There is a multitude of opportunities to expand yourself while at college. Of course, one of the best ways to do this is through signing up for classes that you are interested in. I believe that college is one of the best places to try and learn new things. It is here that you are surrounded by peers who are eager to learn and faculty who are excited to teach.
It's OK to break the rules
There is a class I am taking this semester called Experimental Writing Workshop. It is taught by Dr. Elisabet Takehana of the English department and is one of the most fun classes I've taken while at FSU. When you can go into a class and be told to break the rules, you know it's going to be fun. In this class, we get to break the rules of conventional writing and storytelling through things such as genre blending and reformatting the physical layout of the piece. It is such a great chance to really explore the possibilities of storytelling through ourselves and the masters of it. We read writers like David Foster Wallace, Mark Danielewski, Shelley Jackson and others. Through both of these elements working in tandem, we get to push the boundaries of writing.
Writing the great American novel as a team
Not only do we get to write for our class, but we get to contribute to what is called the the first generative novel. We, as a class, are contributing to the Theopolis College Project, an international online murder mystery. We are working with classes from around the world to find out who murdered the president of Theopolis College, a fictional institution. The fun part is our class is assigned one character, who is an aulmni of the school. We can have videos and audio and links to images and all sorts of stuff to effectively create our characters and make Theopolis College more real all the time!
If you decide to come to Fitchburg State, remember to step outside your comfort zone. You never know what you might be drawn to. Experimental Writing has really opened my eyes, not only to the possibilities of the written word, but the potential of the student body as a whole. My classmates are constantly looking to innovate and challenge the established form. Fitchburg State University is an institution where you can truly challenge yourself and push your own boundaries.
What have you done to push beyond your comfort zone? Tell us about it in the comments below.
