Tag: First Year Seminar

Fall 2015: You’re Not In Kansas Anymore

Many of these students graduated from West Virginia Wesleyan College this past Saturday (May 4, 2019). They were in my First Year Seminar in the Fall of 2015, and I first met them in the oval during Orientation Weekend. They were tired, a bit frazzled from moving into the dorm, a bit curious as to things on the schedule for the weekend. They were wondering what Freshman Convocation was all about. They had many questions about testing and placement, where they needed to be, and how to get there.

Coming from as far away as Spain and Argentina, and as close as Upshur County, (and one actually from Kansas!) they had  been plucked from their familiar surroundings and as a result of what I am sure seemed like a Kansas-worthy tornado they found themselves in Buckhannon. No longer among family and friends from back home, no longer the strong and impressive seniors that had been in charge of things at their high schools, they were calling upon all of their courage to make a new start. Our course was designed to address all of those things.

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Getting Started

First things first. Once these had been accomplished, there was no stopping them!

• Find your classes.
• Realize that college is different from high school.
• Utilize curiosity to think beyond the surface.
• What in the world does Liberal Arts mean?

Finding Oz – Using Our Brains

Everything in L. Frank Baum’s book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, was influenced by something in the life of the author.  It is actually quite amazing! We took a deep dive into American History in the late 1890s…….which just happened to coincide with the time that WVWC was founded.

Using our Hearts

The class collected over a hundred pairs of socks to dontate to the Upshur Parish House. We also went there on a field trip to deliver them and to learn about the work that goes on there. Several offered to go back and volunteer — and they did. This class also asked if we could continue collecting things for the Parish House and created their own event…..Snowvember…to help collect hats, scarves, and gloves.

Finding and Using Courage

I told the class (as I do every year) that this four years would go fast. That before they knew it, another storm like the one that had landed them in Buckhannon would be coming. That, in fact, there would be many storms in their lives. As happens each year, they thought I was crazy. They believed that college would drag on and on, and that they would be here forever. As also happens every year, I have recently had several tell me that I was absolutely right.

There are new worlds to discover. Graduate school, jobs, fellowships, and maybe even uncertainty about which direction to go next. They will go “home”, or move to places that are once again completely new to them. They will establish homes and families of their own.

Home? Where is home? (There’s No Place Like Home!)

That first semester, we had an assignment where I asked them to describe home. Some were very literal and detailed every room in their house. Some were more general, saying that home was where their family lived or talking about being from a town, or a county, or the beach or from a big city. Some who lived close enough, went home just about every weekend.

After Thanksgiving break, they started to tell me that while they were back in those places, they were missing their friends and their WVWC surroundings and began to look forward to coming home to campus.

Now, they tear up every time they hear or sing My Home Among the Hills.

We will always welcome them home when they stop by to tell us about all of the great things they are doing, or to show their children around campus.

I am especially sentimental about this particular group this week as they set forth on their next journey. And, to make matters worse (?) I just finished reading a new best selling book which brought the whole course rushing back to me. It is much of what we talked about together that fall – but this one is written from the perspective of L. Frank Baum’s wife, Maud. I recommend it to them and to anyone who might find this topic interesting! (Not required reading this time, but I know they would love it!)

Timeless

I have been teaching First Year Seminar courses since 2005, and this is a story that is timeless. The students come from everywhere. One year I had students from Australia, British Columbia, Miami, New York, Baltimore, Los Angeles, and small towns in West Virginia and Pennsylvania. We did a lot of culture shock therapy that year!

Some have become the things that they dreamed of, while others have found new dreams and passions. There are doctors and lawyers and ministers and politicians. There are nurses, dentists, accountants, missionaries, artists, teachers, business leaders, and psychologists.

So although I focused this writing on this year’s group, I tip my hat to all who have used their brains, their hearts, and their courage to follow their dreams.

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An hour after I posted this, I found out that today is the 100th anniversary of L. Frank Baum’s death. He was always a big fan of signs and coincidences – I think he would love that. Here is a link to the information I saw….