HON 100 Flagstaff-as-Text, Aspen Place

Title:
Flagstaff-as-Text: Aspen Place

Abstract:
Each Fall, 80% of our incoming Fall cohort of new Honors students enrolls in HON 100: Intro to Honors, a 1-unit class designed to introduce Honors students to the Honors College, NAU, and Flagstaff. A main component of HON 100 is “Flagstaff as Text,” based upon the National Collegiate Honors Council’s “City as Text” activity. Flagstaff as Text sends students armed with notepads, water bottles, and cameras out into various Flagstaff neighborhoods to record the space they visit. Students are tasked with documenting their neighborhood: Who lives here? How are public spaces organized? What themes are present in this area? What landmarks or anchor points do you notice? What is where? Why is it there? So what?

The students then compiled their “results”: their observations, their experiences, their five senses, and ultimately, their conclusions about the neighborhood, its residents, and its physical attributes and constructed a “map” of the area. Those maps, from the Fall 2020 cohort of Honors freshmen, are found in this gallery and organized by the 6 identified areas (Plaza Vieja/Old Town, Southside West, Southside East, Aspen Place/Sawmill, North Downtown, and City Hall/Thorpe Park).

Due to the NAUFlex requirements for Fall 2020, HON 100 students were split into groups of 3-4 (instead of 5-6), required to wear a face covering, and required to follow physical distancing guidelines during their excursion. In addition, all areas are accessible within a 15 minute walk of campus so no students needed to drive to arrive at their assigned destination.