Final Reflection- Sara Tosi @02647875

I’m glad to say I made it through Freshman Seminar. I became good friends with the members of my group, ‘The Group’. I will keep in touch with Tashiana, Melat and Melissa. I really enjoyed visiting my home state of New York on the field trip. The African Burial Ground memorial was beautiful and moving. Having a different professor every week was interesting and I was always eager to know what topic they would choose to lecture on. Dr. Williams’ lecture gave me some new ideas about research. Filling out mbongis and blog posts was a little tedious but I’m glad to have gotten credit for the class and to be done with it. At the beginning of the semester I thought Freshman Seminar was going to be a “bird course” but it actually challenged me. Therefore, I am very proud to have met all the requirements of the course. 1 credit down, 119 to go!

Peer Presentation 2- Sara Tosi @02647875

Dynamic Bison did a presentation on human trafficking. They explained different parts of the world that are affected by human trafficking. They said that trafficking is difficult to investigate and prosecute because it is such an underground market. Also, traffickers prey on vulnerable individuals on the fringes of society who are unlikely to be reported missing. The group explained some of the things that happen to trafficked individuals, for example they may become domestic servants or prostitutes. I didn’t think Dynamic Bison expressed themselves very clearly and they didn’t seem very sure of what they were presenting. I think they could have done a little better if they had done some more research. They didn’t seem to have a clear conclusion at the end of their presentation. Overall I felt they did an OK job but would have been great with a little bit more research and interpretation.

Peer Presentation 1- Sara Tosi @02647875

Just Greatness’s presentation on world hunger was very well done. I thought they made a good choice of research question because hunger is a problem that we can all relate to. It’s also a problem that we can all help hands on in our community by volunteering and donating. The members of the group explained the different parts of the world affected by hunger, included how we are affected locally. They explained what hunger does to your body and the various nutrients that your body needs and what happens when they aren’t available. They explained that hunger is an economic problem because there IS enough food for all the hungry people on the planet, but it’s not getting to them because of costs. They discussed some possible solutions to hunger such as a tablet that would have necessary nutrients. They also discussed some affordable water purification methods. Just Greatness urged us to think about how much food we waste here at Howard. They presented their research very well and I felt more informed at the end of the presentation. All members of the group seemed to have put a lot of work into the project.

Faculty interview- Sara Tosi @02647875

The day of the interview we arrived in class and took quite a bit of time to get organized and settled while we waited for our faculty advisors to arrive. We asked Dr. Kai, our group’s advisor, to explain the rubric of the research project to us, which she did in depth. Then we split into pairs to find professors to interview. Tashiana and I went in search of sociology professors. We ended up leaving our contact information for some professors but nobody got back to us. Melat and Melissa had better luck than we did. They interviewed Dr. Barpha S. Mitra for our project. Dr. Mitra is a biochemist and a professor at Howard University. Dr. Mitra made some interesting comments that helped us direct our research on the AIDS epidemic in the District of Columbia. Dr. Mitra said that the population in the District of Columbia is very closely genetically linked to Africa, where the AIDS epidemic is most severe. Dr. Mitra’s comments showed us that we had to look at many variables as possible reasons for the HIV/AIDS rate being so high in our area. There isn’t one hard and fast reason, making AIDS very complicated to study.

Dr Williams' Lecture- Sara Tosi @02647875

Dr. Dana Williams’ lecture was without a doubt the most helpful in terms of starting our research project. Dr. Williams explained the objectives of the Freshman Seminar course, which are basically to teach us how to research. She then explained research in six broken down steps: statement of challenge, current research, methodology, framework, development of thesis, and conclusions. This made the group project seem less daunting. She gave us an example of how she and the other professors used this method of research to go about building an effective Freshman Seminar course. Dr. Williams then reviewed the previous lectures and gave some examples of our peers’ blog entries showing who had done exceptionally well. Dr. Williams told us how the remainder of the semester would go and said we would have no more regular lectures because we would be giving our group presentations. At the end of Dr. Williams’ lecture I felt that I had learned something that I would actually be able to use to help me with the final assignment. Overall I felt the presentation had a clear purpose and was very straightforward. Dr. Williams was also relaxed and used humor in her presentation, which is always appreciated.

Dr Benjamin's Lecture- Sara Tosi @02647875

I really enjoyed Dr. Benjamin’s lecture on the Eloquence of the Scribes. Before her lecture I didn’t know about half of the people the buildings on campus are named for. It was really interesting to get a glimpse of the University’s history and made the buildings feel more personal. Perhaps one of the most interesting figures is Zora Neale Hurston, author and founder of The Hilltop. I was also eager to learn more about Harriet Tubman, whom I have never studied in depth. Dr. Benjamin taught us that Tubman also worked for the Union army during the civil war as a nurse and spy in addition to her work on the Underground Railroad. I was really intrigued by Phyllis Wheatley. I live in Wheatley Hall and never knew about Wheatley’s history. As soon as I got home from class after the lecture I looked up some of Wheatley’s poems. Dr. Benjamin also taught us a little about the sculptures on campus and some of the fraternities. She finished by teaching us that Howard has always been a University; it did not start as a college. After the lecture I genuinely felt like I knew more about the University. I know this knowledge will come in handy in the future. I thought it was really good idea for a presentation on Dr. Benjamin’s part.

Dr Dunstan's Lecture- Sara Tosi @02647875

I was really disappointed with Dr. Dunstan’s lecture. It felt more like a motivational speech than anything. Dr. Dunstan expressed confidence that the class of 2014 would do great things. While it’s nice to hear, that’s not the kind of thing that helps me with research. She also told us “that each of you is a product of love”. At that point I gave up taking notes. We get enough mandatory motivational speaker events at Howard; we don’t need them in class too. Dr. Dunstan spent her entire forty minute speaking time on her introduction. We didn’t even get to hear her lecture on the Human Genome Project. She says in her power point presentation that there is a lot of knowledge to gain by mapping and studying the Human Genome. She also said that Howard must be involved in producing this knowledge and distributing it to increase wisdom. There are a lot of interesting graphs and maps in Dr. Dunstan’s presentation but it’s difficult to interpret them without having had her explain them. Overall, Dr. Dunstan stated that we should shift our focus on medicine to biology to generate wisdom about health.

Final Reflection by Tashiana Hudson @02652609

Going into Freshman Seminar, I thought I would be enduring a very long and boring course on study techniques and social skills. However, the course turned out to be completely different from what I expected and was not boring at all. As the course went on, I found out more and more that it was more a course on having pride in our cultural heritage and the history of our school than anything else. I usually found the lectures interesting, if occasionally confusing, and I thought the subjects and professors were well-chosen. My favorite was Dr. Gbadesin’s, because it included an anecdote and even a demonstration of African talking drums.
I really enjoyed the trip to the African burial ground, as well. I really felt that it was an important place to visit and I learned a bit about our cultural history there. Going through the sculpture there and leaning about the symbols engraved on it was a memorable experience. It also allowed me to see my sister, which was nice.
Finally, I thought the research project was fairly useful. My group did a question that I found really interesting and had wondered about before. Our question was about why the HIV/AIDS rate in D.C. was so much higher than in other areas, and though we did not find an exact answer, we did come up with some theories and found out about research that is being done and programs that are being instituted to decrease the problem.
Overall, I thought the objectives of Freshman Seminar could have been outlined more clearly from the beginning, because I really didn’t understand them until Dr. Williams’ presentation, but I thought it was a nice course to take and I feel that I learned a lot.

Just Greatness' Presentation on World Hunger by Tashiana Hudson @02652609

Just Greatness decided to divide their presentation according to their separate areas of study. One member, an economics major, informed us that there is a large food supply and the supply does equal the demand. However, the cost of supplying this food is greater than the revenue gained. Many countries don’t supply food, because it costs billions to donate and ship it. She also discussed the idea that the social cost of not shipping the food, the death of many people who could contribute to the world, is much greater than the economic cost of shipping it. This member also interviewed Professor Enrique Lopez lira, who said that we need a method of distribution that is safer and less costly.
Next, a political science major discussed world hunger from a political perspective. She gave a few definitions of hunger and explained that the underlying factors of world hunger are failures in economic and political systems. She interviewed professor of Pan-Africanism Wright Pan, who listed some solutions including creating stable governments in third world countries and creating jobs so laborers can be consumers. The professor also explained that the reasons for instability in third world country have a lot to do with members of first world countries pitting groups against each other to stay in power.
Another group member discussed the issue from a psychological perspective. He discussed hunger being the first rung on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs because it is a physiological need. He said that hunger slows development because of a lack of food and issues with fights for the food that is available. As a temporary solution, he suggested the use of adrenaline, which stops hunger by constricting the intestines.
Next, a nursing major discussed the fact that hunger is the way the body tells us we need to eat. She informed us that organs cannot function without food and nutrients, so the body essentially begins to eat itself. She also said that scientists are looking into nutrients in tablet form and pointed out that seventy-six countries have greater than five percent of their population starving.
Finally, a communications major discussed the fact that the media can help by highlighting the problem, using emotional appeals to get people to donate food and money. Overall, I thought this was an interesting and informative presentation.