First-Year Seminar 2020 First-Year Seminar
We are excited to be able to offer first year seminars to every new Westmont student. New students can view their seminar assignment in WebAdvisor.
Learn More about First Year Seminars
Join us Friday 8/28, at 3PM for a virtual orientation session to learn more about what to expect in your first year seminar course. Find the link on the Westmont Community Guide App.
Why First Year Seminars?
The First-Year Seminar introduces you to many of the core values of a Westmont education. It provides you an opportunity to explore ideas within a small community of learners. This year, as you begin your Westmont experience through remote learning, the seminar can be a great way to get to know a professor and your peers during your early weeks at the college. We trust that the seminar will build confidence and help you to develop your own voice and hone your thinking and writing skills. The seminar emphasizes learning from one another rather than relying on the professor as the sole authority. My hope is that you will find this intellectual community enjoyable and invigorating—and that it will help prepare you for the rest of your college education.
The theme for the First Year Seminar is “Living Our Stories at Westmont.” Since we are beginning the semester online, you might be thinking, “I wish I were living my story at Westmont!” In this seminar, we’ll get as close as we can to this ideal by asking “What is your current story and how might Westmont add to your story?” Together, we will engage in conversation about stories written before us by people of other places, cultures, and times. We will reflect together on what it would look like to compose lives rooted in justice and mercy. We will seek to conform our story to the story God has in store for us.
All incoming students will participate in the first four weeks of the seminar. Those who choose to earn a unit of academic credit will continue in the course for an additional three class meetings, submit some revised essays, and complete the final project. There will also be some asynchronous instruction built into the course, which is learning you will do outside of the regular class time.
What will I learn?
As a result of this course, students will:
- Strengthen their abilities to tell their own stories and reflect on the stories of others.
- Refine their abilities to engage in interdisciplinary conversations with others.
- Articulate their objectives for their college education.