First Semester Reflection

It’s hard to believe that this past semester was only but one semester. It felt much longer and more arduous than a normal term. Academic and personal challenges seem to proliferate sophomore year. But through all the toil and strife arose a few things of which to be very proud. One such is the progress of our cohort.

For only a single semester we have accomplished so much. We experienced a life-changing weekend trip just up the road, we delved into the meaning of place, and we engaged in outside service, far outside the comfort zone of Allegheny’s campus. I feel an appropriate sense of personal responsibility for my contributions to the group. Through the community we have built and the works we have undertaken, my definition of the Global Citizen Scholar is continuously evolving.

Subsequent to the retreat we wrote reflections about what we thought it meant to be Global Citizen Scholars. My paper had some relatively definitive statements, especially about definitions. With my perspective limited by proximity and lack of experience, I saw these things as falling cleanly within my established worldview. This is no longer the case. As I think about the tasks you give us and what they mean, I start asking more adventurous questions. Listening closely to the words of asylum seekers, nuns, and experienced alumni has opened up a whole new world of possibilities. So nowadays if you asked me what I thought it meant to be a Global Citizen Scholar, I would give you a far less decisive answer than before. Now I have a greater tolerance for ambiguity and am able to follow multiple trains of thought without committing to one wholesale. In this way I have felt the positive effects of this cohort already and can confidently say that I am fully invested.

I cannot say that I was fully invested at the beginning. Academic and extracurricular loads had me carrying a heavy yoke right off the bat, and carving out special time for this new program was a daunting proposition to say the least. Through early meetings and even the retreat I was unsure how I fit in to the vision that you had. But as time went by and I adjusted to the new schedule accordingly, it stopped feeling like as much of a burden. Eventually, it became a delight when I could do work for this class. The turning point was the Buffalo plunge weekend. The combination of informality and uniqueness of the event completely changed how I look at the Global Citizen Scholars program. Before it was just a one-credit course and a resume builder. Now I see clearly that what we are doing deserves my follow-through, and I am excited to see where we are headed.

Service is certainly the most difficult aspect for me, simply because of time constraints. Hog Heaven provides me with an out-of-the box experience every time I can make it—I certainly didn’t think I’d be farming in college. But it has gotten me to think more about where my food comes from, and the fact that billions of people make their living doing such labor. The connection through farming materializes between you and all of those people, and to our ancestors thousands of years ago plowing the floodplains of Mesopotamia. That being said to be honest I think I would prefer your suggestion of a musical service rather than continuing the farm work. The one thing music offers that hog farming sorely lacks is human connection. Since our meeting I have been thinking of ways I could implement this as a continued service commitment. There are a multitude of options with and without the music department being involved, but they all of these are linked together by one basic requirement: time. Unfortunately, my schedule looks a bit tight going into the next semester. So I will resolve to lay the groundwork for the music service while still getting to Hog Heaven when I can. I will try to gauge community interest for something like an ensemble or a barbershop quartet and proceed from there. I will also reach out to other Allegheny music students to see if they are willing to participate. If we implement the program my junior year we have a chance to work with it and do something really special for the community. Additionally, it would make for a conversation piece on my portfolio.

Allow me to apologize for the early form of my portfolio. Wordpress and I didn’t jive. But just before writing this reflection I put some time into formatting a new portfolio with the aid of Wix. Initially I was confused when Wendy mentioned we could use our portfolio websites in our careers, but now it seems to me like a really clever idea. Global Citizen Scholar material is only intended to be one portion among many. Once I realized this I radically redesigned mine. You will observe that navigation is guided by common sense and any abstract pictures provided by the template are replaced by personal or pertinent images. There are sections designated for reflections, a travel blog, as well as a display of some of my current eclectic projects. The portfolio goal of this course is the latest factor into my development. Though initially I failed to connect it to my life earnestly now it has become fully incorporated. That is the story of our cohort for me at least: diverse, seemingly unrelated factors coming together in ways we never thought possible.

How could civic engagement, US diversity, and global learning come together in real life rather than just theory? Toss in an online component and you have quite an arrangement of things. But how do these things fit together? Through our semester together and the things we have done, I think we are starting to get some answers. Only by cooperation and personal development could we get to where we are now. We have seen the results starting to materialize so now it is time for us to take a leap of faith into our cohort and push confidently into the new semester.