It’s July and most of campus is serene and quiet, except for the liveliness of summer campers near the WoodPEC. But when you’re looking to liven things up your calendar, there are still a range of activities on campus that might catch your interest.
Here are 10 things to do during the next few weeks. Some are familiar and some are perhaps quirky and outside the box, but you might have time to try them during a quieter July.
1. Enjoy a movie in or at the pool.
There are two pool-centric parties this month, both at the Student Activity and Academic Center (SAAC). July 4th Pool Party is, of course, Thursday, July 4, beginning at noon and featuring games, music and prizes. It’s free for students, SAAC members and guests and a SAAC Cafe meal will be available for $6. On Friday, July 19, a family-friendly Dive-In Movie will be shown beginning at 8:15 p.m. Tickets are $3 per person with additional guest fees for non-members. Emory faculty and staff can purchase discounted memberships to the SAAC.
2. Get strategies to deal with caregiving for family members.
Almost every family encounters a caregiving situation for a family member at some point, whether age-related issues, a young child or children, or a serious illness. Sign up for Strategies for Multigenerational Caregiving, a webinar on handling elder care issues while simultaneously raising young children; it’s Wednesday, July 10, at noon and a link will be sent to registrants the day before. Prepare To Care is an onsite workshop with tips for making a caregiving situation more manageable for you. It will be Monday, July 15, at noon in Room 1.432 of 1599 Clifton Road Building. Both are free.
3. Listen and lunch.
Live at Lunch is a free lunchtime concert series on Wednesdays at Emory Point: July 10, July 17, July 24 and July 31. The concerts take place on the green space next to the General Muir from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. You can order lunch to go from one of the restaurants, bring your own or just stop by to enjoy the music. Updates will be posted to Emory Point’s Facebook page and Instagram account.
4. Learn about college admissions and financing, plus metro Atlanta school options.
July brings the return of Emory’s popular Back to School workshop series. Get tips and insider information on college admissions and financing, and options for K-12 schools in the metro area. The series includes A Guide to Paying for College on July 11, The College Admission Process on July 25 and Understanding K-12 School Options in Metro Atlanta on July 30. The workshops are all free but very popular so register right away. High school-age children are welcome to attend with family members. All are held in the Presentation Auditorium of the Oxford Road Building at noon.
5. Get a jump on shopping for the holidays — or any gift-giving occasion.
Remember last year when you swore not to wait until the last minute for holiday shopping? The Michael C. Carlos Museum is offering the perfect opportunity to get ahead with its Summer Clearance Sale. Peruse their sales offerings with your 20 percent discount as an Emory employee. The sale is Friday, July 12, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday, July 13, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
6. Learn more than you know now about tomatoes.
Emory Farmers Market’s Tomato Festival is Tuesday, July 30, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The themed festival will showcase the favorite summer food with tastings, games, information and a look at the wide variety of tomato varieties. You can also sign up for a tour of the market; it’s free but registration is required. In addition to the Tomato Festival, July will have two other farmers markets, July 2 and July 16.
7. Take a walk around campus.
Download the interactive sustainability map and see points of achievement in Emory’s sustainability movement. Click on the icons and learn about bioswales that clean water from Clifton Road runoff, green roofs, places where history was made on campus, LEED-certified buildings, the Emory Trolley Line substation (you may have wondered what that structure was), and much more. Take the virtual tour from the cool comfort of indoors or get out and get some exercise. It’s free.
8. Eat at Emory.
Are you looking for lunch in all the wrong places? Explore some of the many healthy options available from Emory Dining. There are numerous meal options for under $10; check out the daily $5 green plate in Cox Hall with local, sustainable and healthy ingredients. With fewer people around, the hungry hordes are tamped down and you can explore the many places to eat, a lot of which are open in the summer, on campus.
9. Expand your knowledge with interesting topics or give your job know-how a boost.
Take a course without having to get a degree. Emory offers a variety of classes through the online platform Coursera. Classes are free to audit; some also offer a certificate and other benefits for an additional fee. Topics include the Bible, the civil rights movement, global childbirth, brain health, addiction, weight management and more. Participants often note that they have received a tangible career benefit from some of the courses they’ve taken.
10. Catch these art exhibitions on campus, closing in July.
Word for Word, Sense for Sense, which features some of history’s most significant English translations of the Bible, including the first complete Bible translation by a woman, will be ending July 12 at Pitts Theology Library. Ending on July 28 is Building Emory’s African American Collections: Highlights from the Curatorial Career of Randall K. Burkett, which is at the Woodruff Library’s Schatten Gallery.