"Will you join in our crusade? Who will be strong and stand with me?
Somewhere beyond the barricade is there a world you long to see?
Do you hear the people sing? Say, do you hear the distant drums?
It is the future that they bring when tomorrow comes!"
On Saturday, January 12, 2013, members of the Carroll Fellows Initiative gathered in Copley Formal Lounge for the CFI Winter Orientation. This annual retreat, designed to welcome Carroll Fellows back to campus and to officially present the new freshmen Fellows to the CFI, focused on two themes this year – community and revolution. The day’s activities emphasized the ways in which Carroll Fellows could reconsider these themes in their own lives at Georgetown.
Greeting the CFI Community
For the Orientation’s morning activity, Carroll Fellows took the first step towards building a community – saying hello. The 120 Carroll Fellows attending each presented a one-minute 'elevator speech' to a partner, then listened and took notes as the partner introduced himself. Changing partners at the sound of a bell, all Carroll Fellows had an opportunity to meet each member of the CFI community and to find common ground with their fellow students. This exercise exemplified how a community can begin to form in just two minutes.
Community Support Against Anxiety
During lunch, Dr. Glavin spoke to the Carroll Fellows about ways to identify and combat anxiety. Referencing Tamar E. Chansky's Freeing Yourself From Anxiety, Dr. Glavin encouraged the Carroll Fellows to think of an issue currently causing them anxiety and then to use Chansky's four-step plan to manage that anxiety. Dr. Glavin emphasized that, regardless of one's capabilities and talents, no one should have to deal with anxiety alone. Instead, he reminded his students, they should not hesitate to reach out to family, friends, professors, and the GOFAR staff for support.
A Revolution of Creativity
The sophomore Carroll Fellows and their Senior Mentors led the next activity: small-group exercises in creativity based on Howard Gardner's Creating Minds. Having studied one of Gardner's seven creative thinkers during the past semester, each group designed and led a one-hour interactive session exemplifying why each thinker was considered revolutionary for his time. Activities included:
- reconsidering the use of Healy Lawn inspired by Einstein's reconceptualization of time and space
- writing an original poem about Georgetown's buildings in the style of Eliot's "Prufrock"
- analyzing free associations with abstract images, just as Freud analyzed abstract dreams
- using role-play to understand the social constraints combatted by Gandhi
- learning and performing in American Sign Language with Graham's take on modern dance in mind
- crafting images describing students' reactions a fictitious disaster at Georgetown, reminiscent of Picasso's "Guernica"
- playing Georgetown's alma matar and fight song in the style of Stravinsky
Songs of Revolution
Finally, the Carroll Fellows joined together in song as they experienced the power that music can give to political and social movements. Led by Mrs. Katie Pierce, a local high school choral director, the Carroll Fellows learned four songs representing different revolutions and musical styles:
- "Va, Pensiero" (Italian opera - Nabucco), the anthem of the Italian Risorgimento
- "Lift Every Voice and Sing" (gospel), a key song in the American Civil Rights movement
- "Imagine" (contemporary), John Lenon's outcry against the status quo of the 1960s
- "Do You Hear the People Sing?" (musical theater - Les Miserables), a representation of the spirit of the student revolts in France in the 1840s
In this activity, students developed their knowledge of music, their comfort singing, and - above all - their understanding of the momentum and enthusiasm of a community joined in song. Accompanied by Ms. Wagstaff, the students ended the day by recording the four songs, complete with marking feet and flying banners (videos to come soon!). The Carroll Fellows left Winter Orientation confident in the strength of their community and inspired by the possibility of creating ‘a world they long to see’.
No comments:
Post a Comment