Dates: September 7th-15th
Cost: $295 (plus rentals, if applicable)
Locations: Various state park campsites in the Midwest

Questions:

1. What is your favorite place in the world?
2. What is your favorite joke?
3. What experiences have you had that have made you excited about coming on PWild?

Project Wildcat's purpose is to provide incoming Northwestern freshman and transfer students with an orientation to the school and its students. The trip offers an opportunity for new students to make a group of close friends which, for the beginning and duration of their college experience, will be a comfort and support in new situations. The week that new students spend backpacking and camping in the woods eases the transition into college and offers an opportunity for introspection before beginning their Northwestern experience. Other goals of P-wild are to help instill a comfort with adventure, group-building and teamwork, challenge and growth, and leadership development. Alumni counselor, Bill Boyer, put it best, "It is what you make of it!" Of utmost importance to P-wild is that people enjoy themselves and nature.

Alternative Student Breaks

Dates: September 7th-15th
Cost: $205
Locations: 8 different locations throughout the Midwest

Questions:

1. Please rank all 8 of the ASB sites in the order that they interest you.  BRIEFLY explain why you want to go to your top three choices. 
2. If you could lead a volunteer trip to anywhere in the world, where would you go and what would you do there?
3. If you were a superhero, what would your special powers be? What would your costume look like?

Alternative Student Breaks is a service-learning organization that sends Northwestern students to volunteer at non-profits across the country. ASB seeks to involve, educate and heighten students' social awareness and strives to encourage lifelong civic engagement. Each trip highlights a different issue, and participants have the opportunity to do work that ranges from working with urban development organizations to working at the largest low-income daycare center in the US. No matter the issue they work with, participants build close relationships with their group and their upperclassmen site leaders. Several times during the week, each small group will meet up with another small group so that participants have a further opportunity to meet new people while still in an intimate setting. After spending a week exploring and serving in a new city, trips will culminate with all ASB participants meeting in Chicago, where they'll spend a day discovering the opportunities for fun and service that the city has to offer. Following an unforgettable week, students immediately become part of the ASB community, a dynamic group with a year-round presence and continued opportunities for leadership and service.

Web site: http://www.asbnu.org/

Freshman Urban Program

Dates: September 9th-15th
Cost: $225
Locations: Chicago

Questions:

1. Describe an issue in your community that you are familiar with or that interests you and explain why.
2. If someone came to visit your hometown or city for the first time, what would you show them and why?
3. If you were writing your autobiography, what would the last paragraph of page 200 say?

The Freshman Urban Program (FUP) dedicates itself to exposing incoming freshman to the social and political issues facing the diverse neighborhoods of Chicago. Participants are encouraged to form new understandings of these communities through dialogue with social service organizations, Northwestern professors, community members, leaders, and each other. Emphasizing the principles of Asset Based Community Development, FUP introduces participants to the powerful resources that lie within these communities. By the end of FUP, freshmen will be able to identify themselves as both students of the Northwestern community and citizens of the larger Chicago area. Moreover, students will recognize the powerful roles they can play in creating positive change within each of these spheres. FUP is a pre-New Student Week activity open to all incoming freshmen. During this five day program, participants will stay in a youth hostel in Chicago's Loop area. From there they will be venture out to different neighborhoods to volunteer and learn about community centers, urban schools, homeless shelters, advocacy organizations, art centers and so much more throughout the city. Northwestern faculty and various community leaders will lead discussions on a variety of issues facing Chicago. They will also get to know 90 other NU students while getting to know Chicago!