|
|
 |
|||||
|
|
MC Square | Search | |
||
|
|||||
|
Volume X, No. 3 April 2006 Parents Progress Archives Planning to Visit?
|
|
 Messiah selects The White for common reading among
first-year studentsAcceptance, transition, and transformation are masterfully played out in the new novel chosen for common reading among Messiah College’s first-year students. The White, by Deborah Larsen, has received critical acclaim for its memorable portrayal of an adolescent girl’s efforts to adapt to a new and challenging environment. Author Larsen, haunted by the true story of a young girl forced from her comfortable home and into the hands of a Native American Indian tribe, powerfully expands upon Mary Jemison’s courageous adaptation to the people and customs of her foreign environment. John Yeatts, associate dean of general education and common learning, in conjunction with the College’s First-Year Experience committee, chose The White because it “focuses on a number of issues that relate to our goals for the common reading program—the multiple dimensions of vocation, the awareness of one’s talents and abilities, and the complex nature of critical issues like gender roles, race and ethnicity, war and peace, and individual and community,” Yeatts said. Three years ago, Messiah College instituted a common reading program for first-year students and chose The Color of Water by James McBride as its first common reading text. The reading program seeks to provide a sense of community for first-year students as they arrive on campus and become immersed in a new, diverse environment. During Welcome Week orientation, peer leaders and First-Year Seminar instructors initiate discussion based on themes from the book. Then, in a culminating event, the author delivers the annual Common Reading Convocation Lecture. Deborah Larsen will visit campus on the evening of September 6, 2006, to present a lecture on the book’s themes and her experiences related to The White. As Messiah parents, you are invited to attend the lecture and to read The White with our campus community this summer. |
|
|
