Despite the pandemic and a virtual Zoom meeting format, ASU started the academic year off strong! Members had a chance to share their personal adoption stories, we learned about adoption in literature and art, and even hosted a night of speed friending and trivia with the Adopted and Fostered Students Association of George Washington University!
You can view and download all of our meeting slides from Fall 2020 below.
Week 2: Personalized Collage
We started the term off with a super interactive meeting. We made digital personalized collages with our family and friends, our favorite hobbies, and more to get to know each other.
Week 4: Adoption in Literature
We dove into the topic of adoption in literature this week, brainstorming adopted or fostered characters and storylines, as well as asking questions such as: “How do you feel about adoption as a plot device?” and “Can non-adoptees write a stories with adoption in it?”
Week 6: Member Spotlight
This week, we had one of our members share their adoption story. Note: a number of slides from this presentation were redacted to maintain member privacy. Some questions that came up were: “Have you taken any DNA tests?”, “Do you want to find your biological parents”, and “What genetic traits of yours are you most curious about?”
Week 8: UO ASU x GWU AFSA
We had the joy of collaborating with George Washington University’s Adopted and Fostered Students Association (AFSA) this week, with a fun night of speed friending and trivia. Founded in January 2020, AFSA is GW’s only community for adopted and fostered students and their allies. The student group hosts educational events to promote adoption and fostering, forms partnerships with local adoption- and fostering-related organizations, and hosts community building events. You can stay up to date with AFSA on FaceBook or Instagram.
Week 10: Adoptee Artists
For the last week in the term, we broke out into small groups to investigate the works of four incredible adoptee artists: Xhiv Bogart, Tia Terry, Caleb Lee, and Tamieka Small. You can learn more about each of these artists and more at Intercountry Adoptee Voices.
Discussion questions that we explored included: “What similarities or differences do you notice among the artists and/or art pieces?” and “Did adoption always play a role in the message or creation of art?”
