First Year Student Symposium

On November 18, 2021, first-year students participated in HSU Symposium.

The goals of HSU Symposium are to celebrate first-year student collaboration and remember the impact James Simmons continues to have on campus. The campus celebrates student collaboration by hosting a student showcase where selected students from various FYSM sections display a group research project. The showcase celebrates the process of working together while providing a space for students to share their findings and experience with the campus.

Kerri Fisher leading a discussion with HSU’s Dr. Rich Traylor

The second portion of HSU Symposium is to invite a guest lecturer to reconnect the campus with the Simmons story. In 2019, Dr. Johnny Hill visited from Shaw University (one of the schools Simmons helped found) to speak. In 2020, Dr. Travis Frampton from Schreiner University was invited. In 2021, Ms. Kerri Fisher from Baylor University led the discussion. Ms. Fisher is currently Senior Lecturer at the Garland School of Social Work at Baylor University. She is known for her ability to move her hearers beyond conventional, preconceived modes of thinking, while always speaking from love and encouraging love-based results. This year’s Symposium planning chair Dr. Rich Traylor described Fisher by saying, “She is a perfect speaker for this year’s Symposium as she reveals how Dr. Simmons’ words from so long ago still speak to us.”  

During this year’s event, numerous 2021 FYSM students presented the results of their collaborative efforts. These projects varied from How to Love Your Neighbor to Why Fine Arts Are Important. 

First-year student, Edna Herschberger ’25 shared the process of creating her project taught her the ability to work within a group, research, and display her passions. She said, “I learned that delegation of tasks and mediation are very important when working with others”