Oberlin Blogs

So here's the deal. I'm looking for VOLUNTEERS. Students who would like to begin working on their own ePorfolios now. I provide you with access to an ePortfolio system, you use it (more instructions provided) and, every now and again, we get together to talk to other ePortfolio users about how it's going and what you're getting out of it (or not!).

What exactly should every Oberlin graduate know and be able to do by the time they walk up to the commencement stage? How do we know that she knows? And how do we make sure that her coursework allows her to actually learn it?

Just so you have a little taste of what we're all going through.

I spent most of orientation waiting for it to be over.

(To avoid thinking about more pressing matters. Like the work I have due tomorrow.)

It's not the traditional research position that biochem majors normally pursue, but then again, I'm not a typical biochem major.

Finals are all over, all praise due to NoDoze. My biggest hurdle was the paper for English I wrote on The Tempest.

Normally, Orientation is a crazy time, though no one agrees why. That said, this year feels different. These freshmen are just way too cool.

In high school, due surely to a lack of adequate allowance, I sold cans of soda that I bought in bulk from Costco and kept stored in a portable cooler to students just coming out of gym class. It would follow that a lifetime's worth of amateur experience culminated in my participation in the Entrepreneurship Scholars program.

Upon return to campus after spring break, students receive a pleasant reminder for fall registration. "What? This soon? I'm still slaving through a disastrous spring semester, everything is about to start moving twice as quickly as before, how could I even THINK of next fall?" you think.

Personally, I was completely terrified of the concept of office hours my freshman year. The professors were amazing and awesome and being in the same room as them one-on-one just seemed like a god-given experience, something not worthy of a lowly freshman. So, baby steps.

It's been almost a year in the making, took a great deal of time, energy, and paperwork, and probably made more than a few staff members resent seeing my e-mails pop up in their inboxes, but this past week my independent major in the Conservatory was approved.