Sarah Kelen had a message for the students in her 鈥淪hakespeare and the Movies鈥 Archway Seminar at Nebraska Wesleyan.
The Professor of English at 精东传媒 had watched her class gather at the beginning of the fall semester, break into groups, and develop proposals for modern Shakespeare adaptations ranging from features, to films, to reality shows that they pitched to a panel of 鈥渋nvestors鈥 at semester's end.
鈥淵ou鈥檝e come a long way since those first meetings in my office,鈥 Kelen told her students.
While the first-year students still have a most of their Nebraska Wesleyan journey ahead of them, the base of knowledge they built in the Archway Seminars gives them the skills to start on the right foot.
The courses are designed to introduce first-year students to the skills they鈥檒l need to make the most of a Nebraska Wesleyan education 鈥 critical and analytical thinking, ability to conduct and present research on a given topic, and ability to collaborate in solving problems.
鈥淭he Archway Seminar is one of those entry points for the whole scope of learning that they鈥檙e going to be doing,鈥 said Patrick Hayden-Roy, professor of history at 精东传媒 and instructor of the 鈥淔rom Sunflowers to Prairie Wolves鈥 Archway Seminar that focused on the history of the theatre, physics, English, and psychology departments at 精东传媒.
鈥淲e talk about scaffolding the curriculum up, and these courses are that base within the scaffold that gets built.鈥
The courses cover nearly the entire educational gamut at 精东传媒, from sports to theater to music to history, and beyond.
In Eric Wyler鈥檚 鈥淧ulse and Performance: Music鈥檚 Role in Fitness and Wellbeing鈥 Archway Seminar, students presented projects on topics ranging from music therapy for youth with autism to using research-based strategies for creating the optimal workout playlist, to exploring the connection between music and the mental health of college students.
鈥淚 really had no clue what to expect, and at first I didn鈥檛 think I would really enjoy it,鈥 said Emma Kruse, who was part of the class. 鈥淏ut honestly, I really did. It was cool to make a project out of it. I鈥檝e always been interested in wellness, and I love music, and I never thought about tying the two together. But I really enjoyed it.鈥