First-year students at JSC have participated in the college's first Common Reading Initiative, a program of lectures, discussions, exhibits, films and concerts that completement the book, A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, by Ishmael Beah.

The program was designed to introduce students to the academic and intellectual culture of the college through a common reading experience. A committee of faculty and staff met in the spring to choose a book for the entire incoming class to read during the summer. This fall, students have many opportunities to share and compare ideas about the book. Peer Orientation leaders, as well as many faculty and staff, also read A Long Way Gone, providing a broad base for discussion and integration into the JSC community.

A Long Way Gone is Beah's first-hand account of being pressed into service as a child soldier in war-torn Sierra Leone. His story of a childhood lost and an adulthood found is an inspiring journey from heartbreaking tragedy to hope and redemption.

Beah was 11 when civil war broke out in his native Sierra Leone, and 13 when he was recruited by the government to fight the rebel forces that killed his parents and two brothers. After two years, UNICEF managed to secure his release and begin the long road to recovery.

Beah is scheduled to speak to students at JSC's Dibden Center for the Arts October 22, at 7 p.m. The event is open, and free to the public with limited seating available on a first-come, first-served basis. For tickets call 802-635-1476.

Other events that complimented the reading initiative included a performance by the Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars on the day students started at JSC, and a documentary film, also titled Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars, that told the story of how the band was formed while living in a refugee camp in neighboring Guinea.