Exploring Faces of Diversity, Finding Our Roots: The “I am . . .” “I am from . . .”...

Exploring Faces of Diversity, Finding Our Roots:

The “I am . . .” “I am from . . .” Exhibit

Summer Research Institute

Merrimack College

June 23, 2012

Exploring Faces of Diversity and Finding Our Roots:The “I am . . .” “I am from . . .” Exhibit

http://www.svc.edu/pr/index.html?release_id=1322

http://www.svc.edu/pr/index.html?release_id=1322


Quest For Success is required of all students at SVC.The course is intended to familiarize students with arange of essential skills and the knowledge necessaryfor success at all levels in a college setting, whileproviding them with significant and engaging learningexperiences in a supportive and supervised civicendeavor.

http://www.svc.edu/academics/first_year_course.html

http://www.svc.edu/academics/first_year_course.html


“Exploring Faces of Diversity” and “Finding Our Roots” resultedfrom the collaborative effort on the part of students and theirprofessor from Southern Vermont College. The team benefittedfrom the assistance provided by the staffs at the BenningtonMuseum and Southern Vermont College, the support fromAncestry.com and FamilyTreeDNA.com, and the mentoring ofDr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. The displays are the products of a process that took the class on a dynamic

explorationof their roots, much as Gates reported for those highlighted in his2006 documentary African American Lives and through FindingOprah’s Roots, Finding Your Own (2007), Faces of America(2010), and Finding Your Roots (2012).


From the Exhibit Placard“Exploring Faces of Diversity” and “Finding OurRoots” are exhibits that consider the different waysviewers learn. The exhibitors built and painted thepedestals upon which their ancestral objects aredisplayed. You will learn about the exhibitors byexamining their graphic displays, which includeautobiographical text, vital records, and familyphotographs. You may listen to their recordings with orabout family members. You will read facsimiles of theexhibitors’ DNA certificates, which include results.


The exhibitors traced their roots byrecording oral histories and documentingthem through genealogical research, whichincluded vital records searches and onlineinvestigations. Finally, the exhibitorsunderwent Autosomal DNA testing. The DNAresults provided scientific proof of theirmaternal ancestries.


I keep my family tree on a wall in my kitchen. I glance at it at least once every

day. It gives me a sense of satisfaction that is difficult to explain. . . . Justbeing able to read the names of several of my third and fourth greatgrandmothers and grandfathers places me in the world just as surely, in itsway, as does my birth certificate. . . . The record of our family’s past ishanging on the wall of our kitchen for [my daughters] to see if they ever wantto; their family lineage has been established for all time. This is who we are

asa family, who our people were, and are, and where they came from. Andnobody in our family, ever again, has to wonder about their origins. That isthe power of genealogy. And that, for an African American, is a marvelousthing. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Finding Oprah’s Roots 172


http://www.facebook.com/pages/Finding-OurRoots-Quest-for-Success2011/279271702098606

http://www.facebook.com/pages/ExploringFaces-of-Diversity/108016842598468

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Finding-Our-Roots-Quest-for-Success-2011/279271702098606

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Finding-Our-Roots-Quest-for-Success-2011/279271702098606

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Exploring-Faces-of-Diversity/108016842598468

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Exploring-Faces-of-Diversity/108016842598468

From Interdependence to Independence: SVC’s Course Apprentice Program (CAP)

CAP is both a 2-credit, letter-graded academic course and an academic program: it is supported and coordinated through theOffice of the SVC Provost.

CAP students are nominated and selected by a faculty sponsor;they work closely with the faculty member whose coursethey are “apprenticing” within, those students who arematriculating in this course, and the professor of the CAP course,which provides their preparation.


CAP students work with small groups of students during classtime to help facilitate discussions and activities under thesupervision and at the direction of their faculty sponsors.

Outside the classroom, CAP students facilitate small groupsessions on particular aspects of class content, again under thedirect supervision and support of their faculty sponsors.

CAP students provide direct feedback, insight, and input to theirfaculty sponsors about their everyday contact with thestudents in the class


Brett Clatworthy


Using at least one citation from Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of theDog in the Night-Time, Henry Louis Gates’s Finding Oprah’s Roots, FindingYour Own, and Sandra Cisneros’s The House on Mango Street, write a 2-4page, word processed paper in which you discuss some “othering” practicesthat the authors write about, including their own experiences of these practicesas well as the experiences of those whose stories they narrate. . . .

You should have a draft that you can share with the class by September 26. Wewill workshop this draft on September 26 and then again on October 3. Thefinal paper, with all drafts and critiques, is due on October 17. You shouldmake use of the College’s Success Center writing tutors in completing alldrafts of this paper.


1. Has the writer met the requirements of the assignment, including citing our three books?

2. What did you like best about the draft?3. What would like to read more about in a revision?4. Does the draft have a thesis and is it supported well?5. What words, phases, sentences seem really effective?6. What is almost said that you wish had been included?7. When using quotations, did the writer cite them accurately?8. If the writer did not use quotations, can you suggest places where they could be

used in the draft?9. Is there anything, technically or grammatically, that you think the writer should

review?10. What would you like to tell the writer about your overall reaction to the draft?


It was great to hear other papers and be able to comparethem to mine. I wanted to hear other perspectives andapproaches so that, while drafting my own, I canconsider them and make sure that I am clearly statingwhat I want to say. Getting feedback from the threeUpper-class students was extremely helpful considering theyhad to write a similar paper last year. Now that we'vegone through the first peer editing session, I can be more confident that my final will be much improved from my firstdraft.—Katherine Grayson


It was definitely good to hear other perspectives, especially theupper-class students because they've had this experience before

inthe same class. I definitely agree that all the perspectives fromstudents as well were good.—Angelina Rodriguez

I think Monday’s class was very helpful in revising my draft.Mai, Molly, and Brett were very helpful.—Salvatore Sciara


Because the CAP students were clearly more mature than the restof the students, they were comfortable as mentors andas co-learners with the newer students. The newer studentsrespected Ben and Brett, learning from them because of thestrong relationship they established and because oftheir acquired academic skills as a result of their years at SVC.Because Brett and Ben did so well, I sincerely hope that theprogram will be extended and expanded in the future so thatCAP students permeate the entire curriculum.

From Interdependence to Independence: SVC’ Course Apprentice Program (CAP)

Amy was always an active participant in these discussions. Thefirst-year students in the class looked up to her as an older peerand valued her advice and experiences at SVC. Amy and I metweekly to discuss how the course was progressing, details aboutstudent performance, and ways to improve the class.


Numerous articles about the first-year seminar, the exhibit, and the Gatesvisit/lecture in the Bennington Banner and the Rutland Herald

Blogging about the First-Year Seminar See http://www.pearsoncustom.com/student-success-alliance/blog.php

Northeast Writing Association Conference (presentation at Boston University,April 10, 2010)

International FYE Conference (accepted presentation in Maui, June 10, 2010)

AAC&U Conference on Creativity, Inquiry, and Discovery: UndergraduateResearch In and Across the Disciplines (accepted presentation in Durham, NC,November 2010)

http://www.pearsoncustom.com/student-success-alliance/blog.php


Southern Vermont College and the Bennington Museum are proud to be partners in this first-in-the-nation project.

Exploring Faces of Diversity, Finding Our Roots: The “I am . . .” “I am from . . .”...

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