Admissions Blog

On Friday, the Admissions Services office set out for out Day of Service at the Commodore John Rogers Elementary School, which is five blocks from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

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Our group of nine split into two groups of two and two groups of three for a variety of projects. When it came to the artistic project, Raili and I eagerly volunteered. We quickly developed a plan for the mural.

Two and a half hours later, the entrance to the community food pantry was transformed.

While Raili and I were painting, some others in the group put their muscles to use and faced the leaf and twig covered amphitheater.

Trees mean shade, but they also mean debris!

At the end of the day, the amphitheater was ready for audience members.

When we finished the projects, we were still smiling!

For much of the east coast, spring has been more of an extension of winter. However, the last week and a half has been a bit more encouraging. And those of us in the Baltimore area have decided that no matter the weather, we’re going to celebrate with our festivals!

Baltimore hosts many types of festivals throughout the year, but I think the neighborhood festivals are my favorite. Not only do you get to explore the vendors, you also get a sense of the hosting neighborhood. This week was the Towson Festival. Six blocks were shut down from traffic and filled with different vendors, community organizations and food trucks. I saw several chiropractors and community health organizations using the family friendly opportunity to spread health awareness and public health opportunities.

At the center of the festival was a large beer garden outside the Baltimore County Historic Court House that also had live music. At the point I took the picture to the right, the 80’s band was on stage and there were some 80’s enthusiast dancing right in front of the band. Not far from the beer garden was a second stage that had several different local performers, including the Ridgely Middle School Steel Drum ensembles

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Many students at the School of Public Health value volunteering or working within the Baltimore community while earning their degree. Whether it’s through one-day volunteer opportunities, a volunteer partnership or through a service-learning class, SOURCE (the Student Outreach Recourse Center for the School of Public Health, School of Medicine, and School of Nursing) helps students find the right opportunity for them.

SOURCE’s annual National Volunteer Week offers popular events and culminates with the Spring Tri-School Day of Service. This year’s National Volunteer Week begins, Monday, April 23 and ends on Saturday, April 28.

The week really kicks off with the SOURCE Community Involvement Poster Competition. The event is a wonderful way to see how students, student groups and service-learning courses have partnered with Baltimore City non-profit organizations throughout the year. During the entire week, SOURCE will also be collecting toiletry items as part of their donation drive efforts.

For the Tri-School Day of Service, SOURCE has many different volunteer opportunities available to students. The projects for the Tri-School Day of Service, which are listed below, assist popular community partners that many students volunteer with throughout the year.

Tri-School Day of Service Activity List
BUGS Farmers Market – Volunteers will work with Living Classrooms’ BUGS (Baltimore Urban Gardens for Students) afterschool program to set-up and assist in running their annual farmer market.
YO! Baltimore – Volunteers help clean and organize the clothing closet and food pantry at YO! Baltimore and help organize the commuter and file room.  
Blue Water Baltimore – Volunteers will spend time in the community planting trees to support the diversification and expansion of the City’s tree canopy.
Civic Works – Volunteers will assist in setting up and welcoming guests to an event commemorating the 50^th Anniversary of the Fair Housing Act and help a community beautification project.
Baltimore American Indian Center – Volunteers will learn about the indigenous people who call Baltimore home while assisting with exterior painting and beautification projects around the garden courtyard at the center.
Commodore John Rodgers – Volunteers will help with a variety of projects at the school, including painting, to create a more welcoming environment for students and their families.
Amazing Grace – Volunteers will help this East Baltimore urban garden get ready for spring and summer while beautifying the landscape! Volunteers will help weed, mulch, trim bushes and pick up trash.
Franciscan Center – Volunteers will assist with bagging and handing out fresh produce to individuals experiencing homelessness.

As Fall Orientation quickly approaches, many of you are preparing to move to Baltimore and are currently trying to find a roommate and/or a place to live. While there have been many blogs in the past that discussed transportation, housing and the housing hunt, today I’d like to focus on a convenient service offered by the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions Housing Office: a Roommate Finder.

Through this tool, members create a profile about themselves and list a few things about what they are looking for in a roommate. Once the profile is made, members can search other members or look at the entire database. All members are connected to Hopkins, whether faculty/staff, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows or undergraduate students. The system also offers great leads on finding housing as well.

Incoming students who have received their JHED ID will use this to login, otherwise admitted students can find the guest login information on their personalized site on the Baltimore 101 tab or by e-mailing the Admissions Office at jhsph.admiss@jhu.edu.

Happy searching!

Not far from JHU’s Homewood Campus is the 32^nd Street Farmers Market. After a year and a half living in Baltimore, this is my favorite farmers market. It has a wonderful mix of local farmers, bakers and artisans. At this farmers market you can find everything from the freshest produce and organic meat to musicians and local organizations.

What I love about this particular market is that it is easy to get to from many neighborhoods, and since it’s close to the Homewood Campus, students can easily get there using the JHU shuttle service from different campus locations.

The 32^nd Street Farmers Market is open year round on Saturdays from 7 a.m. to noon and offers limited free parking. However, street parking is easy to find within a block or two of the market.