CEHD First-year freshmen showcase their capstone projects
Students
watch their classmates' presentations.
CEHD first-year students gathered in the Great Hall of Coffman Union to showcase PsTL 1525: First Year Inquiry, Multidisciplinary Ways of Knowing Capstone Projects. The FYI Course is a writing intensive, team-taught course that addresses the common question How Can One Person Make a Difference? Six large lecture sections, and sixteen discussion sections guide students through a semester of critical thinking, reading a common book, writing and research that culminates in a multidisciplinary group project. This third annual gathering of over 450 first-year students, CEHD faculty, advisors and staff introduced a new format for the Capstone Showcase by drawing all members of the community together for an opening program that gave the audience a taste of what each section of the FYI course produced.
FYI Students present poster on overeating.
Student projects in each FYI lecture approached the
common question How can one person make a difference?
through a particular thematic lens. The array of
student work showcased was wide-ranging and impressive. In
the “Energy...Illuminated!” section, students investigated
how energy in its myriad forms (including spiritual energy,
solar energy, social energy, and chemical energy) can be
employed to make a difference. Demonstrations included
dance, laughing yoga and simulated rides on the bus.
In another section called “Big Questions” students produced
digital stories of individuals who have made a difference.
Students in a food-themed section created 60 second
commercials focusing on a food-related principle. Two
highlighted videos targeted the dangers of fast-food
restaurants. A student performance on the government
response to Hurricane Katrina used humor to illustrate the
social crisis that followed this natural disaster. An
array of posters ringed the Great Hall publicizing the work
of activists and organizations making a difference in some
area where injustices prevail.
This end-of-semester event brought students, faculty and staff back together in the Great Hall where we first met on College Day at the beginning of September. The weather has changed dramatically since then, and so have our students and our community. As Rashne Jehangir put it “you don’t look like newbies, anymore.” Indeed, this event celebrated the distances our CEHD students have already travelled on their college journeys. From the looks of things, it will be a dynamic and thought-provoking trip that will definitely make a difference!
CEHD freshmen fill the Great Hall. 
Photos by Dawn Villella photography.