Root: Identity, Social Justice, Sustainability

EphVentures is a uniquely Williams program that begins the day after you arrive on campus and lasts about 3 days. At the heart of your First Days (orientation) experience you will participate in one of several EphVenture options that will be one of your earliest connections to community.

The Davis Center and the Zilkha Center for Environmental Initiatives collaboratively run the EphVentures program Root, which is designed to raise questions and generate discussions about who we are, where we live and how we interact with the various environments we occupy. We use ‘environment’ to refer to rural and urban, natural and constructed, and sociocultural spaces that shape our interactions with each other and with the world.

Root centers building community around issues of identity and activism as a way to find meaning, connection, and fun during what is often the stressful transition to a new environment. By the end of the Root program, students will have begun joining and creating a community that challenges, supports and encourages personal and intellectual growth, climate and social action, and restorative practice.

Visit the Root page on the First-Years website to learn more and see highlights of the program from past years.