While many students were slowly gearing up for spring term, a group of freshmen immersed themselves in a new course about the complex city that they have called home since the fall.
Entitled "B-More: A Common Freshman Experience," the program served as a one-week orientation for 55 freshmen, allowing them to see and learn about many parts of Baltimore City and its history.
"Going to school in this city has advantages. I think sometimes people see negatives instead of looking for positives," Dean of Undergraduate Education Paula Burger said.
Burger envisioned the B-More program a year ago as a class bonding experience where freshmen would have a second wave of orientation while learning about the city. "I wanted to key in on it being a unique freshman experience," she said.
The B-More course spanned the last week of Intersession. Five classes dealing with different aspects of Baltimore were offered, each for a single pass-fail credit.
Classes and activities focused on Baltimore's vibrant history and culture but did not avoid discussing the city's problems. Topics ranged from health care and politics to the city's extensive Egyptian art collection.
"The idea was to take this class and give [freshmen] a common experience, become engaged in the Hopkins experience and hopefully in the Baltimore community," said Associate Dean of Student Life Ralph Johnson, who served as coordinator of the B-More program.
Administrators were concerned that students at Hopkins were not getting involved enough in the city of Baltimore until too late.
"Too often I talk with seniors who are just now starting to explore Baltimore," Dean of Student Life Susan Boswell said while addressing the B-More participants at the Fresh Food Café on Jan. 22.
The course started two days earlier, with opening ceremonies and icebreakers. Martin Luther King Day was commemorated with a community service activity and keynote speaker Bishop Douglas Miles, pastor of Koinonia Baptist Church and Hopkins alumni.
Each day of the rest of the week began with classes from nine until noon.
After classes and lunch, students from all of the B-More classes would meet for afternoon activities that took them away from campus to explore the city. Many students found the bus tour of the city to be a highlight.
"I felt that the tour of Baltimore City really combined with what we learned in class to help the students better understand the economic levels in Baltimore along with the history of Baltimore in general," freshman Alicia Lee said.
Humanities Center Professor Neil Hertz led the tour, narrating the history of Baltimore. He pointed out the parts of Baltimore that most Hopkins students have never seen, and spoke frankly about the city's problems.
Hertz showed the students the blocks of abandoned houses in East and West Baltimore. He mentioned the recent dispute involving neighborhoods in East Baltimore and construction of a Biotech Park near the medical school and talked about many attempts to revitalize the city's old neighborhoods.
"I'm a junior and I just saw parts of Baltimore I never did before," said Justine Mink, who served as a student ambassador for the program.
Four upperclassmen served as liaisons between the freshmen and the program coordinators.
"I think the idea behind the program is phenomenal. It has a lot of potential, and the program is needed," Mink said.
"I think the students are very good. They have an analytical and interesting approach to things. I was positively surprised, because I'm used to teaching juniors and seniors," said B-More instructor Anaid Citlalli Reyes-Kipp.
The graduate student taught a class called "Lives on The Wire: Anthropology, Inequity and Urban Life," which focused on Baltimore's urban development and how the city changed in the latter half of the twentieth century.
Reyes-Kipp liked the way the program was structured and placed great importance on black history, with visits to the Reginald Lewis Museum and the Great Blacks in Wax Museum.
"I thought it was a really good program. It helped open people's minds about Baltimore," freshman Jasmine Hope said.
Burger said that ultimately she would like to see the program expand to around 30 different classes and more than 900 freshmen.
Sponsored by the Office of the Dean of Student Life and the Office of Undergraduate Education, B-More was funded by discretionary money from Student Affairs and Burger's office, as well as the Intersession budget.
