Transition from orientation to graduation: A view from a seminar instructor
Susan Clemens: Lecturer of History
Issue date: 9/27/07 Section: Focus
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I love watching my former first-year students at the brunch I make for them at my house before they graduate. Last year two groups came to my house since I taught a fall and spring seminar the year they entered Muhlenberg. I sent them downstairs to the large room in the basement of our raised ranch house that opens onto a patio and pond while I put out the food I made. They milled around chatting with each other outside and inside, and then I went upstairs after we had a mimosa toast to put out the food I made. When I walked downstairs they were standing in two circles, a Reflections of Pop Culture circle and a Great American Road Trip circle. I had a rush of joy to see how happy the two groups were to be together again. I called them upstairs to grab the food. When they sat down on the deck, in the dining area, and downstairs the groups had split into small inter-seminar clusters. I saw this as a metaphor for their transition into the wider world. If there is a Muhlenberg bubble, it was popping at my house and releasing adults who were ready to take on all the demands of society, business, graduate school and the rest of their lives. Everyone thanked me, most emailed me a thank you note the next day. I thought-they're done and ready to serve.