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Show students find 'Common Ground' First-ye- ar New annual theme begins with desert motif and group discussions of "Desert Solitaire" TiffenyTam Business Manager As a new college student, the first few weeks can be overwhelming. Adapting to a new environment, making friends and becoming independent are challenging. To make the transition more comfortable for incoming first-ye- ar students, Westminster College has created an annual theme: Common Ground. According to its Web page, the annual theme offers members of the campus community the opportunity to engage in a yearlong discussion about compelling issues, ideas and texts. theme the college wall Desert is the place-base- d focus on this year. Various activities and events related to the theme are scheduled, including field study opportunities, films and speakers. The centerpiece of Common Ground is the common ctudents are asked read, in which all incoming first-yeto read the same book over the summer. This year, students received a copy of Edward Abbeys Desert Solitaire. The theme committee aimed to have all students read at least part of the book in time to discuss it with upperclassmen, faculty and staff during first year student orientation, which took place last weekend. For the common read discussion, student ambassadors (SA) split the students into several small groups. SA and senior Patrick Roeder led a discussion with about 20 students. Response to the book was about as expected, said Gary Daynes, director of the Center for Civic Engage ar focusing on the issues as well. The idea of an annual theme was proposed by a committee of faculty and staff members who wanted the Westminster community to have something to focus on and have in common. By having incoming students read the same book, they said, each student will have a shared experience at the start of the school year. Common Ground wll have a new campus theme will be a place-basevery year. For the first four years, it theme related to the environment and rotating through desert, mountain, lake and city. Everything around campus becomes focused on the theme, including the color of the student ambassadors The desert theme will be woven into activities this year, said Daynes. For example, the music department will play desert music for its concert series and students from the Honors Program got to read an additional book related to the desert as well. Faculty and staff are responding positively to Common Ground. The administration has been very supportive, said Daynes. Books were also sent to the Board ofTrustees and other college organizations. For students who did not read the book, Daynes hopes that they would at least realize the symbolic meaning behind it: that the college is making an effort to give everyone a common experience and find a way past the barriers so everyone can find a common ground. Additional information about Common Ground is available at www.westminstercollege.edutheme. ment and member of the theme committee. While some found the book exciting, others were a bit uncertain about having homework over the summer. They either loved it or hated it, said Daynes. The book was not chosen as one that everyone would love, however it was chosen to spark conversation. According to Daynes, who heard from a student about a Facebook discussion, it did spark Desert Solitaire will be used in and out of the classroom throughout the year. This isnt the last time they will be hearing about it, said Roeder. Since the theme is new to the college, people are unfamiliar with what direction its going. SAs have responded better to the theme than the freshmen, said Roeder, mainly because they have been open to Westminsters classroom atmosphere. Freshmen, who were still unfamiliar with the atmosphere, were a bit thrown off when the SAs left the discussion open. They were not sure how to respond. Roeder felt that students got a lot of good things out of the discussion, however. Topics included what type of person the author was and what everyone interpreted the desert as, which depended on where they are from. For Roeders group, the environmentalist movement was the dominant topic and included discussion how much civilization, such as hotels and resorts, is appropriate to put into nature. They got pretty fired up about that, said Roeder. Though upperclassmen were not asked to read the book, Daynes hopes that they would become intrigued by the idea of having a campus theme and spend time ed T-shi- rts. 1 yy'S ''VP K v i w jr I r ,1 I is, L'rif iu i it f sty , V rtl L f A wjm 1 if ir r ? i Y j 1 1 -- - VOLUME XU: ISSUE !, t v T 1 V'V? .. Is' VC& . 2 , 1 . t i'r-- rr i - - ' 1J r A t, r r 'I tv l' i i i |