summer

Planting the Seeds of Power and Purpose: A GoodWork™-inspired Introduction to Higher Education for First-Year Students

by Mary Katherine Duncan

For several months, my colleague (Dr. Jennifer Johnson) and I have been developing a GoodWork™-inspired Summer Reading Assignment and series of Freshman Orientation workshops for first-year (often, first generation) undergraduate students. We aim to welcome young women and men to our academic community by introducing them to the three Es of GoodWork™ and helping them to understand what it means to do GoodWork™ as persons, students, and citizens at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania. After several semesters of programming and assessment of campus-wide initiatives (e.g., Summer Reading Assignment, Freshman Orientation workshop, University Seminar discussion groups, and research studies), we felt as though we had a pretty good handle on what it means to do academic GoodWork™ (i.e., excellence, ethics, and engagement as a student). We were less confident, however, in our understanding of what it means to do GoodWork™ as a citizen of the University and how to share our understanding with young people who are entering our academic community.

Participation in the GoodWork™ Conference—Developing Responsible, Caring and Balanced Youth—was instrumental in helping us to think about what it means to be a good citizen in an academic community. Two programs stood out as especially relevant to our current initiative. During one of the conference’s interactive workshops, The Pedagogy of Power, Eric Liu described citizenship as “learning how to live well with others.” Eric asked workshop attendees to consider what citizens owe each other. After several exchanges, it became clear that we owe each other the best of ourselves; that is, a daily commitment to living a life consistent with our character strengths and virtues. Eric asserted that citizenship is about using these strengths (i.e., power) in service of “leaving the joint better.” It became clear that a GoodWork™-inspired Summer Reading Assignment and Freshman Orientation should afford students the opportunity to reflect on their power and how they might employ their strengths in service of the University.

Toward the end of the conference, Bill Damon offered a plenary session about young people’s search for purpose. Bill noted that most young people are searching for purpose and that young people tend to find purpose in their own way and in their own time. Again, as we thought about our role in welcoming the Class of 2017 to Bloomsburg University, we wondered how our academic community could best support young people as they journey along their paths to living purposeful lives. Bill pointed out that young people have to define purpose for themselves. They have to own it. It must be meaningful to them. He also noted that purpose must be of consequence to the world beyond the self. Very often, our students mistake personal goals (e.g., earning a high GPA, gaining admission to graduate school, being happy, getting rich) for purpose. It will be important for us to help students understand the difference between short-horizon, self-centered goals and long-horizon, other-focused purpose. Bill’s research suggests that useful strategies for supporting youth’s search for purpose include affording young people opportunities to learn more about the community or institution needs, to observe purposeful role models who are striving to meet these needs while exhibiting moral commitment, and to discover how they can employ their own strengths and abilities in service of meeting the identified needs.

With information and insight gleaned from the GoodWork™ conference, we proposed the second annual GoodWork™-inspired Summer Reading Assignment and Freshman Orientation program. More specifically, in partial fulfillment of the Summer Reading Assignment, incoming students will write a paper on how they would like to be remembered as persons, students, and citizens of the University on their graduation day in May 2017. This legacy paper will “plant the seed” for more reflective exercises and in-depth discussions during Freshman Orientation and throughout their years of undergraduate study. During Freshman Orientation, trained student leaders will introduce the three Es of GoodWork™ and share their own stories of pursuing GoodWork™ including discussions of factors that catalyzed, sustain, and challenge their commitment to doing GoodWork™ as persons, students, and citizens of the University. Student leaders also will engage first-year students in self-reflective exercises to begin the process of exploring character strengths, values, and cognitive competencies. In addition, student leaders will lead discussions about what the University and surrounding communities need and what can be done to meet those needs in order to encourage first-year students to begin thinking about how they can employ their scholarship and good character in service of the academic and broader communities. In addition to serving as role models, student leaders will escort first-year students to an Academic Resource Fair and a Student Activities Fair where they will introduce our newest citizens to faculty and staff role models who are pursuing lives of purpose while demonstrating moral commitment. Overall, we want our students to understand that their undergraduate studies are as much about figuring out what they want to do with their lives as discovering who they are and ascertaining what they have to offer, to whom, and how.

As we partner with the Office of Academic Affairs and the Office of Student Affairs to strengthen the culture of GoodWork™ at our University, we thank the good folks at Project Zero for organizing such a thought-provoking and inspiring conference.