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Natasha Go ’10 is a senior concentrating in Ethnic Studies at Brown. As you’d expect from someone who spends much of her time delving into questions of culture and identity, she places a high value on diversity. It’s a trait that carries into her choice of coursework at Brown as well. During her first year at the University, Natasha enrolled in two First-Year Seminar classes: Darwinian Medicine with Professor Marc Tatar, and Olfaction & Human Behavior with Professor Rachel Herz. 
First-Year Seminars have been offered at Brown since 2002 as part of the Plan for Academic Enrichment. These courses have become popular with Brown’s newest undergraduates due to their small size, the ability to interact closely with faculty, and the vast array of topics they cover. Ranging from the scientific (the biology department’s Conservation Medicine) to the more esoteric (the sociology offering entitled, Who Am I?), there is a course offered for virtually every intellectual interest.
“My first-year seminars were crucial for developing skills that I have used again and again in all my classes; I learned how to communicate my ideas effectively and read analytically in an intimate setting,” Natasha remembers. “My professors—Marc Tatar for Darwinian Medicine and Rachel Herz for Olfaction & Human Behavior—were renowned experts in their fields: Biology and Psychology, respectively.”
Since First-Year Seminars began several years ago, Annual Fund donors have helped bring more than 80 of these unique offerings to the classroom. Like Natasha, many Brown students use them as an opportunity to explore different subject matter while getting acclimated to the rigors of seminar-style classes. They are also a great way to meet a wide variety of fellow undergraduates, something that Natasha truly values.
“Students at Brown are dynamic, friendly, engaged, and diverse,” she said. “By ‘diverse,’ I mean more than the traditional meaning of ‘diversity.’ My classmates have been able to ‘divert’ my ways of thinking, and have helped me to understand different perspectives,” she explained. “The exchange of opinions and ideas here helps make Brown a place where all viewpoints are encouraged, fostered—and shared.”
When asked what she considers to be the best part of being a Brown student, Natasha immediately points to the many friends she has made over the past few years. “The friends that I've made at Brown are some of the best and brightest people I have ever met,” she said, adding, “I am certain that they will become my lifelong friends.”
Your Brown Annual Fund gift provides a world-class education – and the experience of a lifetime – to all Brown students.
Click here to make a gift that supports First-Year Seminars and introduces students to the intellectual excitement that awaits them at Brown.
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