FYE Student Conference Poster
A way to showcase our hard work this semester in all current College 1 courses students presented a poster based on their research related to the book Southland by Nina Revoyr.
My poster "A Fight for Recognition & Equality" later made it on stage with Nina Revoyr herself during a meet & greet held at PCC.
The first year of college can be very daunting for a student. New campuses, new peers, new surroundings, and new experiences lie ahead. While this can seem overwhelming, it gives the student a chance to form their own identity, and establish their own niche. In Nina Revoyr’s Southland, Jackie Ishida seeks the answers of unsolved Watts riots murders, and while searching for the truth, finds herself along the way. Communication, trust, and commitment issues are just some various experiences that both Jackie, and first year college students share along the path for knowledge. Just as Jackie recognizes the disdain she has for her own culture and distances herself from it, first year college students “leave the nest” and distance themselves from the comforts of home to the unknown world that lives ahead. There are a variety of different themes in Southland that first year college students experience. As they establish trust with their new peers and surroundings, they begin to establish their own personality as well. During my first year of college, I was somewhat overwhelmed with the difference between what I was used to, and what I was currently experiencing. Jackie searches for the truth, just as I searched for my purpose. So many different emotions and experiences filled my first year of college, and it made me who I am today. This class, along with the lessons I learned throughout the course, including RRJs and DEJs, have enhanced my critical reading skills. While I used to take words for face value, I now delve into the context and subtext of what is written by the author. This opened my eyes to so many new meanings, and broadened my understanding of what the authors’ true intentions were. While my critical reading skills were honed in class, I began to re-read chapters and sections of the novel, and discovered so many different references, allusions, and meanings that I had simply passed by. This class has not only broadened my desire to understand all of the authors’ hidden meanings, but given me the tools necessary to find them.