University 100

2018 Freshman Celebration

Welcome to the Freshman Celebration 2018!

Freshman Celebration 2018 Welcome sign by Jenna GhrawiThe Freshman Celebration is an annual CSUN event that showcases work created by first-time freshmen enrolled in University 100 during the fall semester at Cal State Northridge. The event has a dual format with traditional projects displayed live at the showcase and virtual projects displayed digitally. The virtual projects were posted using Portfolium, a digital portfolio network that students can use throughout their college career and beyond to showcase their work, projects, and activities.

We hosted the 13th Freshman Celebration on December 4 and 5 (Tuesday and Wednesday) in the Northridge Center of the University Student Union from 9:30 a.m.-3:15 p.m. each day. 1184 students not only visited the exhibits, but also filled out Celebration reflection forms.

Photo Gallery

The photo gallery of on-site projects is available for viewing (on Tumblr; no need to sign in).

Portfolium Projects

Fifteen digital projects were posted as part of the CSUN 2018 Freshman Celebration Challenge, and will remain available indefinitely for viewing online: portfolium.com/discover/tag/CSUNFreshmanCelebration2018

2018 Awards

Three classes received awards for their projects this year.  Two panels of CSUN faculty and staff judges reviewed the projects. The judges named two Grand Prize award winners: one for a traditional project and the other for a virtual project (posted on Portfolium). Students who visited the Celebration in person voted for the People's Choice Award (traditional project) during the Celebration.  The winning classes celebrated with their choice of a pizza party or equivalent breakfast-friendly fare in their classroom during the last week of classes.

Judges' Grand Prize, On-Site/Traditional Project: "Becoming Me" by Nate Nguyen's class

This project included a poster and individual brochures showing how class members changed during their first college semester.

Project description: "Reading Becoming Nicole by Amy E. Nutt, our class reflected on what it took for each of us to become who we are. We researched and reflected on our identities and the challenges we experienced in our lives that have shaped us into who we are today. This is our story!"

Judges' Grand Prize, Portfolium Project: "I Am Who I Am" by Kim Henige's class

"I Am Who I Am": Portfolium video project: opening screen

Project description: "People often deny an aspect of their identity due to social pressures, a desire to please others, and/or to fit in.  In this project, U100 students share aspects of their identity that they sometimes attempt to hide or suppress."

On-Site People's Choice Award: "From Genotype to Phenotype: Overcoming Your Biology" by Desiree Goetting's class

Family photos and "genes" produced via 3-D printing illustrate that biology can be overcome.

Project description: "Becoming Nicole tells the triumphant story of one girl's journey to reject her biologically determined gender and claim her true identity as a female. These are the stories of how we claim our identities – even when it means overcoming the genes we were born with."

Grand Prize Judges' Criteria for 2018

On-site Projects

  • Critical thinking (defined in the Information Competence Vocabulary list at Oviatt Library as “The process of effectively examining and questioning information in order to weigh evidence and make choices and/or take action”; see https://library.csun.edu/researchassistance/vocabulary#C)
    • Including appropriate credit to sources, if applicable
  • Significance and importance of content and/or meaning
  • Creativity, artistry, and aesthetic value

Portfolium Projects

  • Critical thinking (defined in the Information Competence Vocabulary list at Oviatt Library as “The process of effectively examining and questioning information in order to weigh evidence and make choices and/or take action”; see https://library.csun.edu/researchassistance/vocabulary#C)
    • Including appropriate credit to sources, if applicable
  • Significance and importance of content and/or meaning
  • Creativity, artistry, and aesthetic value
  • Time limit (5 minutes maximum and no more than ONE project per class).
  • Accessibility: Captioned, if applicable

About the Freshman Celebration

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. 

Each fall, freshmen taking University 100 are invited to participate in a campus-wide 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. The event is essentially a two-day festival, during which students and visitors come and go throughout the day between approximately 9:30 a.m. and 3:15 p.m. The student projects often (but not always) respond to the current year's Freshman Common Reading, which in 2018-2019 is Becoming Nicole: The Transformation of an American Family by Amy Ellis Nutt.

Traditional projects including posters, sculptures, and a wide range of interactive exhibits, are displayed in the University Student Union during the two days of the Celebration. Virtual (Portfolium) projects include videos, slideshows, blogs, and more.