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A Somali community leader, Abdirizak Bihi, introduces an AugSem group to a Somali shop in theCedar-Riverside area. The class was getting acquainted with Somali culture to prepare them fortheir later visits in the neighborhood to give people information about voting and registration.Getting off to theright startmajors, getting to know upperclassbiology majors and becoming involvedin department activities.In Professor John Shockley’sAugsburg Seminar section with itspaired Political Patterns and Processescourse, students took advantage of theevents around the presidential electionto study the challenges andSearch forMeaningAll freshman students are required totake the first of two Search for Meaningcourses, Christian Vocation and theSearch for Meaning. This course exploresthe broad questions of existence—whowe are, why we’re here, etc.—andexamines the Christian notion ofvocation as a lens through which one’sown life can be considered, informed byfaith within the context of these largerquestions.Some of the Search for Meaningopportunities people face in trying themake the world safer and more peaceful.On the AugSem city service projects daythis group visited shops and businessesaround campus owned by Somaliimmigrants to learn about their culture.During the semester they met withpeople in the neighborhood about votingand voter registration.sections are paired with AugsburgSeminars, and some havecommunity service-learningcomponents. Religion professorRussell Kleckley’s Search forMeaning section is paired withmusic professor MerileeKlemp’s Introduction to Musicand the Fine Arts, and togetherthey co-teach the Augsburg Seminar.These two courses will jointly studylarger questions of meaning in thecontext of the Judeo-Christian musicaltradition—from medieval chanting totoday’s rap music.The second Search for Meaningcourse invites students to think aboutthe role that religion, the Bible, and theirown beliefs play in the vocationalchoices they make in their lives.Students who are not Christian willconsider their own religious and spiritualbeliefs and how they affect their vocationand place in the world.Over the past decade, Augsburg hasintentionally developed a first-yearprogram that helps incomingstudents ease the transition to bothcollege life and to the city in whichthey’ll live, work, and find manykinds of opportunities. Because ofthis commitment and a readiness toevaluate and improve its program,Augsburg was named one of 12“Founding Institutions” toparticipate in a national project todevelop a model first-year programthat can be used by small, privatecolleges to help their students reachgraduation.The project, Foundations ofExcellence in the First College Year,is co-sponsored by the Policy Centerof the First Year of College and theCouncil on Independent Colleges.Funding for the two-year project isprovided by Lumina Foundation forEducation and The AtlanticPhilanthropies.Fall 200421