Gather in community for the 61st annual Festival of Lessons and Carols at Shove Memorial Chapel on Sunday, Dec. 4, at 6 p.m.

This Advent service of scripture, carols, and choral pieces is modeled on the original service at Kings College, Cambridge, weaving in the expansive diversity of global Christianity. 

This year there will be pieces from CC Mariachi Tigre, the Collegium Musicum, guest musician Victoria Lipscomb, and others from the CC community. 

Parking is available in the Ed Robson Arena parking garage, located off Dale Street. For general questions and/or more information about accessibility and disability accommodation, please call (719) 389-6638.

Want to join, but not able to come in person? Register here for a Zoom link.

The 2022 Arts and Crafts Fair at Colorado College returns Friday, Dec. 2 and Saturday, Dec. 3 at Worner Campus Center. The Arts and Crafts Fair celebrates local and regional creative makers working in a variety of media. This fair is unique in that it brings together artists who are all at different points in their careers, including CC students, as well as artists in the broader Colorado Springs community.

Please join us for two days of incredible art created by local artists, art-making activities, and music!

Parking is available for fair attendees in the Ed Robson Arena parking garage.

Tomi-Ann Roberts, professor of psychology, and Jason Weaver, associate professor of psychology and Asian Studies, had an article on the benefits of a short-term social media fast among pre-teen and teen dancers published in the Elsevier ScienceDirect Journal, Body Image. The article, entitled, “‘Intermission!’ A short-term social media fast reduces self-objectification among pre-teen and teen dancers,” found that when girls took three days away from social media, their body image and self-compassion improved.

Sixty-five girls between the ages of 10 and 19 rated measures of self-objectification, self-esteem, and self-compassion both prior to and following three days of abstaining from all social media. As part of the study, the girls participated in a group chat during the social media fast, where they reflected on their experiences. The messages showed that the girls had more positive mental states during the fast.

“As the college begins to address the very real crisis in student mental health, I think it’s important to consider the negative impact of the hours young people spend engaging through their devices with social media. We found that just three days of fasting led pre-teen and teen girls to experience significant body image improvements, and this boost came via increases in their self-compassion. Engaging with TikTok and Instagram can feel like a compulsion – and that’s what these platforms are designed for,” says Roberts. “Let’s imagine creative ways here at CC to support and enable one another to take breaks from our screens and enjoy one another’s company. Consider this: one great benefit of the Block Plan is that we get to be in small, collaborative class with peers for three hours a day. That’s three hours of non-online social media engagement! Our data suggest this is a win-win. Students not only learn class material, they experience face to face socioemotional, embodied interaction, making meaning together – and this is good for mental health.”

Come to the Kathryn Mohrman Theatre in Armstrong Hall (or register in advance to join via Zoom) Monday, Dec. 5, at 8:30 a.m. for a Community Conversation on our approach to creating a more compassionate and thriving Colorado College. A grab-and-go breakfast will be provided as part of the event.

President Richardson will share some opening remarks and then there will be a panel including experts in trauma and mental health as well as perspectives from students, faculty, and staff. Classes will begin at 10 a.m. to enable everyone in our community to attend.

Please visit the Workshops and Programs page on the Wellness Resource Center website to see all the terrific programs happening in Block 4 regarding mental health.

Adam Light, assistant professor of physics, has recently been awarded a $249,434 grant from the National Science Foundation in its Launching Early-Career Academic Pathways in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences program.

The grant will support Light’s study of the production of solvated electrons by atmospheric pressure plasma as a potential solution to a major environmental issue, the contamination of groundwater by poly-fluoroalkyl substances. PFAS, sometimes called “forever chemicals,” are difficult to break down and can cause adverse health outcomes, according to the research’s abstract.

The award will support six Colorado College students in summer research, as well as support the purchase of new scientific equipment for the college. Additionally, the grant will help to support a pilot “research incubator” Half-Block course, which will be designed for first and second-year students from the Bridge Scholars Program. This course will help to reduce the entry barrier into undergraduate research positions.

When he hired Song Richardson as a trial lawyer at the Seattle law firm Schroeter Goldmark & Bender, Jeffery Robinson knew she’d represent their clients with the highest passion and professionalism. He and Richardson would become friends over the years, and today, Robinson is one of her biggest supporters.

Robinson says Richardson’s experience in changing an organization’s culture for the better makes her the ideal person to lead Colorado College at this point, several years after the college committed to antiracism.

“Antiracist work has been in Song’s DNA since probably before she left law school. Her career has been devoted to this, and she has been outspoken on these issues at every single place that she’s been,” says Robinson. “She will establish a culture by making it clear that people can debate political ideas, race, and racism without sinking to the level of hurtful speech and threats of violence.”

He says Richardson has the potential to impact the rising generation — the minds that will lead America into the future. “Song is brilliant, an educator from the word go. Her commitment to these issues, and to enhancing people’s education is just supreme. So, she is lucky to have this position. But I promise you, Colorado College is lucky to have her,” says Robinson.