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The 2011 Freshman Celebration: Archived Page

"Welcome" sign: M. Vivar.

Welcome to the 2011 Freshman Celebration--hand lettered sign.

Pictures, a statistic, and an overview of the 2011 Freshman Celebration

For a quick tour of some of the 2011 projects, view the Archive of the 2011 Freshman Celebration photo blog. Click any individual photo for a larger, high-resolution version.
Over 900 people (including about 825 students) attended the 2011 Celebration.
Freshman Celebration in the news: Freshman Celebration Showcases First-Year Students' Scholarship by Julian Reyes (@CSUN, 12 Dec. 2011)

The Virtual Freshman Celebration

Visit the Virtual Freshman Celebration online via Moodle anytime: http://moodle.csun.edu/course/view.php?id=18046.
Log in as a guest if you are not a UNIV 100 student or faculty member.

Winning Projects for 2011

Grand prize winner, traditional (Grand Salon) projects: "Public Art Installation." University 100 Honors, Dr. Ellyn Gersh Lerner. "Eight members of the class collaborated to create an interactive art installation. The challenge was to translate research on sustainability into an art piece that would inform and involve visitors to the Freshman Celebration."

Recycled water bottles hold colorful strips of paper bearing written promises about sustainable practices.

What can you do this week to reduce your use of plastic? Instructions for participation in the Public Art Installation.

Grand prize winner, virtual projects (hosted on Moodle): "Ocean Pollution," video public service announcement. University 100, Prof. Lisa Riccomini. "Speak up! Make change happen! We created a series of Public Service Announcements focusing on issues we discussed in our Chicano Studies 100 class with Professor Gallo: environmental pollution, gang violence, and bilingual education. We see the power of making change through research, awareness and education!"

Oceanic garbage is killing marine life and the poisons of the plastic refuse are reaching us. The purpose of this project is to show the sheer amount of damage being caused by the simple act of littering.

Bags, styrofoam, plastic bottles, foil, tires, wrappers cans....where does it all go?

Pollution travels from the ocean to the fish we eat but it is not too late to act.

The Judges' Favorites: More Top-Rated Projects

"Creating Your Own 'Glass Castle.'" University 100, Prof. Emmanuel Sabaiz. Traditional project: "From class discussions, we learned how our culture, family, friends, education, and even those who may stand in our way have helped shape who we are. So we have created castles that are built out of these ideas, reflecting what each group considered important to become successful."

Three glass castles, each reflecting how identity is shaped by those around us.

"Our Glass Castle: Sources of Resilience through Graduation." University 100, Dr. Jamison Keller, with Dr. Barbara Rigney-Hill, Family & Consumer Sciences. Traditional project: "Despite experiencing a childhood of neglect and abuse, Jeannette Walls found comfort in her family's plans to build a Glass Castle. Though the Glass Castle was never constructed, the planning process helped Walls become more resilient. We wrote about our own sources of resilience as college students journeying towards graduation."

Large white castle made of posterboard in front of the Grand Salon windows and decorated with balloons at the Freshman Celebration.

"The Glass Castle: Communication Studies." University 100, Prof. Sally Kassamanian. Virtual project: "Our section of U100 is comprised of College of Arts, Media, and Communication majors, so we were asked to examine, interpret and present a project inspired by The Glass Castle through the lens of a certain discipline/field from our College. Our group defined the book through the eyes of a Communication Studies major and our theme for this project is individualism. We created a blog using posts, quotes, videos, and pictures to tie this theme to The Glass Castle."

Thumbnail views of the posts in this blog about communication in "The Glass Castle."

"On the Run: the U One Hundreds." University 100, Prof. John Binkley. Virtual project: "Perseverance and forgiveness were communicated through Jeannette Walls's memoir, The Glass Castle. For our medium, we used music and wrote a song from Walls's perspective."

Lyrics (excerpt)


Living in the world of poverty
Life gets hard as one, two three
The family goes through every hell

Riding in a plymouth mini van
Trying to run away with a better plan
Being chased by all the government, Man.

They are always on the run from the cops to casino owners
they are always on the run

They are always on the run
Run from the world of trouble
They can only hide for so long

Course Director's Special Mention

"Representing Our Dreams for CSUN." University 100, Dr. Wendy Snyder, with Prof. Sharron Kollmeyer, Humanities 101. Traditional project: "Our class has combined the idea of a glass catle representing the Walls family's dreams with the idea of Joseph Campbell's 'Hero's Adventure,' studied in our HUMN 101 cohort, to produce 'glasses' that represent each student's dreams for the CSUN years as well as the dragons/demons we need to overcome."

Decorated drinking glasses representing individual students' dreams and demons in response to "The Glass Castle."

More Beautiful Projects

For additional 2011 projects, see the 2011 Freshman Celebration photo blog.

About the Freshman Celebration

Each fall, freshmen taking University 100 are invited to participate in a campus celebration of first-semester academic achievement. If you are a CSUN freshman, ask your UNIV 100 instructor for details about how to participate and which class projects might be appropriate for display.
The Freshman Celebration is modeled on CSUN's Undergraduate and Graduate Student Research and Creative Works Symposium. It often includes several projects in which students respond to the current year's Freshman Common Reading. The book for 2012-2013 will be selected and announced in mid-January 2012.
The 2012 Celebration will once again include The Virtual Freshman Celebration, a digital gallery of freshman projects publicly viewable on Moodle. Not a CSUN Moodle member? You can login as a guest.

The Freshman Celebration Archives

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