🌼Splashing into Spring!🌼

SplashCon 2025, website updates, MIT visit, and more!

Hello Splashers! Happy Spring! The cold is over, and we have many Splashes coming up with many that have happened in March! As we finish up the first quarter of 2025, let's review some of the happenings over the last few months.

✅ tl;dr: LU-wide announcements

• SplashCon 2025 was held at Yale and representatives from a wide range of chapters joined us. Thank you to the chapters at UChicago, Cornell, MIT, Northwestern, Princeton, Stanford, UCLA, and Yale for sending representatives! A special thanks to the folks at Yale for hosting, and as always, we are on the lookout for future hosts.

  • Please contact miles@learningu.org if your chapter is interested in hosting!

• The Pedagogy Team has put together a comprehensive, self-guided resource to help teachers design engaging and effective Splash classes. It’s packed with tried-and-true teaching tips from chapters across the country, all grounded in strategies that boost student learning. No need for admins to present anything—just pass the guide along! Look out for news on updated guides on our Slack or our newsletter!

• Stick around for some website updates and a sneak peek at a new theme for the Splash website!

• Share with us any new Splash strategies that you might have tried, or a really nice teaching and learning moment that happened in your class or program.

• Share with us your challenges, victories, and anything Splashy— email us at newsletter@learningu.org!

🕵️ We need YOU! 🫵 Recruitment alert!

• Join LU! Tell us about your interests here or reach out to us at info@learningu.org.

  • The web team is currently looking for a web development intern. Check out the flyer later in the newsletter!

  • We are also looking for a graphic designer. If anyone has any experience with graphic design (newsletter, flyers, slide decks, etc.) please reach out! We would be happy to have you!

🤖 Resources and communication

• Join Learning Unlimited Slack or Splash admin Facebook.

• Check out these classroom resources that can help you design a super engaging class! Also, here’s a self-guided lesson planning worksheet.

• Check out the LU handbook and Website documentation on Github.

📢 Tell us your experiences! Spread the news!

• Fill out this short survey to share your teaching experiences—a cool class you have taught or seen, your secret teaching tactic, or golden moments of learning you witnessed!

• Have any news, tips, or comments to share? Email us stories to be featured on our next newsletter or send us feedback.

• Get one new member on your team to subscribe to this awesome-possum newsletter to receive (roughly) bimonthly posts.

🌊 SplashCon 2025 was a wave of success!

The SplashCon Crew!

Zoe’s introduction speech!

Miles teaching Improving Sign-In

• Here are some of the testimonials from attendees!

  • “I see you Miles…”

  • “I would highly recommend attending SplashCon to anyone interested in finding new ways to improve how their Splash program is run and getting to know the Splash community between schools better!”

  • “Definitely go! It is a great opportunity to learn, exchange ideas and bring back new methodologies to your respective organization.”

🚗News from the Road

The board’s Tiffany Hu visited MIT’s Splash this past month and she wrote the following about her experience:

I visited MIT Splash this spring, which was a two-day program for 7th-12th graders. I was there on Saturday and was impressed by the organization of the program as well as the community between admins, teachers, and volunteers. Here are some things that stood out to me about the program:

• Class Variety: MIT has a range of classes taught by undergrad and grad students, from The Lost Art of Handwriting to Obscure Nuclear Disasters to Introduction to Global Health. It was lovely and exciting to see the variety of classes and students + teachers having a blast!

• Student Survey: MIT does a great job at collecting student surveys. They have a QR code at their help desk (which is located in a main lobby area where students pass by during class change time); if students fill out the survey, they get a fruit snack. A win for both the students and the admin team!

• Volunteers: I was impressed by the number of volunteers that came to help out throughout the day. Volunteers are given a stuffed plushie as a token of appreciation.

• Community: The admin/teacher lounge acted as a place where the teachers could prepare for their class(es) and meet other teachers, as well as a place where admins could check with teachers about their classes or offer help. There was plenty of food, drinks, and spaces that made it a cozy and welcoming environment :))

Many thanks to MIT for having me, and congrats to them on a successful Splash!

-Tiffany

🖥️ Web Updates from the Wizards of the Web! (Will, Katherine, and Miles)

• The web team has taken notice of possible bots slowing down the website for certain chapters. The websites have been updated to prevent bots from accessing the site in the future. If there are any further problems, please let us know in the Learning Unlimited Slack

• There have been visual improvements to the student-side registration confirmation and receipts. They are now themed and contain program information, payment information, and a class schedule.

  • The receipt can still be overridden with specific templates as well.

• The website will also prevent programs with duplicate names and URLs

• To check out other changes, please look at the recent change log here.

• Here is a sneak peek at the new admin portal rolling out this Summer!

🖱️Come and Join the Web Team!

Thanks for reading Learning Unlimited’s Newsletter! See you again soon!