Choosing the B.S. Degree in Integrative Studies

In the orientation class for the B.S. degree in Integrative Studies, students were asked to read the following two poems, "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost and "Autobiography in Five Short Acts" by Portia Nelson. They were then asked to consider the road they had taken that led to the B.S. degree in Integrative Studies. These are their stories.

The Road Not Taken, by Robert Frost ©

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Autobiography in Five Short Acts, by Portia Nelson ©

Chapter 1:
I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in. . . .
It isn't my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.

Chapter 2:
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don't see it.
I fall in again. . . .
But it isn't my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.

Chapter 3:
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I still fall in; it's a habit. . . .
It is my fault.
I get out immediately.

Chapter 4:
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.

Chapter 5
I walk down another street.

Choosing Integrative Studies

The Road Not Taken, by Robert Frost ©

Autobiography in Five Short Acts, by Portia Nelson ©

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