Shop 'til You Drop

Even though I'm overwhelmingly busy at the moment, I had to write this post because I thought of the title and it amused me. It's shopping week at Haverford College.

What's shopping week, you say? It's when you treat your education like a product you're buying. You go to class and scrutinize the quality of the professor's teaching style. You get to try before you buy. It's a great concept, especially when you need to commit to the whole semester and text books are anything but cheap.

However, it's not so easy for first semester freshmen. All upperclassmen have the chance to preregister the semester before. When you're a freshmen, you talk to advisors about which classes you want to try, and you try them. Problems arise because 100 level classes (the lowest level, most freshmen can only take 100 levels unless they test out of something) are the most competitive, because freshmen and upperclassmen alike take them. Some of these 100 levels have limited enrollment, so a lottery is held to see who gets in.

I'm on the waitlist for statistics, astronomy, and abnormal psychology. I need to find two more classes to take, because I only have two at the moment. I really want to take abnormal psych, and either astronomy or statistics. But until I know for sure which classes I get into, I have to take Bio Psych and Economics as backups. So that's three classes I want to take, two back up classes, and two classes I'm actually in. That's seven college classes this week. Here's the kicker: during shopping week, you have to do all of the work for all of the classes you intend to take. That's a lot of homework.

In all honesty, I can't keep up with all of the work for seven classes. Hopefully tomorrow I will know whether or not I got into abnormal psych. Until I have all four determined, I just need to prioritize the best I can and do the most important work first. On the bright side, this is a better test of my time management skills than I've ever had before!

All Freshman Arrive

Hey everyone!

The rest of the class of 2015 moved in yesterday! It was the beginning of Customs Week, Haverford's orientation week for freshman. The dynamic of campus shifted abruptly during the transition from MLI to Customs; the class of 2015 grew from 30 students to 337 students. We are the largest incoming class in Haverford College's history!

Customs Week helps you get to know the campus and it's resources, but focuses on building relationships within your customs group. The customs groups consist of the people that live on your hall. In my case, there are 12 freshmen, 8 guys and four girls.

Yesterday evening, we played ice breaker games (including Ninja!), had dinner together, went to a lighthearted opening ceremony, and embarked on the most intense scavenger hunt in my life. So intense, in fact, that we competed against all the other customs groups in the freshman class, the prize is a pizza and cookie party for your group, and the winners won't be determined until Saturday--Good incentive for you to keep reading, huh?

I'll let you know a little bit more about what we did today in tomorrow's post; I think it's good to have a little time to reflect.  :)

P.S. I keep meaning to take pictures of my experiences and other people I meet. I know pictures are totally more interesting than my ramblings, so you can expect a lot of pictures in the future!

My First Haverford Experience

Hello St. Louis folks!

It’s hard to believe that today I have ended my first experience at Haverford: Multicultural Leadership Institute. Before I left, I shared with some of you at home that I would be attending this program. I received some skeptical comments, along the lines of “Be careful, just because this claims to be a diverse program does not mean they will take kindly to Christians.” I also received encouraging advice to attend the program if this was really something interesting to me. Now that I’ve done it, I’d like to clarify the question: What does the Multicultural Leadership Institute actually entail?

About 70 freshmen applied for the program, but only 30 had the privilege of attending. I was definitely surprised to be chosen. Not because I didn’t think I was capable, but because I know that everyone in the class of 2015 is equally, if not more gifted and talented than I am. They had exceptional grades in high school, have traveled across the world, and were leaders in a wide range of activities. Nevertheless, I received a spot in the program.

This honor filled me with joy and exceeded my expectations. I have always been extremely interested in topics concerning diversity. I also really enjoy discussing taboo topics—politics, religion, etc. and we dug into these ideas every day as whole group and also in smaller groups with a Student Resource Person (SRP) leader. We had about 3 workshops per day, and our topics included Socioeconomic Class, Privilege, Race, Gender & Sexuality, Spirituality & Religion, and Leadership. As we delved into these topics, we really got to know one another on a concrete and fundamental level within only a few days—something I had not experienced with previous classmates I had known for years. It was freeing to be able to speak honestly with each other, without the fear of becoming an outcast or being labeled in a negative way.

To those who may have been skeptical concerning the tolerance of Christians in this type of secular program, I can tell you that it surprised me how openly we shared our differences in religion. There were students who had grown up in one denomination or religion but had switched to another, those that were unsure about the religion that they had grown up with, and those who had followed the same religion their entire lives. As this was one of our final workshops, we had gotten to know each other well beforehand and were comfortable enough to go around the circle and share a statement about our religious background. Even being in a room of friends, sharing my Christian identity was still scary. However, openly discussing our faiths ended up being an empowering experience. I hugged an atheist and had meaningful conversations with other Christians. I am less afraid of rejection. I know that if I share my faith with others who are close minded or rude, I won’t take it as personally now because their intolerance is their problem, not mine. With this confidence, I can continue to love those who reject my beliefs without feeling insecure.

The religion workshop was definitely one of the best parts of my experience, and it’s amazing to think the program almost dropped it due to time constraints (according to my SRP leader). I suggested that it be left in, and even be extended, because it was one of the shorter workshops.

 For now, I’m just grateful to have met all of these other wonderful, passionate students from the class of 2015. It’s comforting to know I have a group of friends before orientation even starts!