S456 ARCHIVE: Gear Seminars

~~ the following is a piece I did for the 2012-13 school year of "The Ram Pride," Ringgold High School's school newspaper ~~

Last month I invited a group of students to the library for a forty-five minute lecture about comic books, and the day after, I went to a lecture about alpacas. Ringgold’s gifted program, GEAR, allows students in the program to host educational seminars about virtually anything they please. Each student that decides to host a seminar chooses his/her own format, meaning students can do a lecture, a series of activities, a moderated discussion, etc. GEAR Instructor Ms. Linda Fetchen aids and guides, but this is very much an independent project for the students.

I spoke with Ms. Fetchen about GEAR Seminars. After looking in her computer files, she found that records of GEAR Seminars go back at least ten years, meaning there were probably seminars even further back than that. She told me she started hosting the Gifted Program in 1975, but back then, seminars were “not something [they] did.” She told me, even though the seminars are “different every year” and therefore “hard to compare,” “the quality of the presentations get better throughout the years” because students become “more organized.” In past years, she told me, there were two exceedingly talented presenters, one, a student named Matt Patton, who did seminars about film, and another, a student named Ethan Harger, who did seminars about music. Her hopes for the future of GEAR seminars are that students learn to present well and do good research, and also that the audience members learn. She told me that she wishes students would do more seminars about history, but made it clear that she will never force a seminar topic on a student. This is because she believes students must have a passion for their subject matter in order for the seminar to be successful.  

I do GEAR seminars and I’m quite passionate about what I talk about. In my tenth grade year, after going to several seminars and thinking I can do that!, I decided to conduct a general seminar about comic books, in which I lectured about breaking into the hobby, contemporary comic book events, and more. This year, I have been doing a monthly series of seminars, each focusing on an individual subtopic within the realm of comic books, including “The History of the Joker,” and “Comic Book Creators.” I have a lot of fun doing these seminars, all of which are loosely structured lectures. These lectures are very well-received, which is something the evaluation sheets filled out by my audience members can attest to. Recently, I decided to start a new series of seminars to coincide with my comic book seminars, this one about video games.

I love doing these seminars and look forward to them all, but I also enjoy attending other seminars. Not too long ago, I attended a seminar by twelfth grade student Leanne Fries. She started doing seminars in her eleventh grade year, and continues to do them in her current year. She has covered music in her seminar about Stevie Wonder, and also in her seminar “The Greatest Love Songs of All-Time.” She has also covered fashion and beauty, in her seminars “Fashion Dos and Don’ts” and “The History of American Beauty.” When asked what she’ll do with her seminars in the future, she replied “probably music,” and when asked if she’s proud of her performances so far, she replied, “I think so.” She plans to use the public speaking skills displayed and developed through these seminars for a career in broadcasting. Her advice for students thinking of doing seminars themselves? “Pretend like you’re talking to your friends.”  

The seminar I teased earlier about alpacas was hosted by tenth grade student Noah Smith. This seminar took place in February and was Noah's first. Noah's seminar was unique in that he had hands-on experience with his subject matter, as he frequently works with alpacas owned by family members. I asked him if he plans to do more seminars and he wasn't sure, but he did say that if he did he'd probably do one on massage therapy. He said he had fun and he "guess[es]" he's proud of how he did, but he claims he prefers watching seminars over hosting a seminar. His advice for students who haven't done a seminar yet but are considering taking the plunge? "Take the plunge."

I hope more students take that plunge and do a seminar. And even if they don't take that plunge, I hope that they'll go be an audience member to others' plunges. I hope this because GEAR Seminars are fun, creative ways to educate and develop the skills of the student body. And seriously, when else do you get to sit in a room for forty-five minutes to hear about alpacas?