LIFE Fest 2003 showcases innovation, collaboration

The LIFE Fest “Politics and Values” team includes (back, from left) freshmen Emilie Tenenbaum, Julia Tulloch and Hunter Gradie, and (front, from left) Benji Umo, Dan Spinosa and Liz Jackson.

4:21 p.m., Dec. 16, 2003--The three judges chosen to pick the winning projects for this year’s LIFE Fest had their work cut out for them. Wandering among the 30 different displays that showcased the talents and efforts of more than 200 freshmen involved in UD’s LIFE program, they bore the daunting task of deciding which three presentations crossed the line from excellent to exceptional. Judging from the caliber of the work and the enthusiasm of the students, it was going to be a close—and ultimately brutal—call.

Held from 1-3 p.m., Thusday, Dec. 11, in the Rodney Room and East Lounge of the Perkins Student Center, this year’s LIFE Fest, which drew more than 500 students, faculty and guests, featured projects that ranged from the elaborate to the straight-forward to the political to the musical. Presentations, which ran the gamut from homemade charts, menus and pamphlets to homemade videos and web sites, displayed not only creativity and technological know-how, but collaboration and teamwork—a core goal of the LIFE program.

An academic first-year experience for college students at UD, LIFE (an acronym for Learning Integrated Freshman Experience) groups like-minded students into clusters that live, study and share ideas with each other during their first semester on campus. The projects displayed at the Dec. 11 event were a culmination of this four-month partnership.

Provost Dan Rich, who spoke at the event, addressed the team-building aspect of LIFE. “We know that LIFE matters. We know that LIFE works,” he said. “We also know that students involved in the LIFE program do better and learn more—and not just individually and substantively, but collectively and collaboratively.”

Judging from the displays, the focus of teamwork stretched beyond the mere creation of the projects. Each presentation took a socially conscious stand as well.

“Building Tomorrow’s Leaders Today,” a project created by the 13-member Leadership & Decision Making cluster group, focused on the selfless side of leadership, while a project entitled “COCOAMOTION,” created by the Bugs & Bucks, Plants & Land and Food for Thought cluster group, tracked the impact of pesticides on nature and modern manufacturing.

Judging committee members (from left): Renée Fisher, administrative academic adviser; Edward Freel, policy scientist in the Institute for Public Administration; and Amy Greenwald Foley, senior associate director of admissions.

“We wanted to show how leadership is evolving over time, and how in every situation leaders are forced to make decisions that bring about changes,” Natalie Gempesaw-Pangan, a communication major from Albuquerque, N.M., explained. One of the creators of the “Building Tomorrow’s Leaders Today” presentation, she and her 12 cluster mates scrutinized the concept of leadership in a project that began with a trip to the Washington, D.C., Spy Museum and ended with a day of volunteer construction at a playground in an underprivileged neighborhood.

“True leaders are unselfish and a lot of them work behind-the-scenes,” peer mentor Barry Shainker, a sophomore history education major from New Rochelle, N. Y., said. “Spies in wartime risked their lives for world peace. We helped a bunch of kids we’ll never meet.”

Sara Haverly, a psychology major from Philadelphia, offered yet another perspective on teamwork. One of the members of the Steel Drum Ensemble, a cluster group composed of seven social sciences majors, she knew nothing, at the beginning of fall semester, about Caribbean culture or playing drums. Her involvement with LIFE not only gave her the satisfaction of making music in a group, but also broadened her cultural awareness. “We learned about sociology and different cultures through music,” she explained.

The judging process, which graded presentations in three different categories, concluded with three winners. “Fair Trade: A Delaware Students’ Consumer Guide,” created by the Women & Globalization cluster group, won in the Best Integration of Learning category. “Special Olympics and Skin Cancer,” created by the For the Health of It cluster group, won in the Best Benefit to the Community category. And, “The Business Career Game,” created by the Fundamentals of Economic Systems cluster group, won in the category of Best LIFE Fest Presentation.

The judging committee was composed of Renée Fisher, administrative academic adviser; Edward Freel, policy scientist in the Institute for Public Administration; and Amy Greenwald Foley, senior associate director of the admissions office.

“The judging process is always a complicated calculation,” LIFE Program Coordinator Meghan Biery said, “but I’m really happy for the winners. It was clear from every project that each group worked very hard but had a good time in the process.”

Article by Becca Hutchinson
Photos by Kevin Quinlan

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