虽然过去的一年带来了历史挑战，但它也是一个刺激的行动，致电Wellesley - 以及我们每个人 - 迈进我们的全力。

As I write these words, we are still in thrall to the COVID-19 pandemic, moving through a dark winter toward widespread vaccinations. The economy is precarious. Calls for racial justice continue to resound, as do urgent cries for action on climate change. At Wellesley, teaching is both in person and remote, with roughly half of our students now on campus, and while our efforts have staved off campus COVID-19 spread, the need for physical distance has been difficult.

然而，在这种痛苦和破坏中，Wellesley Spirit闪耀着。在我们的社区中，我目睹了最重要的是最重要的能量：我们每个人都必须帮助建立一个新的和更美好的世界。

一位Wellesley学生在做的是Shreya Huilgol '21，一个认知和语言学科学专业，带有卫生和社会的未成年人，他们在圣地亚哥在家中学习。在2020年的课程中，Shreya对公共卫生的长期兴趣更强大，以及她对社会变革工作的承诺。“作为学生，由于我们的青年，我们在一个独特的位置，”她告诉我。“这是我们进入的时刻。这真的很令人兴奋。“

去年夏天，在与在那里工作的Wellesley alumna连接后，Shreya对全球健康保护部门的疾病控制部门的中心感到兴奋。虽然她错过了华盛顿体验的人内在的Wellesley，但Shreya指出，随着实习的偏远，她能够将它扩展到秋季学期，意外的好处。

当我们展望大流行病的未来时，我们最大的目标之一是帮助学生充分利用任何其他时间。以承诺具有真实和持久的影响的方式来引导他们的激情。

That was the overarching goal of our first-ever January Project, a College-wide winter term collaborative effort that offered a range of virtual student programs designed to foster reflections, relationships, and bridges.

1月份的项目产品是每个班级的沉浸性经验，包括读书和讨论摩洛哥 - 美国小说家Laila Lalami的第一年常见文本项目其他美国人。In true Wellesley spirit, alumnae around the world read along with first-year students in the new Alumnae Association book group.

“Literature can be such a powerful first step toward civic engagement,” says Eve Zimmerman, professor of Japanese and director of Wellesley’s Susan and Donald Newhouse Center for the Humanities, who co-created the initiative with Dean of First-Year Students Shanté Brown. “You step into the shoes of another. It helps develop empathy with other perspectives. Reading together also fosters a sense of connection and home. We want every student to have this.”

正如在共同的文本项目中反映，每个1月份的计划都针对学生的发展阶段量身定制。大学生社区参与经验试图帮助学生构建有效社会变革工作所必不可少的人际交往，在他们的家庭社区或其他虚拟空间中试验这些技能，而初级和高级蜂巢实习项目经验 - 短期虚拟实习经验that, like Shreya’s, were in many cases arranged through Wellesley parents or alumnae eager to be mentors—were designed to ease students’ transitions into their next chapters.

1月的项目还提供了一系列的种子rs hosted by centers, institutes, and offices across campus, highlighting themes from the 2020 Tanner Conference: the COVID-19 pandemic, the changing climate, the movement for racial justice, and the 2020 election. Especially exciting to me was the opportunity for every student to hear an amazing slate of outside speakers, including global leaders hosted remotely by the Albright Institute at a time when global collaboration is as essential as it is at risk.

去年春天，印度作家Arundhati Roy观察到Pandemics在历史上担任了一个世界和下一个迫切的人类之间的门户，“与过去打破并想象他们的世界。”毫无疑问，Wellesley学生和alumnae将在这里成为最前沿。我们承诺尽我们所能确保这是如此。