10th Annual CAFE Symposium Celebrates Academic Achievements of First-Year Students
The CAFE symposium, which highlights student achievements in first-year seminar courses, was held in the CUB Ballroom. (Brandon Fey/The Gettysburgian)
By Brandon Fey, News Editor
Daniel Gleason ’28
The Celebration of the Academic First-Year Engagement (CAFE) symposium is an annual showcase of the work of first-year students in First-Year Seminar classes from the fall semester. Professors nominate exceptional final papers and projects from these seminars, which the students convert into informational posters they present at the symposium.
2025 marked the 10th year of the CAFE Symposium at the College, which was held on Wednesday, Feb.12 from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m. in the CUB Ballroom. It was one of the largest CAFE symposiums with over 40 student presenters.
The symposium was organized by the Musselman Library, which assisted nominated students with the design of their posters which were printed by the Ricoh print shop on campus. It was also catered by Dining Services.
Students presented their work to attendees during the event, using their project posters for reference. Many of these posters have been published digitally on the College’s institutional repository, The Cupola.
Paul Zaim ’28
The symposium featured projects from seminars across disciplines, with topics across a variety of student interests.
Daniel Gleason ’28 presented his project from FYS-138-8 “Sorry not Sorry,” in which he assessed the sincerity of General Ulysses S. Grant’s apology to the Jewish community over decisions he made during the Civil War.
“We’re able to figure this out because, in our class, we use the book on an apology, written by Aaron Lazar, which lists several guidelines for making a sincere apology, each of which Grant directly addressed,” Gleason commented.
Other projects included a proposal for proper safety barriers at railroad crossings in Gettysburg created by Paul Zaim ’28 from FYS 108-1 “How Change Happens” and a philosophical analysis of existentialism in the film “American Beauty” by Maxwell Stone ’28 from FYS 138-2 “Plato, Personhood and Popcorn.”
The symposium was attended by several students and faculty members interested in learning about the academic achievements of the class of 2028.
