A Semester of Identity

by Eddie Sonnie

I don’t know how it happens, but I always find a common thread among all my classes every semester. But hey, I’m not complaining because I think that enhances my learning experience that much more. This semester for me is all about identity. 

I am taking SPAN 473, which is about Hispanic identity and social issues, and also three communication classes all centered around rhetoric and how it forms our thoughts, perceptions and identities. Most notable of the three is COMM 341, Rhetoric of Social Movements. This class is all about how group identity is formed and maintained during the evolution of a social movement. Finally, my leadership senior seminar, Values Leadership, is all about taking what we have learned throughout the minor and combining it with our values and applying these findings to process how we make ethical decisions.

All of these classes are amazing, my professors are the best, and I genuinely enjoy the topics. I’m so happy that my areas of study are so interdisciplinary, so much so that they even coincide with my work life as well! Being an RA, writing blogs, volunteering and holding leadership roles in various clubs are all high-impact practices that are crucial to how I am forming my identity here at Christopher Newport. And it is here, at our university that identity flourishes at its best, because we are surrounded by a community of great people who desire to learn, grow, develop and as our President Paul Trible says, “set the world on fire.”