The Freshmen Seminar began its sophomore year last January with its first meeting of the school year. However, do not be fooled; this is a whole new machine. University School’s faculty has had a whole year to fix the nuts and bolts of the program, resulting in a more mature and streamlined experience for freshmen and facilitators alike. Indeed, 2017 is proving to be a transformative time for Freshmen Seminar. Freshmen Sai Karnati best explains the program’s new goals: “Freshmen Seminar is the equivalent of monthly diversity days. Being a short guy, I have a very limited view of the world. However, Freshmen Seminar allows me the chance to be exposed to my classmates’ viewpoints on controversial issues such as racism, Moreover, we talked about assimilating into Prepper culture and our US experience so far. My views have been stretched, expanded and lifted to all new heights. It’s some very exciting stuff.”
Speaking to several current sophomores – the “guinea pigs” of the program last year – the information gathered was overwhelmingly negative. Unfortunately, many of these former bright eyed freshmen failed to see the point of the meetings and felt that it took away time from more productive lunchtime activities – like finishing last minute Spanish homework. A sophomore who preferred to stay anonymous had this to say about the past effectiveness of the program: “I thought it was pointless. The activities were boring and each meeting seemed to be an attempt at filling the hour rather than actually doing something useful.”
Fortunately, after all this negative feedback, Mr. Frerichs and his team of Freshmen Facilitators seemed to get the message. Working hard to come up with a fresh and rejuvenating curriculum, the Freshmen Seminar seems to have turned a new leaf. Diligently planned out for years preceding its implementation in the 2015-2016 school year, the program seems to finally be communicating the lessons that it originally sought to teach. After listening to Sai and numerous other freshmen, its clear that the Freshmen Seminar is an effective program that’s here to stay. After all, it’s better late than never.
