My First-Year Experience
I am now an upper-class student at Barnard, and as I choose and take my courses, I am realizing just how much Barnard’s First-Year Experience (FYE) impacted me. It was a great transition from high school into college courses. The First-Year Experience includes a P.E. credit—for which I chose to take a beginning yoga class—and both the First-Year Writing (FYW) and First-Year Seminar (FYS) courses—one taken in the fall semester of freshman year and one taken in the spring semester. For FYW, I took Legacy of the Mediterranean, and for FYS, I took Mystics: Medieval and Modern.
It was so comforting during my first year of college to go to a class that was full of only my fellow Barnard first years. Both FYS and FYW are designed to help first-years transition to college classes, getting accustomed to writing college-level papers, and participating in class discussions. In both these classes, writing papers is a major component, so students submit both rough drafts and final papers, with great feedback from the professor, letting students know what they did well and what they can improve upon. Some teachers meet with the students one-on-one to discuss their rough draft before students submit the final, and some teachers give feedback by writing comments on the document. Either way, the feedback is a great way for first-years to develop their writing skills in college, and they have the ability to grow from the rough draft to the final copy. The classes have about fifteen students, to foster that close environment, developing a genuine connection with the other students and the teacher.
Most exciting is the First-Year Seminar classes because there are so many professors from different departments who volunteer to teach them, so first-years have many options when choosing their course. The FYS classes are completely designed by the professors; they choose the subject matter and readings, based on what they think is interesting and have a lot of knowledge on, and the FYS course offerings change each year and each semester. The topics cover a wide range of subjects, most things we would not normally get to take a class on. A popular class is “Reacting to the Past” in which the students dress up as and take on the persona of a historical figure, as they study history. There are science-based courses, such as a class about volcanoes called “Hot Stuff.” One of the most popular classes is about witches—the history and the cultural impacts, and the class has even gone on a field trip to watch Wicked on Broadway.
As I previously stated, my First-Year Seminar class was Mystics: Medieval and Modern, with Professor Greg Bryda, of the art history department. I did not really know what to expect when I signed up for the class. Although I always admired art, I had never taken an art history class before (though not officially an art history course). For each class session, we had readings to do for homework, including Plato’s Allegory of the Cave and Saint Augustine’s Confessions. We then came to class to discuss the readings, often looking at various artworks in conjunction with the readings. We looked at Christian art from centuries ago, such as Bernini’s The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa to the abstract art of Hilma af Klint and Malevich’s Black Square. This study throughout the semester led to the final project, where each student chose a piece of art, in any medium, from any period of time, to write our final analysis paper on and then present the work of art to the class in a final presentation. I really enjoyed the deep analysis we took as a class on each painting or sculpture we viewed: zooming in to focus on one portion of the work or discussing the history of the piece in its historical context—none of which I had ever done before when admiring art. I learned how to formulate a formal analysis of a work of art which I have still found useful in some of my other classes since.
As a class, we took a couple of field trips as well. These trips turned out to be a great way for me to transition to living in New York City and gave me a mini tour, or introduction, to the city. We went to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, near campus, and we even wrote our first paper in the class about it—looking at the architecture, stained glass windows, etc. We went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art Cloisters, where we looked at different Christian pieces of art and even talked about the structure of the Cloisters and its gardens. Lastly, we took a trip to the Museum of Modern Art, where we examined some of the abstract art we had discussed in class.
I am so thankful for the entire First-Year Experience and the skills learned in those courses, that have helped me today in my other classes. My passion for my First-Year Seminar class has led me to take other classes in Barnard’s amazing art history department—something I had not expected myself to engage in during my time at Barnard, ultimately leading me to expand my interests, and I now plan on completing the minor. I really appreciated the small class sizes that made me feel comfortable as I was surrounded by my fellow first-years, instilling in me the confidence to speak up in class discussions, and helping me to further develop my writing skills.