As first years in college, I see my students take on the world around them with a slightly narrowed lens. In many cases, it isn’t their fault and shouldn’t be something to shun or shame, but it’s very much part of entering a new atmosphere and institution.

First years are thrown into college often right out of high school, which can be very isolating at times. Between taking unwanted classes, struggling to maintain friendships and missing home, freshmen often appear very individualistic and trapped in their own heads. It was very much evident in their writing during the first few weeks. Individuals were delighted to be able to talk about themselves in Project 1 and sent me very detailed letters, which in certain cases, attempted to tell me their whole life story. It was amusing at first, but I was also a little troubled that when I would bring up current events in class (like the supreme court), and very few seemed to understand what was going on, and those who did, didn’t seem to care.

When my students were assigned partners for Project 3, I noticed a shift in focus of the documents they produced together. Suddenly these freshmen had to grapple with learning what a stranger found important to them and had to come up with an interesting research topic that appealed to both parties. Some took the easy way out and came up with a bland, easy topic that would be a breeze to research, but extremely dull to do in the long run. However, some students took the time to sit down and try to understand the perspectives of their partner, and why issues mattered to them. For example, I have an athlete in my class who only wrote about his career in soccer for the letter and literacy narrative. I paired him up with a very sweet female student who loves to talk about current events with me. They ended up with a research topic that explored the “pink tax” and razor companies that advertised to different groups of individuals. It was amazing watching her explain to the male student why the topic mattered to her and see him eagerly research articles that he would have probably never discovered by himself.

So, my long-winded takeaway here is that while many freshmen have a narrowed scope of world views, it’s very easy to introduce them to diverse perspectives and open their minds. They’re eager to learn, but sometimes they need that extra push to get them out of their own heads.