Mina Quesen will say the Nassau Weekly was her favorite part of FSI. This community was built on late night Spicy Uno, Wawa runs, and infamous live Mafia.
FSI Lingo: From Freshmen Who Entered the Orange Bubble in July
FSI: Trading Our Summer for Summer School
The Freshmen Scholars Institute (FSI) is an eight-week summer program for sixty students who identify as low-income and first generation. These sixty students are thrown into Butler 1976 Hall with RGSs, RCAs, and a two-course schedule.
Ways of Knowing: Covering Everything from Rocky IV to the Communist Manifesto
This year’s theme for the epistemology course was Power and Institutions. This meant that somehow, we discussed everything from Marxism to Machiavelli to the terror that is Gritty the Flyers mascot.
EGR150: Where Accelerometers were an Excuse to Chase Course Fellows with Cars
BSE contenders were united through EGR. Aside from lectures on physics and calculus, students brought life to the classroom through their labs. Course fellows helped students test accelerometers on miniature cars and parachutes. Fellows did suffer from a few crashes, but thankfully, no injuries were reported.
MOL152: Deep Science Meets Pop Culture
The highlight of the molecular biology class: changing the DNA of E. coli to get different expressions in colored colonies—some expressions coming out as works of art or in one particular case, as the gaping Patrick meme. After the final presentation at the end of the summer semester, even non Mol students left understanding how one soldier’s unfortunate malady led to the discovery of the E. coli strand.
Community Building with Clowns and Bats
People will say that community was their favorite part of FSI. This community was built on late night Spicy Uno, Wawa runs, and infamous live Mafia. From calling each other clowns to hosting a “Vintage Circus” themed prom, we will never forget the laughter and joy of those eight weeks. Even when a bat came and crashed prom, causing the party to be postponed, we laughed it off.
Bouncy Castle
Following the infamous Reorientation at the end of the program (yes, FSI kids went through three orientations), the end-of-year barbeque was the perfect reprieve after weeks of classes. Faculty and staff were probably more excited for the bouncy castles than the actual students. When the castles opened, the SIFP administrators were the first to jump in. And no excitement will ever top that of Dean Gonzalez, the Assistant Dean of College.
Learning the Honor Code Acknowledgements
This paper represents my own work in accordance with University regulations. – Mina Quesen