First-year experience out, seminar in

The required class that most freshmen take their first semester has been given a make-over this year, but it doesn't seem to be any more popular with students.

What was First Year Experience is now expanded to a three semester-hour course, First-Year Seminar, or FYS, and this year's freshmen are its guinea pigs.

First-year students' feelings and opinions on the course itself are mixed. Shannon Yoder, a freshman, said "FYS, while having it's good points, seems to be teaching us the same things we learned in high school. It is one of those classes that everyone has to take, but that no one wants to take."

A common complaint that students mention has to do with the amount of work required for that particular course. Tiffany Horst said, "I don't feel like I've been getting enough out of the class, considering how much time is put in to it."

"The move to a 3 SH course is due to wanting this to be an academic, not just an orientation course as it has been," said Ann Hershberger, one of the course's leaders. "There has been concern for years that there needs to be more emphasis on critical thinking, analysis, and writing in a freshman course,"

Described in the course description as "an interdisciplinary, team taught course that is introductory to both academics and the campus and surrounding community," FYS consists of multiple meetings with different faculty.

Once a week the entire freshmen class meets and is presented with a faculty speaker. The second half of that period is devoted to discussion in breakout groups of about 15 students, which are led by members of the EMU faculty. Students meet once a week in sections of 20-25 students where one of four instructors, Hershberger, Byron Peachey, Amy Springer, and Nancy Heisey, lead discussions mainly concerning the assignments of the previous week.

This year a textbook was added in order for students to explore a variety of scholastic material as well. The selected text brings in a faith perspective that pushes students to analyze their own relationships with God.

Each week a number of readings are assigned, which are accompanied by journals in which students write responses to questions of faith and personal feelings. The course description states that the emphasis of the class is "on enlarging understandings of world views, and of the student's place in relation to God, self, and others..."

Accompanying the book work, certain campus activities such as specified chapels, films, games, as well as at least 10 hours of service to the community must be completed by the conclusion of the course.

There are mixed reviews concerning the First-Year Seminar course but the course description, the assigned readings and journals, as well as the other requirements of the course each aim for one of the course's main goals for students to "reflect on and grow in faith."