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When we were planning ARS110 and we described the new course to an art professor he worried that students would sign up for the course thinking they would actually get to paint or sculpt in the class. It's true we won't be doing art in the classroom (or chemistry or soical work) but whatever your interest, we hope you will get to build toward it by taking what you learn in ARS110 class outside of your classes to help you create a personal college experience of greatest value.
Sometimes introductory classes can be frustrating because they aren't "hands on". That is another reason we think ARS110 will be a good course for some students. We want to provide this unusual course for students who feel the opportunities will be able to help connect them with college in their own special way. Not every student will be ready to take a course like ARS110 right when they begin college and that's fine. We hope the inormation vailable in this web site will serve every student when they are ready.
In some cases, you may think it is pretty obvious what a student should do. Why should they take a class like ARS110? Well, here's one example of a USM student interested in theater costume design. In high school, Travis had enjoyed volunteering to help with costumes for the plays at his school. He really enjoyed it and so perhaps it was obvious he should sign up for classes and be a theater major in college, right? Maybe. There are a couple of things that will probably be true for every student:
1) it is amazing to realize there are good jobs for just about any topic in which you are interested. That is true if you are crazy about spiders or interested in creating new recipes or designing costumes. Many students would never dream their passions, interests, or hobbies may lead them to a good job.
2) The pathway to a good job might be direct path or it may be very indirect. By pursuing something in college that he enjoyed, Travis made connections with a wide variety of people on campus and off campus. It is impossible to guess exactly where his interest in costume design would take him during college, but Travis was using his own energy to get there rather than relying on classroom assignments. T
3) If Travis was interested in pursuing theater costume design in college, who could he talk with about it? The answer is the more people he could connect with the better. Our course, ARS110, is designed to help students like Travis begin to make those connections. Some may be on campus in the theater program. Or maybe the most helpful connections could be in the art department. In ARS110, we will focus on making those connections. That might involve encouraging Travis to meet with a professor in the theater department. Even though Travis might not take that professor's class for two years, meeting early in college could help encourage Travis and give him ideas and help create a network of options. The Portland area has several, excellent theaters that provided opportunities. In addition to working on plays at USM, Travis made connections off campus that greatly increased the value of his college education. ARS110 is designed to help make connections on campus and also off campus.
4) The more energy you can put into your college education the better. By creating networks of people and resources, you may find a new part-time job during college that you enjoy and that dovetails with your college education and career goals instead of just continuing in a part-time job bagging groceries or delivering pizza.
We welcome links to these pages. If you do create a link, please contact us so we can make
a personal link too. Thanks!
If you have problems with this page, please contact: David Champlin. |
