Get Ready for the Time of Your Life!

Hey LTI Community!

The count down to the LTI Opening Ceremony has begun! One week and 1 day left until the Spring 2009 session starts.

LTI Exec. and Mentors are putting the finishing touches on the renovated 2009 curriculum. Look for new activities, reflection exercises, and ice breakers!

Mentors are wrapping up the LTI IAP program in Mexico this upcoming week. The program was a huge success this year! Read more about their everyday experiences in the LTI Mexico blog.

Next Up for LTI Blog:

Interviews with the Exec. and Reflections from the Mentors

Opening Ceremony Reminders!

Greetings!

IAP is nearing an end at MIT, which means the start of classes and the Spring 2009 LTI Session!

Reminder: LTI Opening Ceremony
When: Sunday February 1st, 2009
What time: 12:00 noon to 3:00 pm
Where: MIT Room 32-141

Reminder: LTI Spring Schedule
When: Sundays February 8th--May 10th
What time: 12:00 noon to 4:00 pm
Where: MIT Room 4-149
*Note: Due to MIT and local high school holidays, there will be no LTI session Feb. 15, Mar. 22, and Apr. 19.

Welcoming Packets have been sent out. Please complete the forms and have them ready at the opening ceremony!

Be sure to RSVP the number of guests for the ceremony ASAP to lti-directors@mit.edu.

IAP!

Hey guys!

I'm Jia Zhu, LTI's Director of Public Relations. I'm taking over for Lily Xu for the time being.
Right now is MIT's IAP or Independent Activities Period when students have the option of taking classes, participating in undergraduate research, traveling the world, or simply pursuing a hobby.

Many LTI members are currently implementing the LTI Program Curriculum for middle school students in Mexico! LTI members currently on campus are wrapping up the student recruitment for the upcoming spring semester.

Applicants, please check your emails! Notifications of applicant status have been emailed out, but we have received only a very limited amount of responses. We are currently calling applicants in hopes of receiving a quicker response.
We will also be sending out welcome packets to accepted students next week. Please fill out the forms and bring them with you to the LTI opening ceremony!

We are all extremely excited about the upcoming spring program! We look forward to meeting you!

Jia Zhu
Director of Public Relations

LTI staff in Mexico

Hello everyone,

My name is YeSeul Kim and I am the founder of LTI. Last summer I was in Mexico working for Telmex, a telecommunications firm. Telmex established Casa Telmex, YMCA-type centers that provide free computer training and access to internet for poor children throughout Mexico. This IAP (MIT's school-free January period), I gathered a group of LTI mentors and an executive member to join me in implementing a leadership curriculum (based on our very own spring curriculum) that I developed and translated last summer.

We are in Tuxtla-Gutierrez now, the capital of Chiapas. Chiapas is the southern most state in Mexico; it is also the poorest. We are here to train the facilitators of Casa Telmex Tuxtla the pedagogy of leadership while also running a 3 week pilot leaderhsip program for Mexican students ages 13-16. For more information about our adventures, please visit our blog at lti-mexico.blogspot.com

Training for Mexico

A couple thoughts from mentors Kyle Knoblock and David Zou after training sessions before the big trip to Mexico*:

"The Media Lab training was a lot of fun. The discussions with Andres about Scartch and PicoCrickets was interesting, but I really enjoyed when we had the oportunity to write a program in Scratch and build something with PicoCrickets. I am a computer science student, and for me seeing a method of programming like that was surprusing. It was quite easy to learn and very fun to do. I believe that the Mexican kids will like Scratch and PicoCrickets a lot, and I'm happy that they will have such an oportunity to learn about technology."
- Kyle Knoblock

"I think PicoCrickets and Scratch are a great way for students to use technology and become comfortable using it. The Scratch website and the ability for students, from all over the world who don't necessarily even speak same languages, to share their project with each other is an especially exciting feature of Scratch. The training got me very excited about introducing Scratch and PicoCrickets to the students and I really look forward to seeing the different projects the students will make with them."
- David Zou

* Scratch and PicoCrickets are two examples of technology we are implementing into the new curriculum. Scratch (scratch.mit.edu) allows users to use basic programming tools to convey a message that can be shared on the web. PicoCrickets (picocricket.com) combines a small computer and an assortment of sensors to create different works of art with which you can interact.

Student Applications

We have received your student applications and recommendations! We are currently in the process of reviewing them now. However, due to Thanksgiving break, we have decided to extend the application deadline to December 20th. Please continue sending them in! We are very excited about all the new potential students we will have in the spring.

We are finishing up mentor training and preparing for the upcoming spring session. Curriculum innovation is coming to completion as well. This year, the curriculum will include a concentration in technology. We are also reaching out to other service and leadership groups in hopes of creating a network of support and collaboration of ideals and programs.

Mentor Training

Congratulations to the new exec and directors! LTI recently restructured its exec board:

Shion An ’12 Secretary,
Sandra Chen ’12 Recruitment Chair,
Nicholas Dou ’12 Technology Chair,
Liane Fang ’11 Curriculum Chair,
Janice Jang ’10 Finance,
Taylor Jay ’11 Associate Director,
Amanda Mok ’11 Director,
Chris Ohlmacher ’11 Mentor Trainer,
Elli Pula ’11 Human Resources,
Lauren Rodda ’11 Programming Chair,
Lily Xu ’12 Marketing Chair,
Jia Zhou ’11 Publicity/Relations Director.


November 23rd Mentor Training finished. Chris Ohlmacher finished leading the last training session, so congratulations to all of our new mentors!

LTI is currently trying to get the word out about its curriculum. We will be on the Student Services Leadership Opportunities webpage soon.