The Our Children, Peace and Violence freshman seminar is just one of the classes that get students putting a topic into its real-world context and taking action.
Ian Hnizdo and Pooja Kar, now juniors, met their first semester as freshmen. Hnizdo lived on Long Island his entire life; Kar had recently arrived from Bangladesh. Both joined the program and enrolled in one of the LGS freshman seminars: Our Children, Peace and Violence. They found common ground in their desire to tackle pressing issues and make a difference. Under the tutelage of their professor, Devin Thornburg, Ph.D., professor and department chair of the , Hnizdo was soon chauffeuring them to the Hempstead to tutor kids in the .
Despite Hnizdo鈥檚 and Kar鈥檚 very different backgrounds, both were enriched by the experience. In fact, Hnizdo so enjoyed working with the kids that he continued volunteering during the spring semester and over the summer.
He said it was eye opening to see the challenges low-income children and their families face. 鈥淏ut kids are kids,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 grew as a person, I met people I wouldn鈥檛 have ordinarily and it broadened my perspective of the world.鈥� On a lighter note, he added, 鈥淎nd I got really good at finding parking spots.鈥�
This freshman seminar is just one of the classes that get students鈥攔ight from the get-go鈥攑utting a topic into its real-world context and taking action. 鈥淭he philosophic stance I take is that high-impact learning around community action is what should occur in college,鈥� Dr. Thornburg said.
A recent crop of freshmen agreed. 鈥淚鈥檓 so glad Dr. T鈥檚 seminar was one of the first classes I took to start off my college career,鈥� said Jasmine Garcia. 鈥淣ot only was the material interesting and thought provoking, but the way he presented these issues encouraged us to share our ideas and viewpoints while always maintaining an open mind. Dr. T put a lot of effort into making sure his classroom was an open environment that fed on curiosity and new ideas. He went out of his way to learn more about his students and encouraged any passions we had.鈥�
Dr. Thornburg started the course in 2008. In class, students learn about the history of childhood, art of children over the centuries, theories of violence and aggression in kids, education, and topics involving children in some element of violence, such as trafficking, child soldiers or domestic violence.
The focus changes each year according to student input. In Fall 2016, students tackled the issue of human trafficking. 鈥淣ew York is a hot zone, and it affects mostly children under the age of 18,鈥� Dr. Thornburg said. Students partnered with the local group Love 146 to host an event in December called the 鈥淗uman Trafficking Awareness Symposium.鈥� The event featured the art of students Esther Wolf and Neha Harish, and Charles Hager showed a PowerPoint presentation about the 鈥渉uman trafficking problem and ways individuals can make a difference,鈥� he said.
Alina Campbell said the class was her 鈥渉ands-down favorite of the semester,鈥� one in which 鈥測ou were working with your peers to tackle important issues close to your heart.鈥� Her takeaway, she added, is that 鈥渋t is not enough to simply discuss what needs to be done, but that we as global citizens have the responsibility of taking that extra step to actually do it.鈥�
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