Two New Multi-Day Workshops Will Help Students
Understand Individual Perceptions and Empower Them to Expand Their
Beliefs and Perspectives
ATLANTA, June 17,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Emory Purpose Project
has received a $100,000 grant
from Unlikely Collaborators to develop and launch two pilot
programs for undergraduate students.
The Emory Purpose Project receives
$100,000 grant from Unlikely
Collaborators for student workshops.
Aimed at promoting personal growth and increasing
self-awareness, each of the five-day workshops will guide students
through a process to reflect on and question their perceptions and
biases, understand how their goals are shaped by cultural
narratives, and explore questions of purpose and meaning. One
workshop, planned for spring 2025, will be geared toward incoming
first-year undergraduate students, while the second in fall 2025
will be tailored to graduating students.
"Through these workshops, students will develop interpersonal
skills that will expand their perceptions of what is possible,
helping them flourish both on campus and after they graduate," says
Ira Bedzow, executive director of
the Purpose Project. "We are grateful to be working with Unlikely
Collaborators and utilizing their concept of Perception Box to help
students develop new capabilities."
Perception Box™ – a powerful metaphor created by Unlikely
Collaborators' founder Elizabeth R.
Koch – refers to a person's internalized collection of
beliefs, experiences and biases that filters what they perceive,
influencing how they interpret information and interact with
others.
"The Emory Purpose Project is a remarkable gift to Emory
students that will help them navigate challenging situations
throughout their lives," says Koch. "It will help them recognize
the power they have to look within and achieve their goals. We are
thrilled to support these transformative efforts."
Unlikely Collaborators supports immersive experiences to help
individuals understand and examine their own Perception Box and
empower them to see beyond personal beliefs and biases to achieve
greater acceptance of themselves and others. The organization also
does this through forms of storytelling, impact and
investments.
Purpose Project leaders hope the workshops continue beyond their
test year, bookending the undergraduate experience and providing
students with a unique opportunity to explore their beliefs and
narratives through a lens of purpose.
"The college years are an excellent time to ask questions about
values and purpose," says Christine
Whelan, adjunct professor and "purpose professor," who has
led a campus-wide integration of purpose and student flourishing
initiatives. "These new workshops will complement the Purpose
Project's programming, supporting students in realizing career and
personal goals, and in practicing the art of inquiry through an
increased comfort with asking the big questions of what matters
most and how we can make it happen as individuals and a
community."
The Purpose Project, launched in 2023 as part of the Student
Flourishing initiative and housed in the Emory Center for Ethics,
provides curricular and extracurricular programming for students
and workshops for faculty, staff and alumni. Its programming seeks
to empower every member of the Emory community to explore, discover
and act on what gives their life and work meaning.
For more information, visit the Emory Purpose
Project website. For more information about Unlikely
Collaborators, please visit their website.
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SOURCE Unlikely Collaborators