Connecting my Connect Clevelands

At the start of our Oberlin experience, all Obies go on a very special trip before we even start classes! It’s called Connect Cleveland and, basically, it means your PAL will take you and all the other students in your PAL cohort on a thrilling excursion into Oberlin’s nearby metropolis. Where exactly will you go? That depends on the specific location your cohort is assigned that year. There are locations where you’ll see the Cleveland city sights, those where you'll lend a hand to help out the community, and those where you’ll acquire new skills or knowledge you might never have encountered before! The diversity in Connect Cleveland locations is staggering. But to give a few examples of what locations could look like, I’ve detailed the three I’ve been lucky enough to attend below.

Now let’s pause for a second before we get into the review, because you’re probably asking: Evan, why have you been on the Connect Cleveland trip three times? And what the heck is a PAL and PAL cohort? Well, let me explain.

A PAL is a peer advising leader. They lead a group of first-year students in a special course (called Lead 050) to introduce them to Oberlin life and learning throughout their first fall semester. That group is called a PAL cohort, and (fun fact) is always named after a tree to represent the growth the students will undergo together. The PAL cohort starts meeting with their PAL even during orientation, and thus the PAL goes with their PALees (our loving, colloquial name for the members of the PAL cohort—my apologies for so much terminology) on their Connect Cleveland trip.

Every student at Oberlin “has a PAL” (literally and in the sense of the pun created with the statement). I had one too, during my first year, and she inspired me so much with how she mentored me and my entire cohort, that I decided to become a PAL too. Now, I lead my own PAL cohort, called the Douglas Fir Cohort (after a tree which just so happens to be abundant where I live in Oregon). 

Because I went to Connect Cleveland my first year, became a PAL in my second year, and served in the role again this fall, I’ve now been lucky enough to attend three Connect Cleveland excursions, each of which was unique and fascinating in its own ways. I’ve briefly reviewed what I thought of my experiences below:

Year 1 - Spaces Art Gallery

During my first year I went with my cohort to a unique art gallery in the thick of Cleveland, with a history of hosting artists who worked progressively to change perceptions and challenge stereotypes. We got to see several interesting art installations and received a personalized tour for our group while seeing the gallery. The art we saw worked with moving pieces, videos, and music in ways I found surprising. I appreciated our trip to the gallery a lot, but there also were only so many exhibits. At the end of our trip, we had to wait almost a full hour before our bus arrived to pick us back up. All in all, this was a great Connect Cleveland Experience, but I do rank it only second of the three I’ve had.

Year 2 - Arthouse Inc.

I was back for my second year of Connect Cleveland, and this time, alongside an Oberlin staff member, I was managing the cohort of PALees who had come on the trip. We were assigned another art-related location, Arthouse Inc, which served primarily as a space in its community where children could come create their own masterpieces. The people we met at Arthouse Inc. were kind and showed us around the whole space. When the tour was over, we got to make some of our own art with their supplies. We were able to ask questions about how the business operated in their community, and even walk away with a few of our own finished products, made with everything from paper mache to seashells. This was an enjoyable experience, but in the end I was disappointed (and I believe my PALees felt similarly) in the extent to which it catered to young children rather than our own age group. I rank this third out of my Connect Cleveland experiences for that reason.

Year 3 - The Morgan Papermaking Conservatory

In my third year of Connect Cleveland outings, this time bringing with me the second PAL cohort I’d been in charge of (still named Douglas Fir as we PALs keep our tree names with us through the years) I got my favorite location yet. To my tastes, the Morgan Conservatory combined the best aspects of my previous two trip locations. Once again, we were focused on art, as the Morgan (which is the moniker our tour guide gave the establishment for shorthand) featured specific, activist art like the Spaces Gallery, and allowed us a hands-on experience as Arthouse Inc. had. Both aspects, I would assert, however, were improved in this case. The art we saw was even more specific and niche: Books, wall art, and sculpture, created with progressive themes in mind and all out of hand-crafted paper. The institute taught us about their unique processes for traditional papermaking, starting from the way they grew the necessary plants in their on-site gardens. Thus, we were given a tour, got to learn about a remarkable, niche type of artistry, and saw art displays. This was all before we were (to me and my accompanying staff member’s surprise) handed aprons and welcomed into the papermaking studio! There, all my PALees and I got to make sheets of our own paper from pulp laid out in wide vats. We scooped the pulp up in a fine-mesh sifter, that would catch the pulp bits but not the water with it, and shook gently until our paper coalesced in the sifter into a sheet. We were able to color this paper with dye and we then gave it to the staff to be baked into our own custom-made paper sheets. I made sure to thank our hosts upon leaving the Morgan, and they informed us that we could receive our paper back in Oberlin soon by way of mail. Overall, my papermaking Connect Cleveland experience certainly tops my ranked list.

In Conclusion

That wraps up my Connect Cleveland experiences review thus far. It may depend slightly on what I do in the fall whether I serve as a PAL a third time. If I do, though, I’ll still get one more Connect Cleveland experience to add to my list.

After hearing about the experiences above, you’re probably thinking Connect Cleveland quite commonly has to do with visual art. While it’s certainly possible you too could get an art-based Connect Cleveland location, there are also a wide variety of other topics covered, with possible locations such as a food bank, the Museum of Natural History, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (a highly coveted trip location), just to name a few. Why did I get all visual art based locations? I would say it likely has to do with the first-year seminar courses I’ve picked each year. The topic of a student’s first-year seminar class is what brings together the PAL cohort and their PAL by choice, and I can assume my art-related topics have informed the Cleveland spots I was assigned. Regardless of the reason, I’ve had a great time at the places I’ve gone.

If you’re thinking the Connect Cleveland day seems a bit short with just the types of locations mentioned, you’d be right, but the entire first-year class also meets up following their cohort excursions each year at University Circle Park, in front of the Cleveland Botanical Gardens (a location with splendid greenery and a butterfly garden that blew my mind!). There, the entire group is provided with lunch, spreads out through the area, plays lawn games, and enjoys complimentary desserts. By the time we board the buses for our return to Oberlin each year, everyone is thoroughly exhausted.

That concludes my Connect Cleveland review, and if you’re a future Obie who will end up attending the program too, I wish you the best in having a marvelous time. After all, even with three years of Connect Cleveland experiences in my past, each one still stands out to me as a powerful moment, helping unite Obies as the school that we are.