Focus Work-Study Opportunity

FOCUS SCHOLARS WORK-STUDY PROGRAM 2016-2017

 This 4 hour/week work-study opportunity is available only for FOCUS students.  It is optional and it will replace 4 hours/week of your current work contract, if you have one. If you don’t have a work-contract, this will become your on-campus job.  The hours are flexible – you are in charge of scheduling them appropriately in each week and of filling out the electronic time-sheet each week. You are only paid for the hours you work, and you must log the hours using the electronic time-sheet system.  There is an Events Listing which will be available every week on the “FOCUS 2016-2017” Moodle page, to which you have access (look in “Non- Course Sites”). Note that this only lists Carleton events.  Your job title will be “FOCUS Northstar Scholar.” Chloe Bergstrand will be your supervisor.

You will need to do the following:

1. Attend events: Attend talks, seminars, presentations, events with academic content about science, math, engineering, technology, etc. This could be a student’s comps talk, a talk by a visiting seminar speaker, or in some cases, a play or movie that deals directly with scientific themes. The events can be at Carleton, St. Olaf, the University of Minnesota, or anywhere else you can get to! You will typically attend one event per week for this job. 2. Write a Reflective Essay: Write a short essay reflecting on your experience at the event (1 – 2 pages). Did you like it? If so, why? If not, why not, and how could it have improved? Did you understand it all? What did it make you think about? You must include a list of ~3 – 4 questions that you left the event with. You must upload this paper to the Moodle site. You will typically write one reflective essay per week for this job. 3. Write a Research Paper: Pick one of the questions you included in your reflective essay to research in the library/online and to write a short (2 – 4 pages) essay answering. This must include at least two references, no more than one of which can be from a general reference such as Wikipedia. You must upload this paper to the Moodle site. You will typically write one research paper per week for this job.

Submit your written reflections to the “FOCUS Scholars Write-up” folder on the FOCUS 2016-2017 Moodle page. Only FOCUS Scholars and the FOCUS Coordinator have access to this folder. You will not be graded and only the FOCUS Coordinator will read your write-up. If at any time you’d like to share your science writing with other FOCUS students, notify Chloe Bergstrand (bergstrandc), who will then post your article on the FOCUS Moodle page or include it in the FOCUS Newsletter.