From trips to the National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. to an introduction to Mah Jongg and morning yoga sessions, Wintersession 2024 includes extensive offerings and opportunities to learn beyond the classroom.
Wintersession will be held between Jan. 15 and Jan. 28, 2024, offering 521 events open to all undergraduate and graduate students, postdocs, faculty, and staff. This two-week period of events funded by the Office of Campus Engagement began as a week-long Undergraduate Student Government (USG) Initiative during intersession break, the period between January finals and the start of the following semester (before the academic calendar moved finals to before winter break in the 2020-21 academic year). Registration for Wintersession 2024 opened Dec. 11 at 8 a.m. and spots quickly filled up, especially for events taking participants off-campus.
The 521 events include 78 offerings with multiple parts across a series of days and 75 with multiple sections meeting at the same time. Each course is housed within a broad category and a narrower theme. All registered participant information pulled by The Daily Princetonian is updated as of Dec. 22.
The ‘Prince’ was unable to access registration data (including registered participants or if there are remaining spots) for several offerings. These offerings include City Treks, which fall under a new Wintersession trip policy.
Unless a cancellation is accompanied by a doctor’s note, “Given the limited number of trips available, the long waitlists for trips, and the significant investment of resources to make trips possible, trip registrants who are no-shows and did not cancel their registration with wintersession@princeton.edu at least 72 hours in advance of their trip will be charged $50 via their student account.”
Due to this policy, participants wishing to register for many trips must fill out a form agreeing to these terms before receiving an update on their status.
Unlike Wintersession 2023 where, excluding trips, “Fitness and Strength” courses were the most widely offered with 34 courses, only 21 courses are offered in this category in 2024. This year, 34 “101” courses are offered compared to 27 last year. Like in 2023, “How-to” courses account for the most courses offered, with 111 in 2024 and 84 in 2023 — around 30 percent of each year’s total offerings.
Hypnotist Chris Jones is leading the fifth most popular event, with 162 registered attendees so far. Over 600 seats remain in Richardson Auditorium for Jones’ audience interactive performance on Jan. 27 at 8:00 P.M.
“If you're looking for a CAREER and not just a job you should check out my event,” Jones wrote in an email to the ‘Prince’. "Yes, you might see your friends on stage and maybe you'll be on stage. But you should hopefully feel inspired.”
While attendees will see Jones “float a person out of a chair using just our fingertips,” they may learn more than hypnosis.
“Work should be fun, too, I believe…,” Jones wrote. “Life is too short not to be inspired. My inspiration comes from doing what I love. And when you love your work EVERYTHING can inspire you.”
Jones has appeared on "America’s Got Talent" and other television shows and has a Bosworth score of 1.65, meaning he is searched on Google 1.65 times as much as President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 over the past 14 years.
The second most popular event, with 261 registered attendees, is an interview with actor and woodworker Nick Offerman, best known for his role as Ron Swanson in "Parks and Recreation." Offerman’s interview by Associate Dean of Undergraduate Students, Mell Thompson, serves as Wintersession’s fourth annual "Beyond the Resume" keynote event. Offerman has a Bosworth score of 63.43.
Previous "Beyond the Resume" speakers have included Emmy Award winning actress Michaela Coel in 2023 and 11 time Olympic medalist Allyson Felix in 2023.
With the most courses offered, the “How-to” category also has the most registered participants and the most courses with a waiting list. The “Other” category consists of off-campus trips and offerings by the Office of Campus Engagement (OCE) and has the highest percent of offerings with a waiting list, with 83.6 percent of offerings. As of Dec. 22, only three of the 60 trips have available spots and all seven OCE-led offerings have available spots.
All “City Trek” trips to New York City are listed under the “Academic and Professional Growth” theme and do not have visible numbers of registered participants or spots left or if there is a waiting list due to the new trip policy. To register for these offerings, students must fill out a Google form and upload a copy of their resume before ranking which trips they wish to attend.
This year, the final day of Wintersession has only two events, 0.38 percent of all 2024 events, the lowest of any day of Wintersession 2023 or 2024. The final Wintersession 2024 event, titled "Eating Clubs x Wintersession Food Festival," has 360 registered participants, the most of any Wintersession event. The event offers “a chance to interact with members and experience ‘The Street’ outside of nights out” alongside food trucks and Wintersession gear.
With over 2100 spots remaining and ten sporting events with unlimited availability, students may continue signing up for events through the end of Wintersession, access their free meals in the dining halls, and learn new skills and attend events which may align with academic interests — or be completely new.
Andrew Bosworth is Head Data editor for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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