summer reading essay questions

First Year Summer Reading Program

Your Westminster education begins even before you set foot on our beautiful campus, with this year’s summer reading — What the Eyes Don’t See by pediatrician and public health expert Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha.

Because every first year student will read the same book, the summer reading assignment provides a common intellectual experience for you to share with your future classmates and professors. It will give you a sense of what college-level reading is like, and serve as the basis for classroom discussion and campus events this fall. Your experience with the book will set you on the road to a liberal arts education by challenging you intellectually and personally, and helping prepare you to make contributions in our rapidly changing world.

In What the Eyes Don’t See , Dr. Hanna-Attisha describes how economic decline, democratic exclusion, shortsighted policies, and indifference combined to create a public health crisis. She considers how easy it is to overlook grave threats when they don’t affect us directly. She shares insight about the ways her personal and family history contributed to her activism. And, she describes her role on the team of community volunteers, researchers and civil servants that blew the whistle on the dangers of Flint’s drinking water.

We hope you enjoy the book. As you read it, consider the questions it raises about the nature of poverty, exclusion and injustice, as well as the ability of individuals to make a difference and bring about positive change. If you’d like to know more about the situation since Flint’s water problem was exposed, you can read about some of the progress that has been made to improve Flint’s drinking water, as well as the challenges that remain, here: Flint Has Clean Water Now. Why Won’t People Drink It? - POLITICO .

• Flint residents’ voices tell story of water crisis in new work by UM playwright
• 5 Years After Flint's Crisis Began, Is The Water Safe?

Your job now is to read What the Eyes Don’t See and to write an essay in response to one of the three questions provided below. Follow the instructions for writing and submitting your summer essay that are provided there. Be sure to upload it to the drop box on the FY 000-01 First Year Summer Reading page on Desire2Learn by Monday, August 19th .

Source: Kmusser

Flint residents protest outside the Michigan State Capital in January 2016. Source: Wikimedia Commons

Corroded water pipes. Source: Min Tang and Kelsey Pieper

Below are the links to alternate formats for the summer reading book What the Eyes Don't See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City.

   Amazon

   Barns & Noble

If you require additional assistance please contact the director of the Office of Disability Resources, Faith Craig at [email protected] .

Also, be sure to bring your copy of What the Eyes Don’t See when you come to Westminster in August.

Essay Instructions

Instructions for writing your essay.

• Review the three essay prompts below, then consider them as you read and reflect on the book.
• Choose one of the three prompts to focus your essay.
• Write a 2-page essay that responds to the question(s) posed by your selected prompt.
• Don’t worry about writing a comprehensive answer to all the prompts but do be sure to use examples from the book and explain how those examples illustrate the points you want to make.
• Save your essay file as a .doc, .docx,.rtf or .pdf file
• Title your file with your last name and the words “summer essay”
• Follow the instructions below for submitting your essay.

Instructions for Uploading Essay

By Monday, August 19, upload your essay to the dropbox on the FY 000-01 page on Desire to Learn https://learn.westminster.edu/d2l/home/36825

Click on Dropbox from the menu at the top of the page. Then, select “What Eyes Don’t See Summer Essay” and use the uploader to submit your essay.

Essay Prompts

• What motivated some individuals to get involved while others stayed on the sidelines or contributed to the problem?
• Do you consider the story to be more about crisis and failure or more about resilience and hope?
• How does Dr. Hanna-Attisha make sure that her pediatric residents broaden their perspectives in ways that improve their ability to practice medicine and care for their patients?
• How did Dr. Hanna-Attisha’s personal experiences and family history broaden her perspective in ways that contributed positively to her work?
• How did this book broaden your own perspective? What are you now prepared to see that you wouldn’t have noticed prior to reading it?
• In which ways does the book show scientific discovery and public advocacy working together, and in which ways does it suggest they might be at odds with one another?
• How did individuals in the story use their passion to contribute to addressing the water crisis in Flint?
• What are you passionate about? How might your own passions guide the work you do at Westminster and in your future after graduation?

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Summer Reading Archive

Summer reading 2023.

The Cultural and Intellectual Community Council (CICC) selects the annual intellectual theme related to the Summer Reading and distributes funds for related programming during the Academic year. The Intellectual Theme for CICC sponsored programs in 2023-24 is Access and Opportunities. Access and Opportunities focuses on structures that enable (or constrain) certain groups to have a real chance for advancement or progress based on their intersecting identities. For many people, access and opportunity can be a mirage that is hard to understand and navigate especially given cultural narratives that frame access and opportunity as freely and equally available to all.

Essay Instructions

Students should choose one Theme and then answer one or more of the questions under that Theme in their essay responses.

Theme 1: Who Is Unknown/Known?

1. What is unknown about these unknown Americans? Why do these immigrants feel (un)seen and (un)heard? Specifically, what kind of stereotypes does the book counter about Latin American immigrants? By the end of the book, what do we now know about these unknown Americans?

2. Take a moment to identify another group of unknown Americans. What makes them unknown (or misunderstood)? How do the issues discussed in the book connect to (or depart from) the dynamics you identified for this other (un)known group?

Theme 2: Family Dynamics

1. The novel features immigrant parents and first generation children. How do generational dynamics in these immigrant families influence their interactions with each other and their broader communities? How are these family dynamics influenced by the broader community?

3. How would you describe the gender dynamics present in the book? What is the family’s role in gender socialization? How does gender socialization influence expectations, roles, and limitations placed on characters? How do the characters conform or resist these expectations?

Theme 3: Disability

1. How are disabilities represented and treated in the novel, and how do other characters respond to characters with disabilities? What attitudes are represented? Comment on some of these attitudes and interactions/treatments?

2. How is the disability experience represented in the book affected by other structural factors (i.e., socioeconomic status, immigration status, language barriers, etc.)

Theme 4: The American Dream

1. How is access to (and opportunity for) realizing The American Dream, the idea that in America everyone, regardless of race, creed, or class, can enjoy prosperity, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, represented in the book? What structural and institutional factors facilitate and/or inhibit access and opportunity related to The American Dream?

2. Where did your family come from? What are some immigration stories that are told in your family? How do your own family stories connect to (or depart from) the narratives found in the book?

3. For many of these characters, stepping on United States soil is already representative of the American Dream, but in many ways it is overwhelmingly more disappointing than initially expected. What are your thoughts on the American Dream, and how do these beliefs present themselves in the novel?

Summer Reading 2022

A passion is defined as “an intense desire or enthusiasm for something.’’ This can include a passion for the arts, a passion for a sport, a passion for a philanthropic cause, an intellectual passion, or anything else that sets your soul on fire. Through hard times, it can seem impossible to maintain optimism and have a reason to keep fighting. This is why having a passion is so crucial.

We hope that reading this book will inspire the student body to lean into their passions, no matter how unconventional or fantastical. Our speaker will inspire conversations about overcoming adversity, finding the light in a dark situation, and empowering students to home in on their passion and continue pursuing it throughout their academic and professional life.

Topic 1: Personal Passions On p. 216, Jarrett says, “But now that I’m in my teens, I fill sketchbooks just to deal with life. To survive.” Throughout Jarrett’s story, art served as an outlet for his emotions, a way for him to make sense of his experiences, and a channel for his creativity

• What are some ways art, and art class, shape Jarrett’s life in high school?
• What is some form of passion that has enriched your life and shaped you as a person?
• What passions do you hope to discover and cultivate in your time at TCNJ?

Topic 2: Art and Storytelling Read “A Note on Art” at the end of the book. In addition to Jarrett’s own drawings, he also includes drawings, letters, and other artifacts from his childhood in the memoir.

• How does the memoir’s illustrations contribute to its effectiveness?
• Choose a series of images you thought were particularly powerful. What is it about these images – the combination of art and text – that work so well? How do they enrich the reader’s understanding of Jarrett’s experiences?
• What other powerful examples of visual storytelling have you encountered?

Topic 3: Understanding and Resilience Jarrett’s story is one of struggle, uncertainty, addiction and conflict, but it is also a story about love, recovery, hope, and perseverance.

• Describe some of Jarrett’s family’s challenges.
• How does the memoir complicate or challenge stereotypical depictions of addiction and love?
• Has there been a time in your life when you have overcome or helped someone else overcome personal adversity?

Summer Reading 2021

The challenges of the past year have threatened people’s physical and psychological well-being, both personally and professionally. Resilience is the capacity of an individual to withstand, bounce back from, and work through challenging circumstances and events. We chose the intellectual theme Resilience to provide an opportunity for our community to reflect on our own stories and to rebuild our trust in life and to heal.

In order to prepare for a faculty or staff-led discussion with your peers, choose one of the following four prompts for your response. You may respond in one of several ways. A traditional essay of approximately 500 words is acceptable. You may also choose an alternate format such as a visual art project, photo essay, poetry, a music playlist, or a video response. If you choose an alternate format, your response must be accompanied with a brief explanation of the connection to the book and chosen prompt.

NOTE: please make explicit reference to the book and use page numbers to cite those connections.

• What is your own definition of resiliency? What makes you a resilient person? What are your personal strengths that contribute to your resiliency? What resources (people, groups, etc.) have helped you be resilient in difficult times? What TCNJ campus resources are you already aware of that may help you be a resilient student in times of difficulty? Are there any obstacles to resiliency or conditions that make it harder?
• Reflect on your results. The book talks about ACE experiences of different characters. Which of these characters do you feel you can best relate to?
• Dr. Harris recommends 6 things to her patients (see p. 168). With each recommendation, rate yourself on a scale of 1-5 for how you did over this last week.
• How can a person’s understanding of their own ACE score be a tool for self-empowerment and advocacy?
• In your own words, explain what you remember about what happens when the stress response system becomes dysregulated.
• When is it a good thing for the stress response system to cut off access to the pre-frontal cortex? You can use the author’s example of the bear in the woods if it helps to have an example.
• What are some of the effects of cortisol?
• What does an activated stress response system do to the immune system?
• What are the key factors that shield children from the negative effects of adverse experiences?
• The author believes that trauma becomes embedded in a community. Discuss the ways in which you agree or disagree with this idea.

Summer Reading 2020

Our annual Community Learning Day and Teach-In will be held on September 2nd with two showings of the play at 2:00pm and 8:00p.m. in Kendall Hall. There will be evening shows of Nottage’s play in Kendall Hall, each night September 1st through 4th.

In Sweat, Nottage explores issues that are front and center in American discourse through the examination of a community struggling with economic decline. While these communities are in many ways the backbone of America, their voices are not always heard.

With this year’s theme of Visibility, TCNJ is asking whose voices are heard, whose are silenced, which voices are privileged and which are undervalued? As we approach another election, we recognize that many of our students will have their first opportunity to vote for our highest office. We hope that this play opens up discussions that will help engage our students’ curiosity about who we are as a country and encourage them to be open to all voices. We want our students to really see one another and invite new possibilities as they welcome visibility from one another and claim it for themselves.

We invite the campus community to organize and participate in this dynamic and meaningful programming under this unifying concept.

In selecting Lynn Nottage’s Sweat as the summer reading text for the graduating class of 2024, CICC recognizes that each of our incoming students arrives with a worldview influenced by their individual lived experiences. Our students’ identities are unique and varied, yet similar in that they all likely come with some degree of privilege and pain. We hope that this shared reading will contribute to understanding, compassion, and love for one another as the class of 2024 begins this journey together. We expect students and facilitators will have meaningful conversations that bridge both disciplinary and personal divides.

The Summer Reading Program discussions will take place on the afternoon of Wednesday, September 2, 2020. Below are instructions for how to respond to the book. All students should be prepared to discuss your reactions to the text at your assigned discussion time.

STEP 1: Read and Respond

In order to prepare for a faculty or staff led discussion with your peers, choose one of the following prompts for your response. You may respond in one of several ways. A traditional essay of approximately 500 words is acceptable. You may also choose an alternate format such as a visual art project, photo essay, poetry, a music playlist, or a video response. If you choose an alternate format, your response must be accompanied with a brief explanation of the connection to the play and chosen prompt. For instance, if you choose a playlist, either say why each song was chosen or as an introduction to the playlist, discuss what you want to communicate with your song choices. If you create a visual arts project, write a brief artist’s statement explaining the meaning of your piece.

It is important to note that this is not an assignment about writing the perfect academic essay. We encourage you to share an authentic response to the reading. Be real, be honest, allow your voice to be heard so that we can begin to truly be visible to one another.

TIP: When quoting text, please add the page number in parenthesis.

STEP 2: Post your response

Your response must be posted to the SRP-099 discussion board in the college’s course management system, Canvas, after August 1st and no later than August 23rd.

Optional: In addition to posting your written response, you are encouraged to use FlipGrid to post a short (less than 2 minute) video of your response to the book. The video is meant to add your voice to your response and be a fun way to interact with your classmates. If your formal response is a video, use FlipGrid to talk about how your idea came to be similar to a movie director’s commentary or an album’s track commentary.

STEP 3: Respond to others

Once you have posted your response (and optional FlipGrid video), please read or view at least three entries from other students and share your thoughts with them. Your response to your colleagues should be of substance. Ideas include (but are not limited to); 1) sharing how your opinions complemented or contradicted; 2) something that this response made you think differently about; 3) connections you may have made with this person’s response. You can respond to both formal entries and FlipGrid videos.

NOTE: Since students will be submitting their work at different times throughout the month of August, you may have to keep checking the site for new entries when you are ready to submit responses to peers.

Prompt options: Please choose one of the following prompts and indicate to which prompt you are responding in your entry to Canvas.

1. In the play, Nottage uses current events to provide context for each scene. First, using one scene, write about the connection between the news that introduces the scene and what is happening in the lives of the characters. Then, identify something from today’s current events and draw a connection between that and its impact on your own life or reality in your community.

2. In Act I, both Chris and Jason are making decisions about what kind of work they want to pursue in their adult life. How are each of them making that decision? What factors are they both using to weigh out the cost/benefits of deciding about their future?

3. Intersectionality is a term used to identify how overlapping categories of identity impact individuals and institutions, and take these relationships into account when working to promote social and political equity. While struggling with the economic decline, the communities in this play are in many ways the backbone of America. Yet, their voices are not always heard. In this play, longtime friends see their paths dramatically diverge. How do systems of oppression pit folks against one another even when they would be better served by working together? Write about a character in the play in terms of his identities on how their voice was heard, not heard or undervalued. What is happening that we can see? And, what is happening below the surface?

Summer Reading 2019

In selecting Darnell Moore’s No Ashes in the Fire: Coming of Age Black & Free in America as the summer reading text for the graduating class of 2023, CICC recognizes that each of our incoming students arrives with a worldview influenced by their individual lived experiences. Our students’ identities are unique and varied, yet similar in that they all likely come with some degree of privilege and pain. We hope that this shared reading will contribute to understanding, compassion, and love for one another as the class of 2023 begins this journey together. We expect students and facilitators will have meaningful conversations about the experiences of how personal history impacts our current reality. We believe these conversations will also highlight another of TCNJ’s core values: “Inclusiveness.”

The Summer Reading Program discussions will take place on the afternoon of Monday, August 26, 2019. Below are instructions for how to respond to the book. All students should be prepared to discuss your reactions to the text at your assigned discussion time.

STEP 1 : Read and Respond

In order to prepare for a faculty or staff led discussion with your peers, choose one of the following prompts for your response. You may respond in one of several ways. A traditional essay of approximately 500 words is acceptable. You may also choose an alternate format such as a visual art project, photo essay, poetry, a music playlist, or a video response. If you choose an alternate format, your response must be accompanied with a brief explanation of the connection to the book and chosen prompt.

Summer Reading Essay Prompts:

• Much of Moore’s story is influenced by looking into his past. This includes exploring the lives of his parents. Many of us only see our parents or caregivers from our own egocentric perspective — they are there for us. What do you know about the people who raised you beyond the task of raising you. What do they love? How do they see themselves? What were their hopes and dreams when they were your age? If you don’t know — ask.
• What did you read in your K-12 schooling experience that reflected how you see yourself or who you hoped to be? Discuss what you read and how it influenced or had an impact on you.
• Masculinity is often defined for us by society and the people close to us. Throughout Darnell Moore’s life he had many experiences where he had to act more “masculine” to feel acceptance within his relationships, neighborhood, college, and family. How does Darnell Moore’s memoir help us improve our understanding of masculinity in modern society?

STEP 2 : Post your response

Your response must be posted to the SRP-099 discussion board in the college’s course management system, Canvas, after July 10, 2019 and no later than August 16, 2019.

STEP 3 : Respond to others

Summer Reading 2018

In selecting Jennine Capó Crucet’s Make Your Home Among Strangers as the summer reading text for the graduating class of 2022, CICC recognizes the transition that incoming students face as they meet new people, make new friends, encounter new ideas, and enlarge their intellectual landscape. Students must balance multiple worlds and shape new identities that often challenge their sense of home. We expect students and facilitators will have meaningful conversations around the experiences of first-generation college students and newcomers to the United States. We believe these conversations will also highlight another of TCNJ’s core values: “Inclusiveness.”

The SRP discussions will take place on the afternoon of Monday, August 27th.

Jennine Capó Cruce will speak on Wednesday, September 26, 2018 at noon in Kendall Hall, Main Auditorium.

Purchase Make Your Home Among Strangers from the Bookstore

In order to prepare for a faculty or staff led discussion with your peers, choose one of the following questions and respond in approximately 500 word post to the SRP-099 discussion board in the college’s course management system, Canvas , after July 10th. Your short essays should show evidence of your thorough grasp of the book, but you should not quote at length. When quoting text, include the page number in parenthesis. You must post these responses by Wednesday, August 15. In addition, respond to three other students’ essays in a substantive way (at least 100 words in each response) prior to your discussion, August 27. Substantive responses may include 1) additional examples that address the same topics that the students discuss; 2) reflections that link your personal experience to the text; or 3) questions that you may have regarding students’ essays.

1) In her book, Make your Home Among Strangers , Jennine Capó Crucet discusses the experience of a first generation college student from the point of view of the protagonist Lizet. How do Lizet’s relationships contribute to her college experience and her sense that “everything is new”? What does the novel suggest about how class, privilege, stereotypes, opportunities, insecurities, challenges, and a new environment all help Lizet discover and define herself? Discuss specific examples from Crucet’s book that best support your assertions. Feel free to contemplate and address your own concerns as you move into your first year of college.

2) Even though this is a work of fiction, Capó Crucet discusses events surrounding the immigration case of Elian Gonzalez in South Florida, although she calls the boy Ariel Hernandez. How does Capó Crucet draw parallels between Ariel’s experience, which becomes a public spectacle, and Lizet’s private circumstances? Have you found yourself in a comparable position and been able to draw connections between your own personal experience and events and issues in the larger culture? Discuss specific examples from the book as you make your case.

If you have questions, please contact Dr. Felicia Steele, Summer Reading Program Faculty Fellow, [email protected] .

Summer Reading 2017

Part of broader TCNJ discussions, including Sustained Dialogues, the President’s Commission on Social Justice, and past CICPC themes, “Who We Are” is intended to promote campus-wide discussions about the personal, cultural, and transformative journeys of all members of the TCNJ community, both as individuals and the groups with which they identify. This theme reflects one of the core values of TCNJ: self-reflection. By sharing personal stories with each other, we can empathize with the challenges each of us faces singularly and collectively in our ever-changing world. We have much to learn from each other as we continue to engage in ongoing difficult conversations about complex issues across campus. Through these conversations, we have an opportunity to explore and appreciate how each of us can succeed, how each of us can grow through successes and failures, how each of us can change our beliefs and commitments, and how our circumstances shape our identifies and life.

Purchase No Apparent Distress from the Bookstore

In order to prepare for a faculty or staff led discussion with your peers, choose one of the following questions and respond in a 500 word post to the SRP-099 discussion board in the college’s course management system Canvas. Your short essays should show evidence of your thorough grasp of the book, but you should not quote at length. You must post these responses by Monday, August 14. In addition, respond to three other students’ essays in a substantive way (at least 100 words in each response) prior to your discussion, August 28. Substantive responses may include 1) additional examples that address the same topics that the students discuss; 2) reflections that link your personal experience to the text; 3) questions that you may have regarding students’ essays. You will not be able to respond to your peers until you have posted a contribution to the discussion board.

1) In her book, No Apparent Distress: A Doctor’s Coming-of-Age on the Front Lines of American Medicine, Dr. Rachel Pearson opens with a frank discussion of a medical error that contributed to the death of one of her patients. She also recounts her family’s educational history and her personal educational history. How do Pearson’s relationships with her patients, her family, and her peers contribute to her sense of “Who she is” as a doctor? What does her memoir suggest about the nature of education and the formation of professional identity? Discuss specific examples from Pearson’s book that best support your assertions.

2) Pearson did not originally set out to be a doctor. Before attending medical school, she spent a year in an MFA program in creative writing from Columbia University. How does Pearson’s storytelling illuminate the connections between race, class, and medical care? You may also discuss how issues related to social class influenced Pearson’s decision to change careers. Discuss specific examples from Pearson’s book that best support your assertions.

Summer Reading 2016

The Cultural and Intellectual Community Program Council (CICPC) selects the annual intellectual theme, funds related programming during the academic year, and selects the summer reading book, which begins our year-long exploration of the intellectual theme. The theme for CICPC sponsored programs in 2016-2017 is “Toward Just and Sustainable Communities”. Faculty, staff, and students from around the college will present speakers, film series, performances, and other events related to the theme.

This year’s intellectual theme, “Toward Just and Sustainable Communities,” asks the TCNJ community to explore connections among social justice, sustainability, and community, and to consider these terms expansively and creatively. How do we define community? What are the manifestations of justice in our communities? What do we mean when we talk about sustainability? The theme suggests the power of human agency; we can move “toward” meaningful action. The Summer Reading text, Will Allen’s The Good Food Revolution, describes his project, Growing Power, and honors and celebrates what others have done to promote healthy communities through urban gardens that grow affordable and sustainable “good food.” Grounded in the history of changes in agriculture and the American food system during the Great Migration, Allen’s book serves as a model of the cross-disciplinarity possible in discussions of community, justice, and sustainability.

Purchase the book from the TCNJ bookstore

In order to prepare for a faculty or staff led discussion with your peers, choose one of the following questions and respond in a 500 word post to the SRP-099 discussion board in the college’s course management system Canvas . Your short essays should show evidence of your thorough grasp of the book, but you should not quote at length. You must post these responses by Monday, August 15. In addition, respond to three other students’ essays in a substantive way (at least 100 words in each response) prior to your discussion, August 29. Substantive responses may include 1) additional examples that address the same topics that the students discuss; 2) reflections that link your personal experience to the text; 3) questions that you may have regarding students’ essays.

1) In his book, The Good Food Revolution: Growing Healthy Food, People, and Communities, Will Allen tells the story of how his family, like so many other American families, lost the power to grow their own healthy foods and feed themselves when they left rural farms for city life. The title of his book suggests growing healthy food will lead to healthier people and healthier communities, re-empowering them in a “good food revolution.” To what extent do you think this movement can succeed in creating revolutionary changes, both in cities and in your own community?

2) Will Allen uses his family’s history to connect his readers to the Great Migration and the impact that movement from the rural US to urban centers had on African American communities. How does Allen’s storytelling illuminate the connections between race, food, and just and sustainable communities? Discuss specific examples from Allen’s book that best support your answer.

Summer Reading 2015

The Cultural and Intellectual Community Program Council (CICPC) selects the annual intellectual theme, funds related programming during the academic year, and selects the summer reading book, which begins our year-long exploration of the intellectual theme. The theme for CICPC sponsored programs in 2015-2016 is “College and Change”. Faculty, staff, and students from around the college will present speakers, film series, performances, and other events related to the theme.

College is a place of personal transformation for students, and college prepares students for success in their future lives. But immersion in a campus culture also shapes a student’s place in the world, socially and ecologically. What can students learn in college that will help them become responsible agents of change in society and in society’s relationship to the nature world? In The Nature of College, James Farrell writes, “College education isn’t just classes, papers, and GPAs. It’s also an open invitation to engage designing minds, first in understanding the designs of nature, second in understanding the culture of nature, and finally in designing a culture that enriches nature’s health and our own deep fulfillment.” To fully appreciate the possibilities of the college experience, we might look to environmentalist David Orr’s words and envision our college as a place where students gain the capacity to design the future.

The Nature of College was selected as the summer reading text because it embodies the theme “College and Change”.

With the theme “College and Change” in mind, please be prepared to discuss The Nature of College with your fellow students and a faculty/staff facilitator in your Summer Reading discussion group on August 24, 2015.

In order to prepare for your discussion, please write a response of at least 200 words to all three questions that follow these instructions. Your short essays should show evidence of your thorough grasp of the book, but you should not quote at length. You will post these responses by Monday, August 10, to a discussion board on the campus learning management system Canvas. Additional specific directions will be posted on the Summer Reading Program website by August 1st.

Furthermore, you are also required to comment on at least three other students’ essays (at least one in each discussion forum) in a substantive way (at least 100 words), by Saturday, August 15. Please select a student who has not received feedback for your comments rather than responding to the first entry you read. Also please do not make grammatical comments; your goal is to focus on the ideas discussed by other students rather than the writing quality. You will want to write your response and your comments in a word processing program and then paste your work into CANVAS.

Your writing and participation in the summer reading program should be consistent with the standards of academic writing and integrity. Please indicate the page number for any quotation. In your responses to other students, please be respectful, as you would be in any academic setting. In college, you will encounter students of various backgrounds, communities, and viewpoints. Part of college is learning how to disagree in a polite and constructive way that promotes dialogue.

Essay Questions

1) Imagine the world in which you would like to live and work twenty years after college graduation. What do you need to learn in college in order to contribute to the changes needed to build this world? Frame this essay as a letter to your TCNJ professors. Use terms from the ecologician’s dictionary, which appear throughout Farrell’s book.

2) In what ways does Farrell’s book challenge your expectations of college life and your own role as a college student? How does the book help you identify specific ways in which college students can instigate crucial and fundamental cultural change?

3) Farrell argues that every action you take has an impact on the environment. As a citizen of Earth, discuss the implications of one action you’ve taken since you got up this morning and consider whether those implications are consistent with your values.

Summer Reading 2014

In her annual letter to the incoming first-year class, President Gitenstein highlights the importance of the Summer Reading Program. In her words,

“Your participation in our Summer Reading Program is a first step in your career at the College and should help prepare you for our challenging and engaging academic environment.”

Accordingly, the Cultural and Intellectual Community Program Council adopts the following goals for the Summer Reading Program:

To promote first year student participation in the TCNJ intellectual community by selecting a summer reading text related to the CICPC theme and Community Learning Day

To promote critical analysis of the text by requiring students to respond in writing to assigned questions To model thoughtful intellectual engagement with the text through small group discussions led by a faculty/staff facilitator To provide students with a helpful transition to academic life as part of the Welcome Week program To provide students an opportunity to understand diverse perspectives Essay Assignment

The Cultural and Intellectual Community Program Council (CICPC) selects the annual intellectual theme, funds related programming during the academic year, and selects the summer reading book which begins our year-long exploration of the intellectual theme. Justice is the theme for CICPC sponsored programs in 2014-2015. Faculty, staff, and students from around the college will present speakers, film series, performances, and other events related to the theme. Justice means upholding what is just; but who determines what is just? How is justice perceived and defined across time or cultures? Is justice contextually bound or does it represent a universal truth? How is justice related to notions such as fairness, equality, generosity, opportunity and love? These questions highlight that justice is not confined to the criminal justice system. It can be considered in social and economic contexts, and related to resources and sustainability. To quote Cornel West, “Justice is what love looks like in public.” The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates was selected as the summer reading text because it embodies the theme of justice.

With the theme of “Justice” in mind, please be prepared to discuss The Other Wes Moore with your fellow students and a faculty/staff facilitator in your Summer Reading discussion group on August 25, 2014.

In order to prepare for your discussion, please write a response of at least 500 words to one of the questions that follow these instructions. Your essays should draw evidence from throughout the book, but you should not quote at length. You will post this response by Wednesday, August 20 to a discussion board on the campus learning management system Canvas. Additional specific directions will be posted on the Summer Reading Program website by August 1st. Furthermore, you are also required to comment on at least two other students’ essays in a substantive way (at least 100 words). Please select a student who has not received feedback for your comments rather than responding to the first entry you read. Also please do not make grammatical comments; your goal is to focus on the ideas discussed by other student rather than the writing quality. You will want to write your response and your comments in a word processing program and then paste your work into CANVAS.

ESSAY QUESTIONS

1) Wes Moore poses the question, “Do you think we are all just products of our environments? By comparing and contrasting the experiences of the two Wes Moores, show how they are or are not products of their environments. In what ways do you believe your environment shapes or has shaped you?

2) In the stories of the two Wes Moores, can you identify where personal accountability comes into play? In what ways would it be possible for the boys to sustain a sense of personal accountability and agency?

3) Show how the communities of the two Wes Moores view women and men. What role do you believe fatherhood plays in their lives? How do their mothers influence their beliefs and actions?

Summer Reading Program Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Who chose this book?

The Cultural and Intellectual Community Planning Council, a college committee made up of faculty, staff, and students chose the book. It is an engaging book that addresses both this year’s intellectual theme.

Why does TCNJ have an “Intellectual Theme” every year?

The Intellectual Theme provides a unifying framework to events on campus: film series, lecture series, art exhibits, and art performances. One part of the college experience is learning to take advantage of extra- and co-curricular events. You are all strongly encouraged to attend the events of Community Learning Day, and some of you will be required as part of your major to attend a number of events. Nonetheless, the habit of seeking out intellectual engagement across a variety of topics, not just within your own field, is central to your experience as a student and as an intellectual.

Why is there a summer reading?

The first-year class rarely has an opportunity to share a common intellectual experience. The Summer Reading Program is designed to provide an intellectual touchstone to kick-off your first year as part of a thoughtful community of life-long learners who value cultural diversity and the spirit of free inquiry. In addition, the summer reading program allows you to meet faculty and staff from across the college. We want all of you to have an experience reading a serious book about current events, or about issues of current relevance, that complements the experiences in your living/learning community. In addition, we hope that discussions of this book will help to awaken you to the joy of learning for its own sake, outside of the processes of grading and credentialing that has become so important for most college students.

Will I get a grade on my essay?

Completing a satisfactory essay is a requirement of the summer reading program. Students whose essays are found unsatisfactory may be required to do additional work or participate in next year’s summer reading program.

Your essays will be forwarded to the facilitators for the discussion groups for the Summer Reading Program and to your First Seminar instructor. Many of the facilitators will also be First Seminar instructors. Your FSP instructor will decide whether to give you feedback on your writing and whether or not to include the summer essay as part of your FSP course grade. You will discover in your first year of college that people learn best when they use all their intellectual faculties—reading, writing, speaking. The purpose of the essay is to give you an opportunity to think critically about the book and to prepare you to speak confidently about it in your discussion session and with your peers prior to the discussion.

Summer Reading 2013

To promote first year student participation in the TCNJ intellectual community by selecting a summer reading text related to the CICPC theme and Community Learning Day To promote critical analysis of the text by requiring students to respond in writing to assigned questions To model thoughtful intellectual engagement with the text through small group discussions led by a faculty/staff facilitator To provide students with a helpful transition to academic life as part of the Welcome Week program To provide students an opportunity to understand diverse perspectives Valuing our Past and Building Our Future

R. Barbara Gitenstein, President

I am pleased to welcome you to The College of New Jersey community. Your participation in our Summer Reading Program is a first step in your career at the College and should help prepare you for our challenging and engaging academic environment.

The College is a values-based institution that seeks to provide a context in which you will learn and grow. As an institution, we value our past and encourage you to do the same; we also honor our responsibilities to the state and nation and we insist that you do so as well. These responsibilities cannot be met by only looking backward; we must also look around and look ahead. I encourage you to take advantage of the opportunities that will present themselves throughout your time on the campus. In the short time you will spend with us you will further develop your passions and will have the chance to develop new ones. Now is the time to discover the impact you can make on the world. Like the institution that you have joined, your experience at The College of New Jersey is contextual. You will learn from others and they from you; you will learn from their pasts and they from yours.

As a consequence of this contextual learning, you will come to understand your past better. This greater understanding will result in great changes for you and for the larger community in which you live, changes that continue to position us to thrive in the twenty-first century. As a community dedicated to free inquiry and open exchange, we seek to help nourish the development of our students to become leaders in our complex and diverse world by providing a supportive environment in which to challenge each other and ourselves intellectually.

Jonathan M. Katz, The Big Truck That Went By: How the World Came to Save Haiti and Left Behind a Disaster has been selected as this year’s Summer Reading. The Summer Reading is a part of the College’s annual series of intellectual and cultural programs designed to engage our community in discussion around a selected theme. The theme for this year is “Constructing the Past.” As part of Welcome Week, you and your peers will have an opportunity to examine Katz’s book in a discussion led by a faculty/staff facilitator on August 26, 2013. You will receive complete Summer Reading instructions at the time of Summer Orientation in July. They will also be posted at this site.

Again, welcome to the community of The College of New Jersey. I hope you will take full advantage of what the College has to offer you, and what you have to offer our community.

Essay Assignment

This year’s Summer Reading is Jonathan Katz’s The Big Truck that Went By: How the World Came to Save Haiti and Left Behind a Disaster, published in 2013. Each year, the summer reading program begins our year-long exploration of a single intellectual theme. Faculty, staff, and students from around the college will present speakers, film series, performances, and other events related to the theme of “Constructing the Past.” See this link for additional (and developing) information: http://liberallearning.tcnj.edu/about/ccic-themes/schedule-of-events-for-the-year/

Set on the fault-line between international celebrity and politics and local need, The Big Truck that Went By tells the story of the earthquake and its aftermath from the point of view of the only American journalist who experienced the devastation first hand. The Kirkus Review calls this book “an eye-opening, trailblazing exposé,” that shows how Western narratives of Haiti’s history and economics have played a crucial part in this crisis.

With the theme of “Constructing the Past” in mind, please be prepared to discuss The Big Truck that Went By with your fellow students and a faculty/staff facilitator in your Summer Reading discussion group August 26.

In order to prepare for your discussion, please write a response of at least 250 words to one of the questions that follow these instructions. Your essays should draw evidence from throughout the book, but you should not quote at length. You will post this response by Wednesday, August 21st to a discussion board within the campus learning management system Canvas. Specific directions to follow will be posted on the Summer Reading Program website by August 1st. In addition, you are also required to comment on at least two other students’ essays in a substantive way (at least 50 words). Please select a student who has not received feedback for your comments rather than responding to the first entry you read. You will want to save your response and your comments until your grade has been posted.

1) Katz suggests that United States officials and aid organizations are predisposed to expect government corruption and civil unrest in Haiti. Identify at least one of the reasons for these predispositions and analyze how these expectations influence aid decisions and the long-term consequences of these decisions.

2) One topic the book explores is the difference between emergency aid and aid for the development of infrastructure and institutions. Compare and contrast the long-term effects of both as discussed in Katz’s book.

3) Throughout the book, Katz addresses the question of “who speaks for Haiti” and who speaks for Haitians and the ethical issues that result. Discuss how Katz uses personal relationships, such as that with his “handler” Evens, to offer a more personal viewpoint of the crisis and link personal experiences to larger political realities.

The Cultural and Intellectual Community Planning Council, a college committee made up of faculty, staff, and students chose the book. It is an engaging book that addresses both this year’s Intellectual theme of “Freedom and Tyranny” and the emerging role of social media in shaping societal change.

Although completing a satisfactory essay is a requirement of the summer reading program, you will not receive a grade on it and it will not appear on your college transcript. Students whose essays are found unsatisfactory may be required to do additional work or participate in next year’s summer reading program.

Your essays will be forwarded to the facilitators for the discussion groups for the Summer Reading Program and you might receive written feedback on your writing. Many of these facilitators will also be First Seminar instructors. While your essay will be retained for potential assessment efforts on campus, you aren’t writing the essay for the purposes of an ‘assignment’ in the traditional sense. You will discover in your first year of college that people learn best when they use all their intellectual faculties—reading, writing, speaking. The purpose of the essay is to give you an opportunity to think critically about the book and to prepare you to speak confidently about it in your discussion session and with your peers prior to the discussion.

Summer Reading 2012

Wael Ghonim’s Revolution 2.0: The Power of the People is Greater than the People in Power has been selected as this year’s Summer Reading. The Summer Reading is a part of the College’s annual series of intellectual and cultural programs designed to engage our community in discussion around a selected theme. The theme for this year is “Freedom and Tyranny.” As part of Welcome Week, you and your peers will have an opportunity to examine Ghonim’s book in a discussion led by a faculty/staff facilitator on August 27, 2012. You will receive complete Summer Reading instructions at the time of Summer Orientation in July. They will also be posted at this site.

This year’s Summer Reading is Wael Ghonim’s Revolution 2.0, published in 2012 about the uprisings in Egypt during 2012 and the role of social media in making that happen.

With the theme of “Freedom and Tyranny” in mind, please be prepared to share your responses to Revolution 2.0 with your fellow students and faculty/staff facilitator in your Summer Reading discussion group August 27.

In addition, please write a two page essay of at least 500 words that addresses one of the questions following the quotation:

“I felt the stirrings of a rare opportunity to make a difference and to combat oppression and torture. I was angry, and I was not the only one. On its first day, 36,000 people joined the page. Some of them wanted to learn more details about the case, some sought to offer sympathy and support, and others joined out of curiosity because they had received an invitation from a Facebook friend. Images of Khaled before and after the assault spread like wildfire. Similar crimes had taken place in the past, all too frequently, yet their stories had not spread too widely. It was the visual documentation of Khaled’s terrible death, along with the fact that he was from the middle class, that catalyzed this huge reaction. The image was impossible to forget, and thanks to social media, it was proliferating like crazy.”

–Wael Ghonim, Revolution 2.0: The Power of the People is Greater than the People in Power

Write a two page essay of at least 500 words that addresses one of the following questions:

The quotation from Ghonim suggests that social media provided an opportunity for him to direct his anger toward injustice in a way that could mobilize people to action rapidly. After reading this book, and reading about recent elections in Egypt, what difference do you believe social media made in the outcome of the Egyptian revolution? Did social media have a lasting effect? Ghonim’s comment also suggests powerful things about the effects of class on the consumption of information through social media. He suggests that Khaled’s death was more disturbing to Egyptians because he was middle-class. In your experience does a person’s social class position have a similar effect in the United States? Consider the effects of social media on your own social or political awareness. In what ways has your own understanding of your community or your world been influenced by your consumption of and participation in social media? To what extent do social media filter your experience of the world (the way that you receive news and information about current events—either private or public)? Can you compare it to the situation in the book where Egyptians had few outlets for information that was not state-mediated? You might discuss your use of social media with your parents or other community members to gain an awareness of how social media has changed the notion of community. How would you assess conditions for ‘freedom’ in Egypt a year and a half after the successful ousting of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak? What are the implications of the dissolution of parliament by the Egyptian ‘high court’ and the continued dominance of the army in ‘governmental’ matters? Does the election of a member of the Muslim Brotherhood as president complicate matters? Explain how these events sustain, move forward, or impede the cause of freedom in Egypt.

Instructions for submitting your essay electronically: Please submit your summer reading essay electronically to [email protected]. The subject heading of the message MUST be your full FSP course number followed by your last name. For example, John Smith taking FSP 101-01 would send an email to [email protected] with the Subject Heading:

FSP 101-01 Smith

You must use your official TCNJ email account and you should send it as soon as possible, but no later than August 20th. Please also bring a hard copy to your discussion session on August 27.

Please note: We will be using the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt hardcover edition of Revolution 2.0. It will be available at the College Bookstore, but you are free to purchase it anywhere—ISBN 978-0-547-77398-8. You may also read it in an electronic version or, if it is available, in a paperback edition, of course.

Summer Reading 2011

Tom Standage’s The Victorian Internet has been selected as this year’s Summer Reading. The Summer Reading is a part of the College’s annual series of intellectual and cultural programs designed to engage our community in discussion around a selected theme. The theme for this year is “The Pursuit of Innovation.” As part of Welcome Week, you and your peers will have an opportunity to examine Standage’s book in a discussion led by a faculty/staff facilitator on August 29, 2011. Please see the reverse side for Summer Reading instructions.

This academic year the College is sponsoring a series of programs based on the theme “The Pursuit of Innovation.” The theme will be inaugurated at the Summer Reading discussions on August 29 and celebrated at the campus-wide Community Learning Day on October 5.

This year’s Summer Reading is Tom Standage’s The Victorian Internet, written in 1989 about the invention of the telegraph and its monumental influence on communications. It was revised in 2007 in order to make more direct reference to the contemporary internet.

With the theme of “The Pursuit of Innovation” in mind, please be prepared to share your responses to The Victorian Internet with your fellow students and your faculty/staff facilitator in your Summer Reading discussion group on August 29.

In addition, please respond to any one of the following questions in the form of an essay, 2 to 4 typed pages long, in which you make specific reference to The Victorian Internet:

Is it reasonable to see the internet not as a new communications medium but rather as a continuation of the telegraph? If so, what are the principal features of the internet that have their origin in the telegraph, or that carry forward similar capabilities? If not, why not? What does your response have to say about what we may regard as unique to our own times? How does it affect your view of history? Think about the pursuit of innovation and how the development of the telegraph reflects it. In addition to the contemporary internet, think about another innovation and examine the process of its creation and its intended and unintended consequences and impact on society. Feel free to relate it to your expected major program or possible career. Apply the same thinking to the contemporary internet and its related devices. Be sure to make direct reference to The Victorian Internet. How does The Victorian Internet illustrate the pursuit of innovation? What are some of the changes and improvements that resulted in the ‘mature’ telegraph? Be sure to use the text to illustrate how innovations are sometimes planned and sometimes the result of happenstance. How was society transformed by it? What do you think was its most significant impact? In what ways is the contemporary internet an outgrowth of or parallel to the telegraph during its heyday? How do visions and motivations of the innovators coincide with and differ from those who use their inventions? Examine how the innovations of the telegraph and the internet have changed such fundamental matters as language, time perception, and definitions of friendship. Consider the extent to which these changes may be in response to intrinsic elements of the invention, such as immediate communication—or merely accidental details, such as a response to the technical need to send as few characters as possible. You may want to compare changes in language use among high school students today with how The Victorian Internet had an impact on language use in the 19th century.

Please submit your essay by August 24 into the Dropbox of SOCS under your FSP course number. Please also bring a hard copy of the essay to your discussion session on August 29.

To submit your essay, go to socs.tcnj.edu and input your TCNJ email username and password. Once in SOCS, choose your FSP from the list of your courses for the fall 2011 semester. Once in the profile of your FSP course, choose the “Dropbox” tab on the left side of the screen and follow instructions to upload your essay.

Please note: We will be using the Walker paperback edition of The Victorian Internet (with the 2007 Afterward). It is available at the College Bookstore, but you are free to purchase it anywhere—ISBN-13: 978-0-8027-1604-0.

• Admitted Students

Summer Reading Assignment

Wvu's campus read.

Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi has been selected as the 2023-24 WVU Campus Read . All students should read this fantastic book during the summer months.

The WVU Campus Read program is an academically-driven common read experience that engages students, faculty, staff, and even members of the Morgantown community, to share ideas and think critically through thoughtful dialogue.

As a first-year Honors student, we ask that you delve into the material a little deeper and reflect on the book before starting your classes this fall. The Campus Read examines deep, complex issues that may be triggering to some. If you feel the need, please reach out to counselors at the WVU Carruth Center at 304-293-4431 or [email protected] .

Life can seem unfair, chaotic and unsettling at times. Yaa Gyasi shares a story about generational trauma, financial struggle, familial dysfunction, drug addiction, mental illness, immigration, religion and the complex emotions that go along with those experiences. Throughout the novel, the central character, Gifty, remains curious about her experiences, and ultimately, her curiosity about addiction becomes her life’s work. Here at the Honors College, we encourage you to lean into your curiosity, too. How will you make meaning of your own life experiences?

The Honors experience is about becoming more of who you really are. We support you during your time in the Honors College and encourage you to uncover, discover and develop the real you.

Through the Honors College Summer Reading Assignment, we encourage you to think critically, consider all options to make the best possible decisions, and work toward becoming the best version of yourself. Active reflection, after all, is a huge piece of what college is all about, and what makes the college experience something that is invaluable and life changing.

The Honors College has developed four prompts for you based on the reading.

Your Assignment

The Honors College has developed four prompts for you based on the reading. Please choose one prompt .

For prompts 1-3, write an essay that is:

• 1200-1500 words,
• double-spaced,
• 12-point font size,
• Times New Roman,
• one-inch margins and
• APA or MLA format.

Gifty’s brother died from an overdose, which greatly affects both Gifty and her mother. Gifty even decides to study neuroscience and addiction partly because of what happened to her brother and the effect it had on her mother.

Gifty recalls, “I loved God, my brother, and my mother, in that order. When I lost my brother, poof went the other two. God was gone in an instant, but my mother became a mirage, an image formed by refracted light.” (p. 280)

Has there been an event in your life that affected you similarly or changed the course of your life?

A common theme in the book was Gifty’s struggle to separate the beliefs she grew up with versus what she believes now.

Gifty states, “I used to see the world through a God lens, and when that lens clouded, I turned to science. Both became, for me, valuable ways of seeing, but ultimately both have failed to fully satisfy in their aim: to make clear, to make meaning.” (p. 213)

Is there anything you believed when you were younger that you don’t believe in anymore or you simply aren’t sure about, like Gifty’s struggle with religion? Is there anything you didn’t believe that you believe now? Please relate your response to quotes or experiences that happened in Transcendent Kingdom .

Much of Gifty’s story is about trying to make meaning of what happened to and around her. She uses her talent as a scientist to understand addiction, which, in turn, gives her a sense of purpose. This outcome, however, does not come without challenges. Gifty talks about one particular class during college that she struggled with and gratefully accepted a B- in the course. As a humanities requirement for her degree, she took a creative writing class, something that was out of her comfort zone. (Chapter 19)

As a college student, you may need to step outside your comfort zone, as well.

How will you use your Top 5 Gallup strengths to overcome obstacles and challenges you may face? How will you utilize your Top 5 Gallup strengths to fulfill your purpose? Share your purpose and how it may align with Gifty’s quest to make meaning of her life experiences.

One of Gifty’s favorite teachers tells the protagonist:

"The truth is we don't know what we don't know. We don't even know the questions we need to ask in order to find out, but when we learn one tiny little thing, a dim light comes on in a dark hallway, and suddenly a new question appears. We spend decades, centuries, millennia, trying to answer that one question so that another dim light will come on. That's science, but that's also everything else, isn't it? Try. Experiment. Ask a ton of questions."

Create either a TikTok-like video (does not have to be on the TikTok platform) or a digital narrative using Adobe Spark Page to discuss this quote and its relation to critical thought and learning, the scientific method or the Dunning-Kruger effect .

Explain how this quote will influence your time in college.

The video or digital narrative must include:

• A thesis statement.
• At least 7 photographs with 3-5 sentences of narrative for each photo that support the thesis. Students are welcome to use pictures of themselves, their lives, their books, their family, or whatever photographs they feel relates to the quote (Digital Narrative)
• At least 45 seconds of information that supports your thesis in a cohesive narrative (Video)
• An explanation of what the quote has to do with the novel
• An explanation of how the quote will influence your time in college
• An explanation of what the quote has to do with critical thought and narrative, the scientific method or the Dunning-Kruger effect (Choose One)
• Music, pictures, narrative and videos that creatively illustrate your main thesis
• Interior Chinatown  (TikTok)
• Elements of Design and Interior Architecture in Guatemala  (Digital Narrative)
• Public Art in Guatemala (Digital Narrative)
• A Woven History of the Art of Textiles and Womanhood in Guatemala (Digital Narrative)
• Mountaineer Roasting Company Coffee Bean Supply Chain (Digital Narrative)
• Lake Atitlan in Guatemala (Digital Narrative)

The assignment will be graded out of a total of up to 100 points. The assignment rubric is available below.

Prompts 1-3

Campus Read Prompt Discussions

Join us for one of our optional Campus Read Prompt Discussions later this August. Email invitations to register for the discussions will be sent closer to each date.

• Sunday, August 6, 2023, from 7-8 p.m. on Zoom
• Monday, August 7, 2023, from 7-8 p.m. on Zoom
• Tuesday, August 8, 2023, from 7-8 p.m. on Zoom
• Wednesday, August 9, 2023, from 7-8 p.m. on Zoom

For questions about the summer reading assignment, please email Dr. Ashley Watts .

• Summer Reading Program
• Student Resources

Alongside President Underwood’s 2016 Convocation Address, these summer reading assignments will introduce students to the foundations and ideals of the University, and the intersection of race, the Southern Baptist Church, and the history of Mercer and the Mercer experience. President Underwood concludes his address, “Let us commit ourselves to considering fairly the views of others, to having the humility to entertain the possibility that we are wrong, and to engaging in civil dialogue, discourse, and debate with those of differing perspectives.” Engaging with Partolan’s, Oni’s, and Walker’s stories, both individually and in UNV 101, gives our first year students the opportunity to begin to put those ideals into practice as they join the Mercer community.

Summer Reading Essay Contest

We strongly encourage all new students to take part in our Summer Reading Essay Contest. This year’s readings are from the Mercer Reader, a collection of essays and stories as well as documents related to Mercer’s history and interviews of faculty, staff and students. You will read 2016 graduate Raymond Partolan’s story, interviews with Maureen Walker, Class of 1971 and Sam Oni, Class of 1967, as well as President William D. Underwood’s 2016 Convocation Address. While you read, consider in what ways these Bears embody the values President Underwood outlines in his address. Think of the ways in which Partolan engaged in his Mercer education both in and out of the classroom, and how you might become an active and engaged participant in the Mercer community. What can we learn from Oni’s experience of Mercer’s history with the Southern Baptist Church and from Maureen Walker’s expertise on developing racial identities and understanding racism? How does this apply to Mercer today, and how will it impact your experience? These alumni exemplify how every Mercer student majors in changing the world through the impacts he makes in his community and the world after graduation. Reflect on how you might you use your experiences at Mercer to make a difference in your communities.

A committee comprised of faculty and staff will select the winner. The winner will receive a gift card to the Mercer University Bookstore.

Essay Questions

Please respond to the following questions in a single essay:

• How do you think your Mercer story will go?
• What contributions do you hope to make?
• How will you come to understand and learn from the different experiences of your peers?

Be sure to answer these questions in the context of the readings.

Submission and Deadline Information

Create a well- developed, two-to-five-page, double-spaced essay using appropriate MLA or APA citations. Submit the essay as a Word attachment to an email sent to [email protected] by 11:59 p.m. on Friday, July 23. The winner will be announced during Fall Convocation in August, and will be awarded a certificate and bookstore gift card. For additional questions, please see aas.mercer.edu or call Academic and Advising Services at 478.301.2078.

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Ramapo College of New Jersey Home Page » Academics » First-Year Seminar » Summer Reading

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Ramapo College has a summer reading program that is academically linked to the First-Year Seminar (FYS) course. Students read the book over the summer and come to campus prepared to discuss the book with their FYS classmates. They will also be assigned an essay question in their FYS class based on the book that asks students to exercise their critical thinking skills, their reasoning and analytical thinking skills, and their writing and communication skills.

The book is selected by a committee composed of students, faculty, and staff from the Ramapo College community. Committee members use selection criteria to ensure that the book that is chosen will:

• Have a strong relation to Ramapo’s mission and/or strategic plan
• Have literary merit

The Personal Librarian

• Be engaging
• Have a subject that will cause students to “stretch”
• Present an underrepresented perspective

The 2024 FYS Summer Reading Book

The 2024 summer read is The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray. The book will be featured in the Opening Convocation on September 3, 2024.

Ramapo College Celebrates Good Writing!

2023 Essay Winners with Drs. Grace M. Cho and Yvette Kisor

Past essay winners:

• Class of 2027: Demiana Ghattas, Sarah Glisson, Ryan Grompone
• Class of 2026: Marina Gannon, Stefanie Viera, and Emma Wunder
• Class of 2025: Aafnan Alam, Anne-Marie Daly, and Giovanna LaMonica
• Class of 2024: Danielle Bongiovanni, Bobby Ciarletta, and Solie Kang
• Class of 2023: Danielle di Pentima, Caitlin Kovacs, and Matthew Wikfors
• Class of 2022: Gabriela Buniowska, Khalisah Hameed, and Taisei Miles
• Class of 2021: Ashley Francis, Jessica Ryan, and Lauren Storch
• Class of 2020: Natalie Dahl, Gunnar Hopson, and Rachel Loia
• Class of 2019: Jose Carrillo, Amie Wuchter, and Scott Yunker, Jr.
• Class of 2018: John Distefano, Victoria Tommasulo, and Matthew Earl
• Class of 2017: Nathaniel Birrer, Emily Aurora Boyle, and Josephine Han
• Class of 2016: Steven Bunin, Jennifer Paldino, and Max Zerbian
• Class of 2015: Melanie Ciandella, Thomas Colella, and Jonathan Mangel

Fall 2024 Essay Questions

The Personal Librarian  imagines the inner life of a real woman, Belle da Costa Greene, working in the ultra-rich, male, white world of elite collections as the personal librarian of J. P. Morgan and the first director of the Morgan Library. She was also a black woman passing for white. What aspects of the story resonate the most with you?

This novel is a fictionalized account of real history. How do the authors combine research with creative license? Ultimately, what argument do they make about the significance of Belle’s life story?

Contest Parameters:

1) Make sure to reference the summer reading in your essay. You may use supporting evidence from other sources, but your primary source should be The Personal Librarian .

2) Please consider the context of critical thinking when writing your essay.

3) Essays will be judged based on use of text, effectiveness of reflection, and use of supporting evidence.

4) Please limit your response to 1000 words to help us ensure that all submissions receive fair evaluation.

5) All work must be your original contribution.

6) All essays must be received by August 19th, 2024 at 5:00 PM. The three winning essays will be announced at the Opening Convocation.

7) Entries must be submitted to Prof. Peter Campbell, Director of First-Year Seminar, by attaching your essay to an e-mail message and sending it to this address: [email protected].

8) Please send your essay as a Word (.doc or .docx) or PDF file. You will receive an email acknowledgement of your submission.

Suggest a Book for the Next Summer Read

If you’ve read a book that you believe is a “must-read” for new students, please click on the button below and let us know! We’re always open to good suggestions.

Summer Read Suggestion Form

• Fall 2023: Tastes Like War: A Memoir by Grace M. Cho
• Fall 2022:  Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann
• Fall 2021: Never Caught: The Washingtons’ Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge by Erica Armstrong Dunbar
• Fall 2020: Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
• Fall 2019: The Rent Collector by Camron Wright
• Fall 2018: The Leavers: A Novel by Lisa Ko
• Fall 2017: So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson
• Fall 2016: Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine
• Fall 2015: Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine, and the Miracle That Set Them Free by Héctor Tobar
• Fall 2014: Enrique’s Journey: The Story of a Boy’s Dangerous Odyssey To Reunite with his Mother b y Sonia Nazario
• Fall 2013: Digital Vertigo: How Today’s Online Social Revolution Is Dividing, Diminishing, and Disorienting Us by Andrew Keen
• Fall 2012: American Nerd: The Story of My People by Benjamin Nugent
• Fall 2011: Lies my Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James Loewen
• Fall 2010: Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder
• Fall 2009: The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch and Jeffrey Zaslow
• Fall 2008: The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science by Natalie Angier
• Fall 2007: A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah
• Fall 2006: Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser
• Fall 2005: Reading Lolita in Teheran by Azar Nafisi
• Fall 2004: One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

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Top 6 Must-Read Books for Summer 2024 📚

How many reasons are there to be happy about the coming of summer? Let’s see: everything around you is blooming, long daylight hours... and the release of long-awaited new books! I have collected the best books to read in 2024.

Publishers' plans sometimes change, so I cannot promise that all books on the list will definitely be released this summer. But let's really hope so!

Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros 🐉

If you like books about dragons, this one should be at the top of your summer reads.

Basgiath War College is clearly a place for fatalists. Even entering here is not easy to survive, let alone the first year of study... But Violet Sorrengail copes with the tests, becomes a rider, and moves on to the second year.

The new everyday life is many times more difficult and dangerous and is also often shrouded in secrets that everyone hides from the heroine: both her family and even her beloved Xaden. Will the girl be strong enough to cope with these secrets?

The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System: Ren Zha Fanpai Zijiu Xitong (Novel) Vol. 2 by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu 🧑‍💻

This book is one of the best summer reads for those who like fantasy.

Once upon a time, by chance, Shen Qingqiu became the main antagonist in a hateful story on the Internet. There was nothing to do; he had to come to terms with his role and start dodging to avoid ending up like his "predecessor." Only all his innovations radically influenced the plot, and now the action develops completely differently. Well, he will have to improvise! After all, he still doesn't really want to die…

Silent Reading Vol. 1 – Julien by Priest 🕵️

If you like mystery books, this can be a good option for your summer reading.

To successfully investigate incidents, you need to think like a criminal - without actually being one. Investigator Luo Wenzhou does not look like a criminal, nor does his acquaintance Fei Du... Which means that together they can make a great team! Of course, if they don't finish each other off first.

The heroes compete in the field of love, but the sensual duel must be postponed: a visiting guy strangely dies on the streets.

The Cautious Traveller's Guide to the Wastelands by Sarah Brooks 🚂

Late 19th century, platform, train from Beijing to Moscow. This is the fastest way to get to the heart of Russia, but also the most dangerous because it passes through lands inhabited by monsters. Everyone knows about the terrible Wasteland, but taking risks, they still take the Trans-Siberian Express, including a woman who lost her husband, a man who lost his reputation, and a girl whose house is this whole train.

House of Flame and Shadow (Crescent City) by Sarah J. Maas 🌙

Midgard, the world of people, is on the verge of life and death. Bryce Quinlan can save it, but the girl still needs help because she finds herself in an unfamiliar place. Perhaps here, she can find a way to save Midgard from destruction.

The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn 🧐

A story from the author of books about the rich Hawthornes! For now, let's put the games of the heirs aside: there's a story ahead about a teenage profiler.

Meet Cassie, a young profiler who has worked for the FBI since she was 17. She is talented; she sees what others do not notice, and these abilities can help put more than one criminal in prison. Perhaps even the killer who deprived the girl of her mother.

The race is on for 2024’s song of the summer. What’s your pick?

Vote for your top choice at the bottom

Post Malone. Morgan Wallen. Sabrina Carpenter. Whose song will dominate this summer?

That’s what Billboard is tracking with its annual Songs of the Summer chart.

The American music magazine tracks how songs perform on its Hot 100 chart between June 8 and Sept. 7.

The chart is cumulative, meaning it adds up all the plays from every week to keep a running total. 

The Hot 100 chart is based on how many plays a song had just in that week, so the two lists don’t always match up.

By September, Billboard will crown a winner based on which song was played the most over the entire summer.

What’s hot? Country, hip-hop and ballads 

For the week of June 22, Post Malone is sitting at Number 1 for his pop-country duet with Morgan Wallen, I Had Some Help .

The song was released on May 10 and topped the first three weeks of the summer chart.

Wallen’s hit Last Night was crowned the song of the summer last year.

Other country-tinged songs are also doing well so far.

Pink Skies by Zach Bryan is Number 9 and the country-hip-hop track A Bar Song (Tipsy) by Shaboozey is at Number 3.

In the hip-hop category, Tommy Richman’s viral hit Million Dollar Baby is at Number 2 and Kendrick Lamar’s Drake diss track Not Like Us is at Number 4. 

• Diss tracks explained: The story behind the Drake vs. Kendrick Lamar rap beef 

Eminem’s comeback song Houdini is just outside of the top 10 at Number 11.

Soulful male singer-songwriters are also popular, with Too Sweet by Hozier at Number 6, Lose Control by Teddy Swims at Number 7 and Beautiful Things by Benson Boone at Number 8.

More to come 

Songs that appear on the chart earlier in the season have some advantage in the race for Song of the Summer, but that doesn’t mean a late debut can’t win the title. 

One possible contender is Sabrina Carpenter’s Please Please Please . It debuted at Number 17 on the Songs of the Summer chart.

Her other viral hit, Espresso , is also in the race at Number 5 on the summer chart.

Other pop girlies are also taking a swing at it.

Billie Eilish , Ariana Grande  and Taylor Swift all released new albums earlier this year. They all have at least one song in the Top 20 on the summer chart.

But who will be crowned the winner? Only time will tell. 

Have more questions? Want to tell us how we're doing? Use the “send us feedback” link below. ⬇️⬇️⬇️

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5 Important Takeaways From The 2024–2025 U.S. News And World Report Best Global University Rankings

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This morning, U.S. News and World Report released their much-anticipated 2024-2025 Best Global University Rankings. These annual rankings are a cornerstone in the field, influencing decisions that range from student applications to institutional funding and providing a glimpse into the current state of affairs in the world of higher education. This list can provide helpful insights into the relative merits of the schools students may be considering adding to their college lists. In order to use this list effectively, however, it is important to understand the nuances of the ranking system and the factors considered therein.

Here is a breakdown of the rankings’ methodology, as well as key takeaways from this year’s list:

Methodology

The U.S. News and World Report Best Global University Rankings are based on a comprehensive methodology that evaluates colleges and universities across thirteen key metrics. These include:

• Global research reputation (12.5%)
• Regional research reputation (12.5%)
• Publications (10%)
• Books (2.5%)
• Conferences (2.5%)
• Normalized citation impact (10%)
• Total citations (7.5%)
• Number of publications that are among the 10% most cited (12.5%)
• Percentage of total publications that are among the 10% most cited (10%)
• International collaboration – relative to country (5%)
• International collaboration (5%)
• Number of highly cited papers that are among the top 1% most cited in their respective field 5%
• Percentage of total publications that are among the top 1% most highly cited papers 5%

In addition to the overall global rankings and country-specific rankings, U.S. News and World Report published a subject-specific ranking list , evaluating schools’ global positions in over 50 individual disciplines.

WWE Raw Results, Winners And Grades After Great Wyatt Sicks Follow-Up

Here are all the heat records broken in early summer heat waves, dana white is ‘not thrilled’ with long-time ufc contender.

These rankings offer quantitative data students can consider when building their college lists, providing a fairly comprehensive picture of universities’ academic prowess and institutional reach. That being said, students using the rankings to build their college lists should note that many of these factors do not capture the qualitative aspects of students’ experiences.

Key Takeaways from the 2024–25 Rankings

1. The number of universities considered rose by more than 10%.

This year, 2,250 universities across over 100 countries were considered—up more than ten percent from the 2,000 schools considered in the previous ranking.

2. Harvard University lands on top.

As in the last cycle, Harvard University claimed the #1 spot in the global rankings list. This prestigious accolade reflects Harvard's unparalleled academic excellence, groundbreaking research, and global influence. Known for its distinguished faculty, cutting-edge facilities, and a tradition of innovation, Harvard continues to set the standard in higher education, making it the leading choice for students and scholars worldwide.

3. The U.S. dominates the rankings for another year.

Nearly half of the top 50 schools in the ranking are located in the U.S., totaling 24 of the top 50 on the rankings list. Additionally, four out of the top five are U.S. schools: Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, and University of California, Berkeley. This remarkable achievement underscores the global prestige of U.S. universities, known for their world-class research, innovative academic programs, and extensive resources.

4. UT Austin and Brown University dropped in the rankings.

Both Brown University and The University of Texas at Austin surprisingly dropped in the rankings, falling out of the top 50. Given both schools’ excellence, this shift demonstrates the fierce competition for top spots in the rankings this year.

5. U.S. News and World Report adds new subjects to the rankings.

This year, four new disciplines were added to the subject-specific rankings, including: ecology; green and sustainable science and technology; environmental engineering; and marine and freshwater biology. These additions not only demonstrate the ranking system’s commitment to reflecting the most relevant information in higher education today, but also provide a glimpse into recent trends and changes in the disciplinary offerings at the most prestigious universities in the world.

The 2024–2025 U.S. News and World Report Rankings offer students valuable information regarding the trends in the global higher education landscape. While students should take their personal preferences and the intangible elements of a school’s culture that draw them to a specific school into account, these rankings can be a helpful first step for students as they set their collegiate goals and assemble their college lists.

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Summer Reading Contest, Week 1: What Got Your Attention in The Times This Week?

To participate, submit your response here by June 14 at 9 a.m. Eastern. This week’s winners will be announced by June 26.

By The Learning Network

Update, June 25: Here are the winners for Week 1.

Our 15th Annual Summer Reading Contest begins!

Every week for 10 weeks this summer we’re asking students “What got your attention in The New York Times this week? Why?” To participate in Week 1, choose something to read, watch or listen to in The Times and submit a response that answers those questions by 9 a.m. Eastern on June 14.

You can choose anything that was published in the print paper or on nytimes.com in 2024, including articles, photos, essays , videos , podcasts or graphics . We hope you’ll click around to find your own great pieces, but we also know that not everyone who participates has a Times subscription so, each week, you’ll find dozens of free links to interesting articles, features and multimedia below.

Students are invited to submit responses in the form of a 250-word comment OR a 90-second video. Please see the requirements for each type of response below and read the full rules and guidelines in our contest announcement before making your submissions.

Your responses will be read by New York Times journalists and staff, as well as educators from around the world. We’ll choose at least one favorite answer to feature on our site each week. Winners from Week 1 will be announced by June 26.

Here's how to participate:

• 1. Choose a New York Times piece.
• 2. Whatever caught your eye, tell us about it in writing or video.
• 3. Submit your response by June 14 at 9 a.m. Eastern.

Summer Reading Contest Submission Form

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Paris 2024 Summer Les Jeux Olympiques -The Olympics & Paralympics Summer Games, Paris 2024 :Sprint into the Fun - Reading Comprehension Passages and Literacy Activities (Texts), Questions!

Last updated

25 June 2024

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Paris Summer Olympics 2024: Sprint into the Fun – Reading Comprehension Passages (Texts), Questions!

Les Jeux Olympiques -The Olympic Games, Paris 2024 :Plongez dans le plaisir – Questions et réponses!

Olympics Paris 2024 Reading Comprehension and literacy activities - Olympics & Paralympic Games

Experience the thrill and excitement of Les Jeux Olympiques, also known as The Olympics & Paralympics Summer Games, held in the magnificent city of Paris in 2024. This grand international sporting event showcases global participation, celebrates cultural diversity, and epitomizes athletic excellence. It also emphasizes inclusivity, bringing together athletes from all over the world in a spirit of unity and competition.

Our program, “Sprint into the Fun,” brings the excitement of the Olympics into the educational realm, offering a series of high-energy and engaging activities. These are designed to make learning enjoyable and to capture the lively spirit of the Games.

Dive into our reading comprehension passages, which are meticulously crafted to aid literacy development. These educational texts span various genres and reading levels, ensuring that all students can find stories that captivate their interest and enhance their reading skills.

Accompanying these passages are a range of literacy activities that are both interactive and thought-provoking. These exercises aim to build critical thinking skills, stimulate creativity, and support comprehensive literacy development, suitable for both classroom and home environments.

To ensure a thorough understanding of the material, our program includes a variety of questions. These range from multiple-choice queries to open-ended prompts, designed to check comprehension, provoke thoughtful discussion, and encourage deeper engagement with the texts.

Join us in this educational journey, where the fun and excitement of the Paris 2024 Olympics & Paralympics fuel a vibrant and dynamic learning experience.

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News from Brown

Brown university library to host free summer reading events for local kids and families.

In partnership with Providence’s libraries, the Brown series aims to create fun, educational summer experiences for kids, welcoming all ages for storytimes, hands-on STEM activities, tours and more.

Storytime with Bruno is among the many events planned for Providence-area kids and families this summer. Photo by Tim Geer.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Providence-area kids and families are invited to join Brown community members on campus this summer for a series of free educational events organized by the Brown University Library.

The events are part of the “ Summer With your PVD Libraries ” initiative led by the Providence Public Library and the Community Libraries of Providence. For the program’s second year, Brown’s library joins with 11 other libraries in Providence to curate a vibrant mix of events, performances and activities, all designed to encourage young readers to explore new corners of the city and discover the joy of reading in a fun, engaging way.

Kelly Clifton, Brown’s head of library community engagement, said the summer events present new opportunities for the University to welcome community members to campus.

“At Brown, one of our goals is to open our campus to community members and showcase the spaces they can access,” Clifton said. “As one of the libraries in this summer program, we hope to build a bridge and open Brown’s beautiful green spaces to the community, reminding everyone they’re welcome, while also introducing young minds to the concept of college in a way that’s accessible and fun.”

Storytime sessions with appearances from Brown’s mascot, Bruno the Bear, and Elvy , the Department of Public Safety’s comfort dog, are among a variety of events planned throughout the summer. Beyond storytimes, families can embark on guided tours of Brown’s public art collection , and visit the historic Ladd Observatory and the Plant Environmental Center , a rooftop conservatory featuring diverse plant life.

All events are free and open to the public. For a complete schedule, visit library.brown.edu . A few highlights of the summer program are also featured below.

Kickoff Event: “Where Does Water Go?”: Saturday, June 22

12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. Providence Public Library 150 Empire St.

The Providence Public Library will host the official launch of the summer program, featuring Brown students who will lead "Where Does Water Go?", a hands-on activity for kids to explore how water interacts with its environment and its potential impact on issues like flooding.

Storytime with Elvy: Monday, June 24

10:30 a.m. – 11:15 a.m. Brown University Quiet Green Intersection of College Street and Prospect Street

Elvy and Campus Police Officer Dustin Coleman from Brown's Department of Public Safety will share stories about working dogs and introduce attendees to Elvy, a labrador retriever and Brown’s first service dog.

Public Art Tour: Saturday: July 6

11 a.m. – 12 p.m. Bronze Bruno Statue 79 Waterman St.

The Brown Arts Institute will offer a curated tour of Brown's public art collection, led by Brown students. The tour will highlight six selected works from over 30 public art pieces on campus.

Storytime with Bruno: Saturday, July 13

9:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. Ittleson Quad 235 Hope St.

Brown Athletics will host a storytime session with Bruno, Brown's beloved bear mascot. 

Mindfulness Storytime: Thursday, July 18

3 p.m. – 3:45 p.m. Brown University Quiet Green Intersection of College Street and Prospect Street

Staff from Brown University’s Counseling and Psychological Services will present a mindfulness storytime session to help children explore emotions and mental health through stories and activities.

Visit the Ladd Observatory: Tuesday, July 30

9 a.m.– 10:30 a.m. Ladd Observatory 210 Doyle Ave.

Families will have the opportunity to explore the 19th-century telescope at Ladd Observatory, followed by a space-themed storytime.

Visit the Plant Environmental Center: Saturday, August 17

11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Institute at Brown for Environment and Society 85 Waterman St.

The rooftop conservatory will be open for a tour, showcasing a variety of plant families. Following the tour, kids can create art using pressed plants and flowers.

Related news:

As interns, providence-area students gain hands-on work experiences at brown, recent brown graduates earn 39 fulbright scholarships, two brown university professors win prestigious fulbright scholar awards.