So, the summer adviser says that I should take an Ithaca Seminar, and although I’m hesitant about ‘wasting credits,’ I figure it will be a great way to have at least one class where I can easily meet people, and I won’t feel so stupid asking ‘freshman’ questions in.
Me: Hm… Sexual Revolutions throughout History… that sounds interesting.
Adviser: Full.
Me: What about Math and Motorcyles? Sounds different, probably have a mixed group.
Adviser: Full.
Me: Ah, the writing seminar! I love writing! I’ll just sign up for this section…
Adviser Full.
Me: Great. Just great. Guess I’ll have to take Sustaining Our Worlds: People, Prosperity and the Planet.
I don’t even know what that means.
Adviser: Almost full.
This is how my experience with the Ithaca Seminars began. I had never even heard of the word “sustainability” before I came to Ithaca College, and had many well-founded interests that I was sure I wanted to take other classes in. But, with the prodding of my adviser, I registered for the Seminar, still unsure that it was worth my time, still unsure that I would learn anything interesting or gain any valuable experience. When I entered my freshman year, Exploratory and most certainly in need of some exploration, I was thinking I would major in Psychology, Sociology, Politics, Anthropology, or maybe Spanish, or Music Education.
Taking that Ithaca Seminar turned out to be the most influential move of my college career. I went from having never heard of ‘sustainability,’ and being unsure about my major, to being one of the campus’s most vigorous proponents for sustainability and environmental activism, knowing what path I wanted to in a career, and most importantly, learning more in a single class than in the last two years of my high school career.
Being in a Ithaca Seminar meant I had a place each week to be introspective, to ask questions about where I was going and who could help me get there, and have an immediate group of friends to share similar experiences with. Seminar professors are more than supportive- they are highly knowledgeable, willing to push students outside of our comfort zones, and capable of making a subject into a life-long passion. What better kind of class experience could there be?
Today, I am finishing my sophomore year with a double major in Communication, Management, and Design (shortened to CMD, in the Park School of Communications) and Environmental Studies (Humanities and Sciences). I also have a Women’s Studies minor declared, and am thinking about carrying out a minor in a foreign language before I graduate as well. I call my combination of majors and minors “EcoFeminism and Sustainable Development,” as I study the intersection of gender and environmental development issues, and plan to work on developing sustainability into higher education curriculum and implementing social-environmental justice programs for non-profits, all sparked by the comprehensive nature of the seminar that first engaged me with these subjects.
It wasn’t a waste of credits. I wasn’t (am not) behind in my major. Like I said, I have a double-major and a minor, and I am right on track with my peers for where I need to be for all three. Because of that Ithaca Seminar and the contact with professors and peers I made, I have had the opportunity to do research work with faculty (soon to be published as a sophomore!), have traveled to international conferences, and been awarded a National grant to develop sustainability curriculum for Ithaca College. Best of all, at the end of my freshmen year I was invited to travel to Ecuador for three weeks to work on sustainable micro-enterprise development by one of the professors from the seminar; as a result of that spectacular service-experience, I will be returning to Ecuador this summer to complete curriculum development for the NGO we worked with, and completing a related paid internship. All this because I didn’t get into the first three seminars I wanted, and was pushed into taking the class!
Take an Ithaca Seminar. It doesn’t matter what the topic is. The seminars are a perfect place to explore a new interest, or expand on a well-loved subject, and have the combination of support and academic challenge that you are looking for your first semester here. Even if your experience does not lead you to a career path (and personal political/social/life-long interest!) as mine did, there are still a wealth of connections and friendships to be made, not to mention the unquantifiable knowledge of having gone through the same experience as almost every other first-year student at Ithaca!
If you’ve got questions about seminars, college, or sustainability, you can find me on Facebook or send a friendly email. Good luck with your studies, see you in the Fall!
-Sarah Brylinsky
