University 100

  • Students at the 2014 Freshman Celebration

Freshman Celebration 2014

Welcome to the Freshman Celebration 2014!

The Freshman Celebration is an annual event that showcases work created by first-time freshmen enrolled in University 100 at Cal State Northridge.

The ninth annual Celebration took place on Wednesday and Thursday, December 3 and 4, 2014, in the Grand Salon of the University Student Union. Approximately 1100 students and 75 faculty & staff turned out to view projects from the 26 participating classes and to enjoy refreshments.  Additional students, staff, and faculty visited the Virtual Celebration, where projects from 25 additional classes will remain on display indefinitely.

The 2014 Freshman Celebration on TumblrVisit the 2014 Freshman Celebration photo gallery on Tumblr. 

Welcome to the Virtual Freshman Celebration!You can view the 2014 virtual projects (videos, slide shows, and more) on Moodle. Not part of U100? Log in as a guest. 

Grand Prize Winners for 2014

Three projects won top honors this year.  A panel of six faculty and staff judges reviewed the On-Site and Virtual projects (three judges in each category) to select one winner from each venue. Students who visited the Grand Salon cast their votes to select the People’s Choice Award.  

 

People’s Choice Award: Postmortal Action Figure

 Ken Skeleton prepares to destroy the world.

Professor Shadi Ganjavi’s University 100 class created a “Postmortal Action Figure” which they named Ken Skeleton.  With “Cure” as his weapon, he is ready to destroy the world as we know it and permanently change all that was previously revered: relationships, resources, and more. Shown here: the front (left side) and back (right side) views of Ken Skeleton's exhibit box.

 

On-Site Project Award: How Do We Begin to Talk about Tough Topics?

 Talking about Tough Topics: Picture Books

Dr. Ellyn Gersh Lerner’s class conducted research on social issues related to The Postmortal. Students then designed and created picture books for elementary school-aged children on these same topics. 

 

Virtual Project Award: Living without the Cure

 Living without the Cure: still photo from the video

Professor Debbi Mercado’s class believes it is conceivable that the cure for aging will be available in their lifetime.  For their video, they gathered views on aging from friends and family who are 50 or older to learn about the positive aspects of aging, and also to consider what they might miss if they chose not to grow old.

We Would Get the Cure. Would You?? 

Debbi Mercado and her camera

For the second year in a row, CSUN faculty member Debbi Mercado devised an interactive photo opportunity for classes attending the Celebration. This time, students raised their hands to indicate whether they would take the cure.  Debbi is pictured here with her camera between photo shoots.

About the Freshman Celebration

We Would Get the Cure--Would You? Postmortal photo board.

Each fall, freshmen taking University 100 are invited to participate in a campus celebration of their first-semester academic achievements. This showcase, the Freshman Celebration, is modeled on CSUN's Undergraduate and Graduate Student Research and Creative Works Symposium. It usually includes several projects created in response to the current year's Freshman Common Reading.

For 2014-2015, the book was The Postmortal: A Novel by Drew Magary, who was the keynote speaker at the 2014 Freshman Convocation on September 4, 2014.

1092 students attended the 2014 Celebration and cast their votes for the 2014 People's Choice Award in the USU Grand Salon. Additional students (and faculty and staff) viewed projects in the Virtual Celebration online. A panel of six judges (CSUN faculty and staff) selected two other projects as top prize winners: one on-site project and one virtual project. 

Read more about the 2014 Celebration in this CSUN Shine Weekly story: Freshmen Showcase Research and Creativity at Annual Celebration (Dec. 15, 2014).

The first Freshman Celebration at CSUN took place in 2006 with participation limited to Freshman Connection students. In 2007 the Celebration was opened to all students enrolled in a fall U100 class. As enrollment has continued to grow, so has the Celebration. Join us next year!