ABOUT

This seminar will be an introduction to self-exploration and identity development, and how to best discover what it means to live a life of meaning and purpose.

Students will be asked to consider formational questions to guide their path: Who am I? What am I good at? Who am I called to become?

The readings, discussions, and reflections will investigate personal and social development in the college years. Topics will include the nature of learning, diversity, social justice, human sexuality, relationships, and vocational discernment in the context of our lives.

The class materials and strategies will be designed to be provocative and practical as well as intellectually and conversationally stimulating.

• Improve critical thinking by developing evaluative, problem-solving, and expressive skills.

• Enhance group communication skills through thoughtful discussions, active listening, small-group work, presentations or debates.

• Develop intellectual curiosity and better understand the role of a student in an academic community and to establish the requisite habits to become a lifelong learner

• Begin the practice of self-reflection and self-evaluation in order to identify one’s identity and vocation

• Become exposed to a variety of thinkers and life-essential concepts through essays, art, videos, and books

• Practice openness to people different from oneself and understand how biases and stereotypes can consciously and subsconsciously affect our decisions

• Learn to make healthy, sustainable choices in order to strengthen our body and mind

Bassam Zahid, MD is an ER physician, a writer, and a podcaster. Above all, he is passionate about the search for truth and meaning, being of service to others, meeting new people and having new experiences, and forever challenging himself towards self-growth.