As school gets back into rhythm and back-to-back Zoom meetings tire out our eyes, places to unwind and be immersed in nature are needed now more than ever. Rice students are lucky that Houston has a variety of parks and gardens right outside the hedges of campus, as easy as a walk or Metro ride away. With plenty of walking trails, beautiful flora and fauna and special events, these parks offer a chance to relax and unwind – and enjoy the weather before it gets humid again!
For the past few months, the Graduate Student Association and the Student Association have been discussing how to facilitate a more cohesive Rice student body. A proposed graduate student meal plan at the campus serveries would open undergraduate spaces to graduate students to address potential food insecurity. Another initiative is geared explicitly toward interaction between the two student populations: mentorship-focused meals would bring together undergraduate students who are interested in graduate (or possibly even professional school) with Rice graduate students who are willing to provide mentorship over several meals a semester.
The fall 2021 semester began with online classes amid a rise in COVID-19 cases in the Houston area, attributed to the Delta variant. As the semester progressed, though, restrictions were gradually lifted, allowing for a nearly normal semester. Now, given the rapid spread of the Omicron variant, classes are online for the first two weeks of the semester once again. This change, along with the administration’s request for students to delay their return to campus, has prompted some students to change their plans for the beginning of the semester.
Thirty to forty percent of incoming students at Rice indicate an interest in pre-health studies. But only around 200 students end up applying to medical school each cycle, according to John Fierst, the assistant director of the Office of Academic Advising.
During winter recess the Rice campus is probably at its emptiest, as students living in the residential colleges must leave shortly after the fall semester ends. But the past two winters have not been normal, and for the second time, students with approval from the Dean of Undergraduates’ office were permitted to remain in their dorms over the recent winter recess.
The basketball team had just recently won their season opener 60-15 while a contract for the construction of what would become Hanszen Old Section was awarded in the week that the very first issue of the Thresher was printed 106 years ago, January 15, 1916.
Throughout the winter recess, the prospect of another semester of online learning led me to continuously hit the Gmail refresh button, waiting for a sign of what my academic future would hold. Peer institutions, one by one, enrolled themselves in Zoom University, and Rice inevitably followed. Then I realized I needed to buy the blue light glasses that had been sitting in my Amazon cart for six months.
Until an earthquake struck northern California, Provost Reginald DesRoches intended to be a mechanical engineer. While studying for his Ph.D. at University of California, Berkeley, DesRoches said he was used to feeling tremors in the ground — but this earthquake, approximately a 7.0 on the Richter scale, was different.
In high school, Chidera Ibezue knew that she wanted to pursue medicine. Ibezue said community service and volunteer work helped her realize that. She entered Rice as a biochemistry major but soon shifted to a major in psychology (with a minor in biochemistry and cell biology), which makes a lot of sense for her career interest, she said.
For as long as she could remember, Peggy Polydoros has wanted to study in Greece. Polydoros, a Will Rice College senior, is a Greek-American majoring in Ancient Mediterranean Civilizations, so living in Greece was a perfect match for her personal and professional interests, she said. But when the pandemic hit, her plans were disrupted — in the face of surging coronavirus cases and major uncertainty about what travel would look like, she had a tough decision to make about whether to study abroad.
At Rice, Ryan Emelle has found community in different places. Her residential college is one of them: according to Emelle, the residential college system provides a loving and supportive community. When she was applying to college, Rice’s residential college system stood out, she said.
Before Glenn Youngkin (Will Rice College ’90) was elected governor of Virginia, he was once a Rice student; double majoring in mechanical engineering and managerial studies, Youngkin also played on the Owls’ basketball team.
