Special: A walk through Wintersession

Courtesy of Tori Repp / Fotobuddy

Good morning, and welcome to the Wintersession Edition of our daily newsletter! The ‘Prince’ examines the history, present, and future of Wintersession — which has evolved from a USG event intended for 200 attendees, to the campus-wide extravaganza it is today, boasting more than 500 events.

But the utility of Wintersession has cultivated debate on campus and in the pages of the ‘Prince.’ Sophomore Tara Shukla characterizes the experience as “liberating and enriching,” advocating that more resources be allocated towards the initiative. In Humor, Head Editors Liana Slomka and Spencer Bauman write that fellow students should only attend Wintersession if they want to “learn things so obscure and irrelevant ” that three weeks later they may appear to be “total dork[s].” And many students, first-year Anna Ferris shares, sign up for sessions and don’t attend them at all, partly due to to Princeton ’s culture of productivity.

To see more of the 'Prince's Wintersession coverage, check out our special web project.

SEE THE WEB PROJECT HERE →
Analysis by Sidney Singer

Today’s Briefing

Dallas mayor discusses public service at SPIA event: Eric Johnson — a Princeton alumnus and the mayor of Dallas, Texas — spoke at Wintersession’s annual “Life and Leadership” keynote.

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DATA | We analyzed Wintersession course offerings. Here’s what we found.

Angel Kuo / The Daily Princetonian

Using data from My PrincetonU event listings, Head Data Editor Elaine Huang and Assistant Data Editor Ryan Konarska exported and analyzed 485 out of the 544 Wintersession courses listed as of Jan. 2, constituting roughly 90 percent of the sample size. What’s more popular — fitness or crafting?

FIND OUT HERE →

FEATURES | ‘The Princeton I wanted to join’: The evolution of Wintersession

Guanyi Cao / The Daily Princetonian

Associate Features Editor Sejal Goud and Assistant Features Editor Gia Musselwhite dig into the history of Wintersession on campus and how it has expanded to reach more communities. Starting in 2014 as a USG project to engage students during the one-week break between fall semester exams and spring semester, Wintersession came into its own after the University’s schedule shift. With two years of pandemic-impacted programming, Wintersession is primarily in-person for the first time since being taken over by the Office of Campus Engagement (OCE). “The idea isn’t that Wintersession is only joy and silliness,” OCE Executive Director Judy Jarvis said. “The idea is that it’s ‘choose your own adventure.’”

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OPINION | Debates on Wintersession

Candace Do / The Daily Princetonian

Columnist Anna Ferris discusses campus’ productivity culture in relation to Wintersession, and why so many students sign up for Wintersession courses and skip them. She asks the questions: “Why is the skipping phenomenon so widespread? Why do so many Princeton students book a far greater number of classes than they will ever reasonably attend?” She argues that the culture of productivity contributes to the skipping phenomenon during Wintersession and states that “We should focus on only signing up for classes we will realistically attend.”

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Columisnt Tara Shukla argues for the expansion of Wintersession, increasing enrollment capacity for popular trips and events. Shukla writes that “It is a liberating and enriching experience to attend classes with a range of ages and majors; it reminds me that I am surrounded by a supportive and curious community” but that to further increase accessibility for Wintersession, the University needs to “i ncrease event capabilitie s.”

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SPORTS

Courtesy of @PrincetonFTBL/Twitter

In partnership with the Japanese National Football Association, players from all eight Ivy League institutions competed against Japanese football players from the country’s X-League in the first-ever Japan-U.S. Dream Bowl.

Seven seniors represented Princeton in the game, including defensive linemen Michael Azevedo and James Stagg, defensive backs Dawson De Iuliis and CJ Wall, linebacker Ike Hall, punter Will Powers, and offensive lineman Connor Scaglione.

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HUMOR

The Daily Princetonian Staff

The following content is purely satirical and entirely fictional

Humor writers Spencer Bauman and Liana Slomka argue that Princeton should allocate all of its funding to Wintersession, asking, “What ’s not to love? Where else am I able to watch a movie from the early 2000s on a large blow-up screen on the cold, wet ground outside the building where I failed my math exam?” and calling for students to vote on an USG referendum making Wintersession all year long.

READ THE PIECE HERE →

Simon Marotte x Midjourney / The Daily Princetonian

At your leisure

SPECIAL PODCAST: This week, Daybreak goes behind the scenes as the Princeton Triangle Club goes on tour.
PHOTO: Staff Photographer Guanyi Cao's photo essay features Wintersession trips to D.C. and New York City.
SPECIAL PUZZLE: Try to solve Head Puzzles Editor Simon Marotte's winter-themed special puzzle, "Cold Cuts."

Today’s newsletter was copyedited by Tiffany Cao. Thank you.

Special thanks to Noreen Hosny for today’s design.

If you have any feedback or concerns about today’s newsletter, please email managingeditor@dailyprincetonian.com