NEW JERSEY SCHOLARS PROGRAM 2009

June 28 – July 31

INDIA, PAKISTAN and BANGLADESH:

ONE HISTORY. THREE COUNTRIES. SHARED FUTURE.

Comments from some of the 2009 Scholars follow:

The NJSP experience was unlike any other in academic intensity and expectation.  Other summer programs are designed to teach but NJSP is an environment to explore.  Scholars are given the liberty to ask broad, meaningful questions and then explore them in their minds.

NJSP is an experience I will carry with me for the rest of my life.

NJSP has encouraged me to recognize my own potential and the potential of everyone around me.  The sun is always rising, never setting.

NJSP made me question what I want out of life and made me see how many doors are open to me.

The program has made such a change in my life.  I’m in no way leaving this program the same way I came in.  I’ve learned to challenge myself intellectually and succeed.  Every person here taught me something new about them and myself.  I am now so much more culturally aware of this nation I knew nothing about [India, Pakistan and Bangladesh].

I want my school to have more open discussions around Harkness Tables [oval tables that accommodate a teacher and a dozen or so students].

I have a stronger work ethic now.

From NJSP, I learned the beauty of learning for learning’s sake.  I also learned that learning goes way beyond the classroom . . . and I that I should look at my perspectives before accepting or changing my own.

I feel I have learned more in these past five weeks than I did in the entire school year, not only from the amazing professors by my fellow Scholars as well.

This program has been the most academic and intellectually stimulating program so far in my life. . .  By combining the views of all the students in the program and discussion groups, I have opened my mind to other points of view and consider perspectives I had never thought of.  This program has taught all of us to learn for the sake of learning, and truly appreciate knowledge.  The final paper showed me that we must keep searching until we find an answer, despite any limitations or obstacles.  I have a new sense of self and religious views thanks to this program.

I have become more of a thinker, Scholar, and Philosopher than I ever thought I could.  NJSP expanded my horizons and defined me as limit-less.