In the first few weeks of class, my instructor and I had noticed that our COR students had been relatively quiet before, during, and after class. They did not talk to each other much, and few participated in class discussions. From this, I theorized that the students could be having difficulties making friends and feeling connected to the college community.

I empathized with my COR students because as a freshman myself, I was very homesick. I only started to feel more comfortable at Cortland when I made lasting friendships with others. I recognized that for my COR students, making friends was even harder this semester because of additional restrictions on in-person learning, sports, and campus events. I wanted to design a lesson that gave students a chance to form connections that could blossom into valuable friendships at college at a time when these opportunities were severely limited.

I decided to take a diversity-centered approach to this goal because I realized how this lens would give more depth and purpose to both the ice-breaker and diversity aspects of the lesson. Students would be able to understand the concept of diversity more thoroughly by seeing how it exists among their peers. And, ice-breaker activities that focused on diversity would allow students to connect and relate to their peers on a deeper level, one that explores backgrounds and identities (rather than favorite foods or colors, as traditional ice-breaker activities often do).

Additionally, diversity and inclusion are topics that I am educated in and passionate about, so I felt like my COR students could benefit from sharing the knowledge I have acquired on the subject.