Ram Writers

Imagine arriving at Suffolk as a new student with four credits on your transcript, a bunch of new friends, and a solid understanding of what college courses are like.

That’s just what happened to more than 330 incoming freshmen and transfer students during the Summer U Semester.

The program offered two free courses. One examined issues related to the pandemic. The other was a special version of the Writing 101 course that all undergraduates of the College of Arts & Sciences and the Sawyer Business School complete in their first semesters. The thinking was, by participating over the summer, students would develop their writing skills, meet some of their peers, and arrive in the fall a bit more familiar with the college experience.

But summer? On Zoom? Taking a course?

Turns out that the 200 students who signed up really enjoyed the experience.

“The course was wildly successful,” says Professor Pamela Saunders, director of the First-Year Writing Program. “Our goal was to help create a sense of community, even in that bizarre summer where we couldn’t meet in person. Students felt like their time was well spent and that their expectations of college—and Suffolk in particular—were exceeded.”

One key to the course’s success was its intimacy: Each section had 15 or fewer students. They spent the first two assignments on independent writing projects, meeting online with their instructors—all of whom are Suffolk faculty—and working with a writing tutor dedicated to each section. Part of the goal of those first assignments was actually to help students unlearn some of what they had learned in high school.

“Students come into the class thinking that writing is just grammar and that the answers are kind of predetermined,” says Professor Nick Frangipane, one of the course instructors. “We try to get them to understand how college writing differs from high school writing. We want them to think theoretically about writing and what it’s meant to achieve.”

Diverse subjects, diverse projects

One reason students were so engaged was the variety of topics chosen by the instructors. Racial Equity in Education, What Is College?, Literacy in Boston, and Institutional Racism & Social Justice were just some of the themes.

Another reason was that the summer version of the course used a project-based learning model for the session’s final project. That means that students worked in groups to research and design a podcast, website, graphic novel, or grant proposal about their subject.

“The project-based learning curriculum was new and different for the students and helped communicate the ways college instruction would be different—and exciting,” says Saunders.

Even after a haphazard spring of online learning in high school—or maybe because of it—students really embraced the course.

“I’m not a big writer, but I felt like after this class I have an urge to write,” says first-year student Rebecca Yoon, a marketing major from Seattle, who had to wake up at 5 a.m. Pacific time in order to attend class. “I also got to know some of my peers through the podcast we did. It was really fun because I hadn’t really done anything like that in high school.”

Olivia Rondeau, a first-year student in the College of Arts & Sciences, enjoyed her experience as well. “I definitely felt like I was in a college classroom. It was very structured, and there were expectations on delivering work.”

Now that the fall 2020 semester has started, most of the Summer U students will continue in the required Writing 102 class, knowing that they have a head start on their course load, made connections with students and faculty, and understand a little bit more about what a college career might look like.

“I think in addition to making them better writers, this class also made them better students,” says Frangipane.

See the full roster of projects from the Summer U Semester.