Spring Break
'Dessert and Discourse' challenges students to think
TAMS program encourages hot topic discussions
Chiara Granado
Issue date: 3/27/08 Section: ARTS & LIFE
Thursday nights are passed with sweets and socializing at McConnell Hall where the young voices of the Texas Academy of Mathematics and Sciences students are heard loud and clear.
Students, staff and faculty members crowd Mac Café at 9 p.m. each week for "Dessert and Discourse," a series dedicated to open discussion on a variety of topics including love, art, culture, religion and science.
While conversations of hot issues are bounced around the room, the TAMS staff provides desserts such as a recent treat featuring smashed Oreos, whipped cream and chocolate pudding called "dirt and worms."
Kevin Roden, the assistant director of student life at TAMS, said he has always expressed concern about today's universities and the lack of reflection among students on the deep questions of humanity.
He started the program in 2003, he said, to provide an environment for young students to spend time shaping thoughts with their peers.
"Oftentimes, students go from class to class and forget to stop and ask themselves life questions and to reflect," Roden said. "Some questions like, 'who am I?' and 'what is human?' comes up in our forums."
Kate Swanson, a Denton senior and therapeutic recreation major, has been working at TAMS as Roden's assistant for four years, and she said she likes working with the TAMS students and helping plan each week's program.
"I enjoy the opportunity of putting on these discussions because students have a lot of time to study and to actually expand their knowledge," Swanson said.
A recent discussion focused on the question "What is science?"
Roden sat in front of the students holding up printed signs of questions about the meaning of science, if science classes answered most of the students' questions about life and if science provided answers for everything.
Students immediately began responding with comments such as "I think love is just a bunch of biochemical processes" and "Love is deeper than a scientific view; it's the way humans act toward each other that makes us stand apart from animals."
Students, staff and faculty members crowd Mac Café at 9 p.m. each week for "Dessert and Discourse," a series dedicated to open discussion on a variety of topics including love, art, culture, religion and science.
While conversations of hot issues are bounced around the room, the TAMS staff provides desserts such as a recent treat featuring smashed Oreos, whipped cream and chocolate pudding called "dirt and worms."
Kevin Roden, the assistant director of student life at TAMS, said he has always expressed concern about today's universities and the lack of reflection among students on the deep questions of humanity.
He started the program in 2003, he said, to provide an environment for young students to spend time shaping thoughts with their peers.
"Oftentimes, students go from class to class and forget to stop and ask themselves life questions and to reflect," Roden said. "Some questions like, 'who am I?' and 'what is human?' comes up in our forums."
Kate Swanson, a Denton senior and therapeutic recreation major, has been working at TAMS as Roden's assistant for four years, and she said she likes working with the TAMS students and helping plan each week's program.
"I enjoy the opportunity of putting on these discussions because students have a lot of time to study and to actually expand their knowledge," Swanson said.
A recent discussion focused on the question "What is science?"
Roden sat in front of the students holding up printed signs of questions about the meaning of science, if science classes answered most of the students' questions about life and if science provided answers for everything.
Students immediately began responding with comments such as "I think love is just a bunch of biochemical processes" and "Love is deeper than a scientific view; it's the way humans act toward each other that makes us stand apart from animals."
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