First Year Experience courses bring the liberal arts to life

First Year Experience courses bring the liberal arts to life

A sample of student art articulating PC’s mission statement as part of Karen Mattison’s First Year Experience class last fall.

Presbyterian College’s first-year students knew they were signing up for a liberal arts education from the start. But until they sat down for their first classes a few weeks ago, they may not have realized the liberal arts’ full power.

In time, they will discover connections between science and history. Mathematics and music. Psychology and literature. But one series of courses, in particular, brings those connections to life in innovative and fun ways.

PC’s First Year Experience courses are one-hour credit classes with frequently unusual names and subjects outside the college’s typical curriculum. However, they are still designed to make students think and solve problems.

History professor Dr. Stefan Wiecki’s escape room adventures in Greenville and Columbia inspired his class. The class requires students to create their exit room adventures that other groups of students play. Weicki said students must learn to work together, craft and solve problems, deal appropriately with stress, and manage time – all skills they need to succeed in college.

“While the exit room classes have nothing to do with history, the skills that students acquire in the course are useful for all disciplines,” he said. “All majors require critical thinking, working together, and solving problems under time constraints. These classes allow freshman to think about things beyond academics and focus on learning skills rather than cramming knowledge.”

Karen Mattison’s Service Entrepreneurship FYE class may seem miles away from her regular courses in the Department of Business and Economics, but not for a PC alumna who grasps the utmost importance of her alma mater’s motto, While We Live, We Serve.

“I wanted to offer this class to support PC’s service entrepreneurship focus,” she said. “I love and believe in the idea that our students can work to solve community problems and really make a difference.

“At my former institution, I did a fellowship in social entrepreneurship and was impressed by what can be done. As an accountant, I enjoy helping students look at their ideas while considering how they could be accomplished. I like planning and logistics.”

Mattison’s “Planning to Make a Difference” class will discuss students’ interests in service entrepreneurship, especially those first-year students who participated in PC’s Service Entrepreneurship Competition. They will explore the feasibility of their ideas and bounce them off one another, and they will also read about and discover other projects.

“I have always been interested in community service,” Mattison said. “I have volunteered with various organizations. My Accounting Information Systems students usually work on a project with a local nonprofit, so the area of service has always been exciting for me. My accounting experience helps with organizational and tax issues that could come up in working with students interested in service entrepreneurship. The really fun part is the interdisciplinary portion. Students’ ideas and projects can be focused in various areas – science, construction, literacy, etc. I will get to learn with them (and them from each other) about their true area of interest.”

Mattison’s students will also get creative. In other classes in years past, she has required students to visualize the college’s mission statement with a drawing or articulate it in a poem. Her Service Entrepreneurship class is expected to produce the same this fall.

Assistant director of student involvement Mitchell Plumer is not a regular in PC’s classrooms, but he, too, is teaching a first-year experience course. Plumer’s Art and Craft of Sports Management explores the specific skills needed to succeed in a broad field that includes coaching, broadcasting, sales and marketing, athletic administration, community involvement, and sports officiating.

Based on his formal sports management education and professional experience in the field, Plumer said he is happy to share his knowledge with students with similar interests. And, like his colleagues teaching other first-year students, Plumer said he hopes the classes help students grow more comfortable with PC.

“These classes are important to the college because they allow us to help students navigate the transitionary period of a co-dependent life to an independent life,” he said. “For many, the transition from living at home, and high school, to going off on your own to a new town and college can be a stressful period in their lives.

“We, as advisors, are able to help the students with their transition so they’re not completely overwhelmed wishing they can go back home. The various topics of an FYE class provides the students an opportunity to experiment with the topic, and see if it interests them enough to pursue past the initial class.”