Mastering Resources, Getting Focused
 The capstone of the course is a research paper in which students write about an individual of their choice who has spoken out against the prevailing voices of society. They are asked not to write a biography of the person, but to choose a specific question about their person to answer. The underlying point of the research paper is to gain command of the immense resources available to students at the Academy's library. Lixian Hantover says she thought she would be learning how to use the library's resources by being shown demonstrations. "Instead we are given tips and then sent off to learn for ourselves."
— Andrea Jarrell Andrea Jarrell is a freelance writer based out of Camden, Maine. |
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Academy Librarian Jacquelyn Thomas, who has been part of the Junior Studies faculty since the course's inception, says the research paper assignment provides the context students need to tackle learning about the library. The librarians teach students about using the reference collection, searching the library's online catalog Biblion, Internet sources, the periodicals section, Reader's Guide, and the computerized indexes. "By the end, they feel very comfortable with the library," she says. Meredith Coogan agrees, "Junior Studies got me over the initial confusion and sense of being overwhelmed. I learned where to start, how to get focused."
Addie Aquilino says being overwhelmed is a common feeling for some preps when they start out at Exeter. "Junior Studies is one more step we take to acclimate new students." Meredith Coogan says what she remembers most about Junior Studies is a sense that "we were all in it together — we were all in the same boat." With the addition of this year's ropes course, Coogan's metaphor is more appropriate than ever. In one of the ropes course exercises, the preps were asked to determine how to transport their groups over "icy" water to safety on a nearby pseudo-iceberg. Like the ropes course, Exeter itself is a kind of test of group cooperation, cooperation which leads students not only to survive, but also to thrive as they never have before. Says Bill Hagen, "We are teaching them how to 'be' with each other in a learning situation — how to honor their own intelligence while they learn from others."