R.I.S.E.N.

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Dear Friends, Happy early spring wishes! This message sends a reminder about the R.I.S.E.N. event this coming Saturday, March 1st. After hosting over 30 students at the last event in the scenic reading room at Mayakovskaya Library (see photos at: http://vkontakte.ru/club680077), we are looking forward to hosting Russian and International students for more conversation, trivia questions, games, music, challenging topics and fellowship. Our list of represented countries has grown to 35, with students from over 15 different higher education institutions in St. Petersburg attending. Last week’s theme of “Higher Education: For the Science or the Art of Living?” proved to be challenging, especially for some of the sub-topics and how they relate to how we balance studies and life. Our theme for this Saturday: “Leadership, Followership and Stewardship.” As some mental food for thought leading up to the event, here are a few questions: Which leaders are the most influential on our personal lives: political, educational, scientific, religious, civil society, arts/music/sports? Why do we agree to follow the ideas, beliefs and attitudes of others? What attracts us to a leader and what makes us want to follow him or her? What do we gain from meeting other people who are following the same leader(s) as we are? How does our fellowship with people who are moving in the same direction as we are add to our lives? Can both leaders and followers also be stewards of others and of their environment? How does care for others affect our attitude toward caring for ourselves? Any quotations, images or song lyrics that you think are relevant to this theme are welcome! If you could please send them to R.I.S.E.N.'s address by Friday at noon they may make it into the presentation and supplement the discussions. Depending on the participants, we will have one or two small groups for Russian speakers. So if your friends want to come, but not to participate in English, then there will be a place for them. After the event some food and drinks are available in a social atmosphere in the Library. Hope to see you on Saturday! R.I.S.E.N. Coordinator Gregory Sandstrom Aspirant, SPbGU Canada “If you cry ‘Forward!’ you must without fail make plain in what direction to go. Don’t you see that if, without doing so, you call out the word to both an aristocrat and a revolutionary they will go in directions precisely opposite.” – A. Chekhov “A person has made at least a start on discovering the meaning of human life when they plants shade trees under which they know full well they will never sit.” – D. Elton Trueblood