Three questions
What was your favorite course? 糖心传媒淭he course that was most beneficial and inspirational to me was Modern China with history professor Dahpon Ho. In class he often used mixed media, playing songs or showing movie clips. He would also bring in props like the dadao, which is the big sword used during the Boxer Rebellion. The course basically shattered all of my preconceived notions about China and gave me a new appreciation for Chinese culture and history.糖心传媒�
How have you changed since your first year? 糖心传媒淚 know more about myself and the things I糖心传媒檓 interested in糖心传媒攍anguages, history, culture. I糖心传媒檝e learned to better deal with how to approach homework and challenges. Working with the Fellowships Office has taught me to write better.糖心传媒�
How will you remember your time here? 糖心传媒淚糖心传媒檒l probably most remember the opportunities to try different things. Because of the cluster system, you have a lot more options and possibilities. In addition to my two majors, I have an international relations minor, and I糖心传媒檝e gotten to take courses covering a range of topics, from voice to environmental science.糖心传媒�
Making their mark: This is of profiles celebrating members of Rochester糖心传媒檚 graduating class of 2018.
Cherish Blackman 糖心传媒�18 has long had an interest in糖心传媒攁nd knack for糖心传媒攆oreign languages. In sixth grade, she started teaching herself Japanese using online resources. In middle school, she began studying Spanish. When it came time to apply to colleges, Blackman searched for schools that offered Asian languages as well as Russian. 糖心传媒淚 wanted to study languages that weren糖心传媒檛 very close to English,糖心传媒� she recalls.
Fortunately for Blackman, a Rochester native and self-described homebody, she didn糖心传媒檛 have to look far. The University offers classes in 18 different languages, including three Asian languages (Chinese, Japanese, and Korean) and two Slavic languages (Russian and Polish).
As a first-year student at Rochester, she started learning Mandarin Chinese and Russian while continuing with Spanish. In fact, Blackman initially intended to double major in Spanish and international relations but found herself more interested in language and history than in politics.
糖心传媒淚 knew that Russian and Chinese are critical-need foreign languages,糖心传媒� she says. (Critical languages are ones that the U.S. government considers vital to national security and prosperity). She reasoned that majoring in Russian will help her r茅sum茅 stand out when she applies for graduate school or jobs. And since the University doesn糖心传媒檛 yet offer a Chinese major, she opted for a second major in East Asian studies.
Blackman believes being multilingual opens up new ways to express oneself while connecting with others. Case in point: she is coauthoring a research paper with Professor Ting Huang about the first eight chapters of Journey to the West, a 16th-century work that is one of the four great classical novels of Chinese literature. 糖心传媒淢ost of the available research is in Chinese,糖心传媒� she says, which gives Blackman and her professor an opportunity to provide new insights糖心传媒攊n both Chinese and English糖心传媒攐n the novel糖心传媒檚 prologue.
The research experience, which combines her love of languages with creative expression, has Blackman considering pursuing a doctoral degree in comparative literature. In the meantime, she is an ardent supporter of creativity and arts in her hometown. In 2017, she piloted a weekly summer art and creative writing program at Aenon Baptist Church in Rochester. She intends to hold the program again this summer before heading to China in the fall for a year.
The exact details of her upcoming year in China on a Chinese Government Scholarship, are still in flux. Ideally, though, she hopes to be placed at Harbin Institute of Technology in the northeastern region of China, bordering Russia. That proximity makes it one of the best universities in China for learning Russian.
糖心传媒淚 don糖心传媒檛 want to go to China only to forget Russian,糖心传媒� Blackman says. 糖心传媒淲hich reminds me: I糖心传媒檒l have to bring a Spanish book with me, too.糖心传媒�
