 "Photo: The Penn/ Photographer - Danielle Bashore")
Students from the business college honors program created activities to generate discussions about this year’s Common Freshman Reader Monday at the HUB Ohio Room.
The event was designed by using the “speed-dating” concept to bring only professionals and students from many disciplines to discuss themes from the book, “Make the Impossible Possible,” by Bill Strickland, according to an IUP news release.
There were 21 tables hosting different activities to encourage students to discuss the themes in the novel. All activities lasted approximately 15 minutes each. Students were asked to visit six tables over the course of the program.
In his book, Stickland uses his own life experiences and those of others to demonstrate how people can overcome their circumstances and build on their passions and strengths to achieve success and help mentor and inspire others, according to an IUP news release.
One of the tables used Legos to encourage the students to participate.
“We’re using Legos to symbolize how Bill Strickland used his creativity and artistic ability to create something out of nothing,” said Matt Swackhammer (junior, accounting), referring to their table that was called “Make Something out of Nothing.”
Another table, which was called “Backgrounds Don’t Make the Person,” used examples of famous people who have come from difficult backgrounds and still became successful, such as J.K. Rowling and Eminem.
A number of the faculty and students that were present also attended Bill Strickland’s presentation last semester.
According to a news release, IUP President Tony Atwater established the Common Freshman Reader program, now in its fourth year.
The goal was to set the tone for academic excellence by encouraging new students to read the same book.
Each new student receives a book and is encouraged to read it before the start of the school year.
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