First-Year Seminar 2021 First-Year Seminar

All new students are encouraged to sign up for a first year seminar. 

Why First Year Seminars?

The First-Year Seminar introduces you to many of the core values of a Westmont education. It provides you an opportunity to explore ideas within a small community of learners. This year, as you begin your Westmont experience through remote learning, the seminar can be a great way to get to know a professor and your peers during your early weeks at the college. We trust that the seminar will build confidence and help you to develop your own voice and hone your thinking and writing skills. The seminar emphasizes learning from one another rather than relying on the professor as the sole authority. Our hope is that you will find this intellectual community enjoyable and invigorating—and that it will help prepare you for the rest of your college education.

The theme for the First Year Seminar is “Living Our Stories at Westmont.” Since we are beginning the semester online, you might be thinking, “I wish I were living my story at Westmont!” In this seminar, we’ll get as close as we can to this ideal by asking “What is your current story and how might Westmont add to your story?” Together, we will engage in conversation about stories written before us by people of other places, cultures, and times. We will reflect together on what it would look like to compose lives rooted in justice and mercy.  We will seek to conform our story to the story God has in store for us.  

What will I learn?

As a result of this course, students will:

• Strengthen their abilities to tell their own stories and reflect on the stories of others. 
• Refine their abilities to engage in interdisciplinary conversations with others. 
• Articulate their objectives for their college education.