. “So I think that space is really important and really exciting, especially because I already like books. I think that’s really the best part about it for me.”