About Summer Reading

Meredith’s Summer Reading Program enhances the academic climate on campus by engaging incoming first-year students in a shared intellectual endeavor with the entire campus community, including students, faculty, staff, and alumnae.

Incoming first-year students are given questions to guide their reading and then engage in facilitated conversations with faculty, staff, and upper-level students during the fall semester. Students also participate in experiential learning activities related to the book, and frequently attend lectures by or about the books’ authors. Previous summer reading selections include Tell Me Who You Are, The Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader GinsburgCallings, Dimestore, and A Mighty Long Way: My Journey to Justice at Little Rock Central High School.

Summer Reading 2024

Strong Voices: Empowering Student Citizenship

Meredith’s Summer Reading book for 2021 is Tell Me Who You Are: Sharing our Stories of Race, Culture and Identity, by Winona Gua and Priya Vulcht.

This year’s book selection was guided by the College’s emphasis on anti-racism work.

The book’s subtitle is “A Road Map for Cultivating Racial Literacy.” After realizing they had nearly completed high school without having substantive discussions about racism, the authors deferred college admission for a year to travel the country and interview a wide range of Americans on matters related to race. Interview subjects represent multiple races, cultures, and identities. 

In Tell Me Who You Are, Guo and Vulchi reveal the lines that separate us based on race or other perceived differences and how telling our stories–and listening deeply to the stories of others–are the first and most crucial steps we can take towards negating racial inequity in our culture. Featuring interviews with over 150 Americans accompanied by their photographs, this intimate toolkit also offers a deep examination of the seeds of racism and strategies for effecting change.

Contact Information 
Chrissie Bumgardner
Co-Director, First Year Experience
bumgardner@meredith.edu

Lisa Brown
Co-Director, First Year Experience
lmbrown@meredith.edu

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