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[mcmiller]

So I talked to a variety of different people at the reunion and everyone agreed that the official PEG events were not set up for socializing with large groups of people. Furthermore, we would prefer to talk to each other casually rather than eat an overpriced dinner or listen to a lecture (surprise

Comments

[magnesiuladybug]

YES! For the benefit of all PEGs, for curiosity, for anything. I'm a current PEG actually, but will be leaving soon (one more thesis defense!), and I've been saying for awhile now that we should compile PEG history... everything from "RA Oddities" to "things we remember people saying"; "stuff my roommate did to me" to "ways to break out of PEG"; "weird rules they made, and why" to "where I found my laundry"... "places I've walked outside the allowed radius"... anything.

I agree that organizing by year of admission would be preferable, and would entirely support -- even help organize/compile/distribute such a historical database. I also do not believe the college would support such an endeavor (look at some of the subjects I just mentioned), but I don't believe that would be a problem. I'm sure we could get an email list from the office anyway; if not, word can travel quickly among the grapevine.

(Goodness, maybe I should have posted in a new post! I don't even know your name, though I probably met you at the reunion last year. I'm Marissa, nice to meet you again!)

[mcmiller]

I'm not sure if you met me because I missed almost all the official events, but I have visited pretty consistently. I'm Molly (Miller, obviously, althought I went to school under my maiden name of Hallmark). One of the hanging paintings is mine.

It would be great if you made a new post because it has been a while since I posted this. I'm not living in VA any more, so it would be harder for me to organize, but I'm still game. There's something of an oral tradition of PEG tall tales and at minimum I'd like to see some of them collected on paper. I'd love to be able to send surveys to people, but since I didn't even fill out mine I assume it's not the best method of data collection. Any ideas?

[magnesiuladybug]

Any reunion events I heard about last year were scheduled while I was in class... so I only met a few people randomly ambling the hallways last year, as I still lived in PEG.

I agree that a survey is much better in concept than actual effect. Perhaps people would be more responsive to an email explaining the entire project idea, and would just send some stories. A survey would perhaps be the most effective for generating lists: who was in each class, how old were you at the beginning of freshman year, where were you from... that sort of thing. Still, when you say you don't fill out surveys, do you mean from the college or would something like this be an exception? I personally would be more inclined to fill out a survey for a group of PEGs than for MBC or even PEG staff. As far as stories go, people might be more willing to respond to an inquisitive email than a survey... and perhaps would share it with others whose contact info is less easily found.

Then, assuming successful accumulation of much information... what do we do with all of it!?

Well, I have one more final to take this afternoon, then May term is eminent... TIME for organizing things! Maybe this can actually happen. Do you have more organizational ideas, or should we start drafting emails and compiling a peg email list? (As I said, I might be able to get some contact info from the office.)

[mcmiller]

I meant to indicate that I didn't fill out the PEG survey. I thought the questions were too open-ended and such small spaces were given... while I realize the size of the blank means nothing, it kind of seemed like they wanted sound bites rather than honest answers.

Some questions I would want answered:

What was the most heinous rules violation (whether the PEG was caught or not) your freshman year?
What was the harshest punishment - and was it deserved in your opinion?
What is the strangest behavior you remember from your freshman year?
Did you feel you could honestly share your problems with the staff?
What was the most or least fun required activity you remember?
Did the PEG staff indicate that your year was better or worse than previous years, and why?

If we could get even 25% of people to answer any ONE of these questions, we'd have a hell of a story to tell.

I would be more than willing to work with you - although I'm currently searching for a job. (I just graduated again.)

[magnesiuladybug]

I like your questions, and I have some other suggestions along a slightly different venue. I know that from year to year, PEG changes in many ways. I think it would be beneficial to also accumulate a "facts sheet" so to speak, from each year. Include things like: who was the director, who were the RAs, how many students in the class (maybe list names, ages, hometowns, and majors/prospective majors?), where was "PEG", etc.

Now assuming we get a bunch of stories... what do we do with them? (I mean format: are we compiling this into a book? I don't know how else it could be feasibly done... I guess some digital format could work.)

I'm finishing up my thesis this week, but I think I'm headed down to the PEG bldg at some point, so I'll try to get some contact info, at least somewhere to start. Good luck finding a job, and congratulations on graduating again! In what and from where did you just graduate?

[mcmiller]

I just finished my graduate degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Capella University (online). I was a little nervous to get an online degree because I know how many people view them, but it was perfect for me. I figure that it's the way things are going and pretty soon the stigma will be minor.

I'm thinking a web page? Publishing a book does take money and this is a project we are proposing to do with no funding. A web page could be organized pretty efficiently to reflect all the different types of information we collect while cross-referencing year.

I've noticed that MBC doesn't have a great system for organizational data of the type you propose to collect. I agree that it would be very valuable to simply get the 5W&H questions answered for every year.