By Megan Goldberg '16

Just in time for Halloween, our Park Scholar Program director and Globalization course professor, Dr. Matt Fee, assigned the movie Ringu for us to watch. Of course, he assigned the original Japanese version, as this is a course in globalization.Six of us gathered together in the lounge of our residence hall to watch this movie that none of us had ever seen before. Between the chocolate covered pretzels, Halloween candy, and popcorn; the covering of our eyes, jumping back at the frightening parts, and yelling at the screen and characters; and the laughing at ridiculous scenes and joking around together; that hour and thirty five minutes reminded me of how proud and grateful I am to share a common bond with these amazing people.

Confused at first as to why we were even assigned to watch this film, as we discussed the movie in class the next week in a greater context, everything became clear. Our class discussion, led by our peer facilitators, brought to light issues and situations that many of us had never before considered. We observed the film industry in other countries and our own dominant Hollywood industry. We made connections on the basis of humanity and the preservation of local culture. However, this was not a unique class session. Matt Fee’s course shows us the larger picture–every single week. It’s easy to get stuck in the daily routine of college life and feel removed from the rest of the world. This course takes us out of this little bubble and into the greater world around us. It gets us thinking and questioning, and drives us to continue to work to change the larger community that we live in.

Although all of the first-year Park Scholars reside in the same housing community and live on the same floor, we don’t necessarily see each other very much every day. My peers have done incredible things since they stepped foot on campus in August and are extremely busy, far beyond their class readings and assignments. Bonding sessions like these remind me of why I came to Ithaca and accepted the amazing offer given to me. The decision to spend the next four years with an inspiring, motivated, and dedicated group of communication scholars, and to take advantage of all that Ithaca College has to offer, is probably the best decision that I have made I my life thus far.

The Park Scholar Class of 2016 is made up of journalists, SGA members, cinematographers, athletes, graphic designers, dancers, poets, marital arts performers, photographers, volunteers, actors, fashion connoisseurs, and musicians. We are more than just a group of scholars with similar interests and majors in the same field. We are a supportive family of eleven that only continues to grow closer with each week that we spend in this beautiful community.