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Extracurricular Activities
Not all of the Spiritual Foundations program consists of classroom activities. Optional evening programs, field trips, spiritual and social gatherings, and formal events round out the program.1. Dawn Prayers at the House of Worship. A typical day begins with prayers at the House of Worship from 7:30 a.m. to 8 a.m. (see "Dawn Prayers" under "House of Worship,").
2. Evening Programs and Prayers. Some evenings there are programs that are part of the required courses, but other evenings the programs will be optional. Some of these will be presentations that relate to aspects of the Spiritual Foundations program covered in other years, to help you get a sense of the overall program and the context it provides to your learning. Others are informal opportunities to talk to the faculty. Yet others will be arranged spontaneously. If students have ideas for evening programs, they are encouraged to share them with the registrar.
Each day will be closed by a gathering in the dormitory at 10:30 p.m., a time to share thoughts about the day's events and to pray together. At 11 p.m. students are expected to retire to their rooms. Because of dawn prayers, morning comes early.
3. Field Trips. Every year there will be at least one field trip to a place of worship in the Chicago area. In Chicago one can find the full diversity of human religions: the area has over seventy Buddhist temples, two very large Hindu temples, some fifty mosques, two Jain temples, a Zoroastrian temple, and a Sikh gurudwara. The field trips allow students to see the religions as they are lived and worshiped and ask members about their beliefs and practices.
4. Weekly Community Gathering ("Feast"). During the 1999 summer session there is only one Nineteen-Day Feast, the Feast of Kamál (July 31), that the Wilmette Institute students and faculty can celebrate together. In addition, however, the faculty and students gather weekly for a "feast" consisting of worship, consultation on the Wilmette Institute as a Bahá'í community, and socializing. The Student Council will be elected at the first of these gatherings (toward the end of the first week) and will preside over subsequent ones. The weekly community gathering provides an opportunity to make the Wilmette Institute a laboratory in which Bahá'í community is created and experienced. As at a regular Nineteen-Day Feast, non-Bahá'ís will not be able to attend the business portion.
5. The Inaugural Dinner. The opening night of the Wilmette Institute (Saturday, July 17, 1999) will feature a welcoming dinner. Dress will be semiformal; men should wear ties and sports jackets. The welcoming dinner will be an opportunity for everyone to meet each other and be oriented to the Institute's programs. Friends, family members, and others are welcome to attend but must pay for their meal (which is free for the students and faculty).
6. The Farewell Dinner. A formal farewell dinner is held on the last night of the Spiritual Foundations summer session (Friday, August 6, 1999). The program always includes a distinguished speaker, who delivers the valedictory address. The evening also includes a ceremony during which certificates of attendance are awarded to the summer students and certificates of completion are given to those who completed the previous year's home study. Friends, family members, and others are welcome to attend but must pay for their meals.