Hunter Hershiser might have an unusual first name, but it’s an apt one: she’s an actual hunter, typically of deer. Fond of her compound bow, she’s been an archer since before The Hunger Games made the activity cool.

She’s also part of the May@Geneva program, a condensed semester that takes place during the month of May. Each class is three hours per day, the equivalent of a week’s work. A May term class is usually a core class and therefore required for all majors, but it costs less per credit than the standard semester.

Hunter is taking English 101, as taught by Dr. David Kuhns. English isn’t Hunter’s strong suit, but she says Dr. Kuhns “made it interesting,” and was available to help her after class, too.

May term is a “good opportunity to get classes” that everyone needs for a major, Hunter says. She is a mechanical engineering major, and expects to have a heavy workload throughout the typical school year, so she appreciates the chance to squeeze in some additional classes in May. “It really lightened my load,” she says, and she encourages anyone with a difficult major to consider a May term class or two.

The May term experience was Hunter’s introduction to Geneva, as she took it before starting her freshman year. She admits to being “a little nervous” at the beginning of May, but her past experience at two of Geneva’s Discovery Days helped her feel at home, and she quickly made friends.

“It’s good to have connections before even starting freshman year,” she relates. The May@Geneva program consists of far fewer students than a normal semester, and Hunter found the closer-knit community welcoming. Since she had just one class for the month, she had time to get to know other May term students.

Hunter roomed in the apartments with her “two awesome roommates.” Another friend, a sophomore who had switched from a mechanical engineering to a computer engineering major, was able to give useful advice, suggesting that Hunter use her first few mechanical engineering classes to evaluate whether the major is right for her.

“Knowing her helped me decide my future major for freshman year,” Hunter says, explaining that getting a major-specific opinion on a “student’s level” was reassuring.

Hunter hopes that mechanical engineering will prove to be her forte. She decided on it due to her aptitude for hands-on repair work: she once fixed her little brother’s electronic toy by fusing a few wires together.

As a result of her May class, Hunter feels prepared for her freshman year. She has an ID card and a mail box key already in hand, which means that she’s already escaped one of the annoyances of freshman year: waiting in line for an ID photo.

-Adam Rowe '14

View other profiles