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BY AMELIA POSSANZA

In print | Published September 3, 2009

“Freshman year happened to you” is the first part of 2012 Class Dean Myrt Westphal’s new tagline for sophomore year. The second part of this tagline? “Sophomore [year] is a time to start being more purposeful,” Westphal said.

Out of concern that sophomores are often ignored and left unguided, Westphal and other members of the dean’s office have created a schedule of events to bring sophomores together and to guide them in the process of picking a major.

“Freshmen are pretty well taken care of with orientation and all the resources, like the RAs and the SAMs, that focus on them,” Westphal said. “The sophomores look around and they see all these people with these great passions and these great achievements and they say, ‘What about me?’”
The activities, which range from mentor coffee dates to revisiting a first-year dorm room, are all designed to help sophomores reflect on their past and make decisions about their future.

“It’s a reminder of all the sources of support here,” Westphal said. “One of the concepts that we are interested in getting across and embedding in the culture is that everybody has more than one advisor … It takes a village to get through Swarthmore.”

The first activity will be a Career Services Open House for sophomores on Thursday, Sept. 3 at 3 p.m.

“It’s just for students to come in and get acquainted with our services,” said Assistant Director of Career Services Marissa Deitch. “Sophomore year is a great time to start thinking about the self-assessment piece of career development.”

Other activities include a sophomore collection with College President Rebecca Chopp, a financial information session and a “Tap Your Passion” sophomore dinner.

In addition to activities, Westphal has created what she calls “think materials.” One worksheet asks sophomores to identify their “community of advisors,” those who assist them beyond their assigned academic advisor. Another handout lists the symptoms of the “Sophomore Slump.”

The self-reflection sophomores must engage in during these activities and on these handouts is in preparation for the sophomore paper they must write in the spring semester.

“Just by applying for a major, it’s a limiting of the field and that’s a very difficult thing to do. When you come to Swarthmore, everything’s open. You can take everything, you can do everything,” Westphal said. “Part of this sophomore experience is to be purposeful in your choices.”

Westphal began thinking about this when she attended a conference on the sophomore experience in June 2007. She brought her ideas back to Swarthmore and shared them with a committee composed of members of the dean’s office, CAPS, Career Services and the health center. In August, Westphal presented her ideas to a focus group of 18 students.

“We were a little surprised because most of the [upperclassmen] felt like their sophomore year was fine,” Westphal said.

Focus group member Arly Gease ’10 said of his sophomore experience, “I felt like it was a little bit in limbo.” Gease attributed some of this experience as being linked to sophomores having to decide on a major. “I had a hard time giving up majors,” Gease said. But even though he had to make some difficult decisions during his sophomore year, he did not know whether the proposed activities would help.

“So much of it is a personal decision,” Gease said. “[Activities are] not going to change the experience.”

Adam Bortner ’12, another focus group member, noted signs of a sophomore slump in his friends.
“It wasn’t, ‘Oh, I’m worried about sophomore year.’ It was, ‘Oh, what am I going to major in?’” Bortner said. “I was really excited to hear the college was going to do more to support sophomores through this process.”

Although Bortner was glad that something is being done, he felt there was still more that the dean’s office could do to help sophomores adjust. “I think it would be really good if there were juniors and seniors to mentor [sophomores] about picking a major,” Bortner said. He also suggested that there be a panel of students who have been through the process before.

Other students in the focus group suggested creating a more concrete long-term schedule so sophomores would have better resources to plan out their next two years.

The focus group also wanted departments to create sample schedules for their majors so that students could better understand how to order their courses.

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