By Keira Burger ’27 Majors: International Studies and Sociology Contributor Biography: Keira Burger is a first-year student intending to double major in International Studies and Sociology. An avid writer, she enjoys exploring how language shapes our daily lives. Brief Description: This essay explores different perceptions of gendered language at Washington College, questioning its definition and…
Category: W1
Order in the Court: Parliamentary Procedure as Language in Washington College’s Student Government
By Elisabeth Braswell ’27 The following was written for FYS 101-20: Language is Limitless “I motion to open discussion regarding the language of Washington College Student Government Association.” I state this with great confidence here in my paper, yet at a real Washington College Student Government senate meeting, I worry about saying the right thing…
Queer Teen Dramas: Homoerotic Subtext and Token Gays in Roberto Aguirre–Sacasa’s Riverdale
By Liam Charlotte Siobhan Luckey ’27 Major: History; Minors: English and Theater Contributor Biography: Siobhan is a history major, prospective English minor, and prospective theatre minor with a deep interest in the value and queerness of many forms of media, particularly teen dramas. Brief Description: The teen drama as a genre is often looked down…
Christianity and the Apocalypse: A Theological Lens into the End of the World
By Thomas Lundy ’27 Major: Economics Contributor Biography: Thomas Lundy is a first-year student who is interested in economics, religion and history. Besides his academic interests, he enjoys reading, running, and going to the gym. Thomas hopes to learn more about religion going into the future and wants to further explore eschatology and moral theology…
Dance: The Universal Language That Connects People Through Movement
By Hannah Pacholok ’26 Intended Major: Business Administration and Management; Intended Minor: International Business Brief Description: Many view dance as an art form. Dance is also used as a form of communication. With over 7,000 languages in the world, it can be hard for people who don’t speak the same language to communicate with one…
School Rules! The Benefits of Schools Obtaining Honor Codes
By Emily Marson ’26 The following was written for FYS 101: Who Succeeds in College? A Greek poet, Sophocles, once said, “[it is better to] fail with honor then succeed with fraud” (“Sophocles Quotes”). Academic dishonesty is a prominent issue throughout schools everywhere, ranging from elementary schools to universities. However, students cheating in school is…
COVID-19 Pandemic: A Psychosocial Epidemic
By Samantha McMahon ’26 The following was written for FYS 101: Who Succeeds in College? COVID-19 Pandemic: A Psychosocial Epidemic As children, our favorite part of school is recess. During recess, children are encouraged to engage in social interactions with their peers, engaging in games where they share culture, make decisions, and determine rules while…
Fire or Ice: The Physicist’s Answer
By Hayley Covington ’26 The following was written for FYS 101-33. In one of his most famous poems, Robert Frost questioned whether the world would end in fire or ice. Today, many physicists and cosmologists dedicate themselves to answering his question, only with slightly different terminology. There are two main schools of thought concerning the…
The Roots and Relationships of Scientific Writing
By Jocelyn Aquilino ’26 Intended Major: Biology, Pre-veterinary track; Intended Minors: Chemistry and Business Brief Description: This paper discusses some prevalent myths about scientific writing and its conventions. The unique style of scientific writing and how scientists feel about it are explored through interviews and readings done by the writer. The complex relationship that scientists…
Civilizational Collapse: The End of the World?
By Hayley Covington ’26 The following was written for FYS 101-33 Imagine New York City with its tall buildings cracked and crumbling, powerlines collapsed in the streets, and vines crawling up the sides of storefronts. It is empty and quiet, lacking its famous hustle and bustle. There is no traffic; there are no bright lights….
Innovations in the Food Industry Brought About by the Design-Thought Idea of Convenience
By: Natalie Martinaitis ’25 English major and Creative Writing, Journalism Publishing and Editing minors Brief Description: The food industry has evolved over time through the process of design thinking and with the convenience of customers in mind. But at what cost? New service models, some containing artificial intelligence, now risk the future of small businesses…
The Eradication of Misogynoir Culture in Black Communities: How Stereotypes Perpetuate a Rape Culture
By Meagan Kennedy ’24, an English major and Creative Writing, and Art & Art History minor. The following work was created for FYS 101: Feminism and the #MeToo Movement Brief description: “The Eradication of Misogynoir Culture in Black Communities: How Stereotypes Perpetuate a Rape Culture” is an exploration of the defining stereotypes of Black women…
A Modern Girl Living in a Regency World: A look into the character of Lydia Bennet
By: Emma Russell ’23 The following was created for FYS 101: Jane Austen and Fan Culture. One often hears about stories that last the test of time. The reason they tend to do so is that people still find them relevant in their current era. Jane Austen’s novels, which were strictly placed during the Regency…
Dehumanization’s Presence in America and Humanitarianism
By: Julianna Sterling ’23, an International Studies and Economics major, French minor. The following work was created for FYS 101: Ethics of Humanitarianism. Brief description: This literature is a call to action for increased recognition of dehumanization’s role in societal trends in order to prevent its negative, long-term effects which manifest in the forms of…
Misogyny and the Bias of the Male Christian in Tennyson’s Idylls of the King
By: Joshua Torrence ’24, an English and Psychology major, and Creative Writing and Medieval/Early Modern Studies minor. The following work was created for FYS 101: King Arthur: From Myth to Modernity. Brief description: Tennyson’s Idylls of the King is a classic. However, it was also written throughout the Victorian era in Britain, where notions of…
Becoming a Citizen Leader
By: Ian Adams ’23 The following work was created for FYS 101: Becoming a Citizen Leader. Within the semester of the FYS “Becoming a Citizen Leader” taught by Professor Harvey, I have gained an extreme amount of knowledge on leadership, what it takes to lead, and how to become the greatest leader you can possibly…
Regulatory Effects on Maryland Blue Crab Sustainability
By: Emma Cease ’22, an Environmental Science major. The following work was created for FYS 101: Science of Reality TV. Brief description: This is a thesis paper evaluating the successful measures taken by Maryland to revitalize the blue crab population. Reports from the late 1990s and early 2000s demonstrated extreme overexploitation of the species, but…
Coming Out of the Vulcan Closet: The Queer Appeal of Star Trek
By: Will Cohn ’22, a Communication and Media Studies major. The following work was created for FYS 101: Queer Pop Culture. Brief description: This essay explores the uniquely conducive tropes of science fiction that create indirect representations of queer experiences and characters. It demonstrates this through a closed reading of the episode “Amok Time” from…
Combating Male Superiority Within Collegiate Hookup Culture
By: Katharine DeSantis ’22, a Political Science and Philosophy double major. The following work was created for FYS 101: Feminism and the #MeToo Movement Brief description: “Combating Male Superiority Within Collegiate Hookup Culture” is an analysis on the nature of romantic relationships as seen today on college campuses. This paper strives to define “hookup culture,”…
Modern Gender Politics versus Civil War Camaraderie: Analyzing the Story of Albert D.J. Cashier
By: Caroline Draper ’22, a History major. The following work was created for FYS 101: Queer Popular Culture. Brief description: “Written as a part of the First Year Seminar ‘Queer Pop Culture,’ this essay looks at a century’s worth of media portrayals of the story of Albert D.J. Cashier, a veteran of the American Civil…
The Invisible Victim: Female Ableism in “The Evening and the Morning and the Night”
By: Erica Quinones ’22, an English major. The following work was created for FYS 101: Dystopia on the Page, Stage, and Screen. Brief description: “This piece was written for the First-Year Seminar, ‘Dystopia on the Page, Stage and Screen.’ It explores the complexities of metaphor in Octavia Butler’s short story, ‘The Evening and the Morning…
Finding Bigfoot in Modern-Day American Society: How Sasquatch Has Become a Marker for American Consumerism
By: Adahne Hemp. Written as part of the First-Year Seminar “Here Be Monsters” Stories of the “Wildman” have been interwoven in native North American culture for centuries. Over time, these legends have mutated from authentic folklore to fabricated first-hand accounts of hairy beast-like men known as Bigfoot, or Sasquatch. Seemingly legitimate reports and sightings of…
The Effects of Capitalism on American Health
By: Maggie Witham. Written as part of the First-Year Seminar “The Raw, the Cooked, the Processed” The average American has been coerced into an extremely unhealthy diet by the dominating companies in the food industry. Bombarded with advertisements for fried, sugary, and processed foods, people tend to gravitate to these unnatural products and ignore the…
“Dark Humor” and the Facilitation of Hatred
By: Elizabeth Collins. Written as part of the First-Year Seminar “The Power of Language Ideologies” 1. Introduction Although social media outlets such as Reddit promote participatory media practices which provide grounds for productive, democratic discourse, these sites also have the potential to foster discourses of hatred against marginalized groups, especially given the anonymity these sites…
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