2017 Summer Reading Program Events

Small group discussions, a lecture on social media’s effects, and a donation drive to support InterAct are scheduled as part of Meredith’s 2017 Summer Reading Program.

Small group reading discussions with advising groups
Monday, August 28 at 10 a.m.
First year students will discuss the Social Media casebook with their advising groups, a faculty/staff facilitator and their student advisor. Please see the Summer Reading Program website for more information about the articles and the questions

Summer Reading Program Lecture: How Social Media Changes Us
Speaker: Michael Vaughn
Wednesday, September 6 at 7 p.m. in Jones Auditorium
Technology isn’t your phone or Instagram. Technology is a lifestyle. Our attraction to the devices we carry and the services we use for entertainment, communication, and connection, invisibly affects nearly all of our behavior. Social media platforms like Facebook and Snapchat even employ sophisticated behavioral science strategies to manipulate you into using them more frequently. And while technology offers us tremendous potential to grow, learn, and connect with others, it also comes with new and often unexpected consequences. This session will explore positive and negative ways technologies influence your life, your lifestyle, and how you connect with people you care about.

Cell phone/electronics drive for InterAct
As part of the Summer Reading Program, FYE is coordinating a cell phone and electronics donation drive benefiting InterAct, a private, non-profit, United Way agency that provides safety and support to victims and survivors of domestic violence and sexual violence. Donations will be collected following the Summer Reading Program speaker on Wednesday, September 6. Donations will be distributed InterAct clients in need. Donors are responsible for ensuring any service to the device has been deactivated and all personal data and memory is deleted from the electronic device. We’re hoping that each student enrolled in FYE can donate at least one item.

—Submitted by Chrissie Bumgardner, Co-Director for First Year Experience