As students filter back to campus for the start of a new year, questions fly: “Where is Houston Hall?” “Can you direct me to Van Pelt?” “Nice to meet you, where are you from?”
Educating the Whole Person
The SNF Paideia Program joins with New Student Orientation
Published: September 18, 2024
For incoming first-year students at the Resource Fair, the question was, “What’s ‘paideia’?”
“Paideia” is the Romanization of an ancient Greek word signifying the moral, intellectual, and physical education of an ideal member of the Athenian city-state—often translated as “educating the whole person” and “educating citizens.”
With support from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF), this year, the eponymous SNF Paideia Program at the University of Pennsylvania has played an integral role in new student orientation programming for the Class of 2028.
Integrating Skills for Understanding
Events across campus included an introduction to the program at the Resource Fair, a dialogue session, and an address by Dr. Sigal Ben-Porath, Faculty Director of the SNF Paideia Program. Joining with other university leaders, Ben-Porath spoke to over 2,000 new students about the importance of engaging with others beyond the beliefs they might hold—then ceded her time to allow students to meet their neighbors.
“One of the main things our students learn is how to engage in conversations that aren’t focused on winning an argument or persuading the other person… Instead, they acknowledge differences to find common ground, while continuing to hold their own beliefs and perspectives. Those aren’t just skills for the classroom—they can be practiced anywhere,” Ben-Porath notes.
Part of the larger “Building the Penn Community” event at the Palestra, Ben-Porath’s talk was met with energy and excitement from those in the crowd. It was followed over the weekend by a virtual dialogue workshop and advising session for first years, led by four SNF Paideia Fellows.
Sigal Ben-Porath emphasized that both elements of conversation—listening and speaking—are skills students can build.
Lynn Larabi, C’24, and Noah Kocher, C’27 (pictured l-r), shared takeaways from their time as fellows at the Political Empathy Lab, part of the SNF Paideia Program.
First-year students discussed questions with neighbors during the program, including what podcasts they might host.
Over 2,000 students took part in “Building the Penn Community.”
As the academic year picks up steam, SNF Paideia programming will do the same, with over 30 designated courses; the new Dialogic Leadership Institute, which aids undergraduate students in cultivating dialogue and understanding in the classrooms; ongoing faculty gatherings during the fall semester, called Community of Practice; and initiatives like the Political Empathy Lab. As Noah Kocher, C’27, a SNF Paideia Fellow and Political Empathy Lab researcher, emphasized during his orientation remarks, there’s a simplicity to communication that is underscored through the program. Though it can feel awkward or uncomfortable to approach a stranger, he remarked to his peers that it’s “really helpful to establish common ground off the bat”—talking about a shared place or situation, for example.
“To be at a place like Penn, where the student body is so diverse and you have the opportunity to learn from people of different backgrounds, experiences, beliefs, and expertise—we’re excited to be able to lead with such a positive message,” says Leah Anderson, Executive Director of the SNF Paideia Program. “By integrating this into new student orientation, we want to say to all students, ‘Here’s how you can make the most of it. Here is how to do that well.’”
