Lafayette Campus News (www.lafayette.edu), October 24, 2007 — Alan Raisman ’10 (Huntingdon Valley, Pa.) wants to know your thoughts on Easton.
From the time he arrived at Lafayette as a first-year student, Raisman heard people use various words and phrases to describe the City of Easton. It was this curiosity about the way people described the city that led the international economics and commerce major to begin his project “One Word, One City” early this semester.
Raisman’s project will judge if the viewpoints of the people involved with the city are in alignment with Easton’s slogan “History, Heritage, Home.” He will be working with Lafayette students, faculty, and alumni, as well as Easton natives, to gather one word descriptions of Easton. Over winter break, Raisman will analyze the words to see how each category breaks down by demographic.
All students, faculty, staff, and alumni are invited to participate in the project. Submissions, including your age, gender, graduation year (if applicable), hometown, and word (with optional reason for why you chose it), can be sent to Raisman at Farinon Box #8642, or email.
Raisman has already collected 237 single word descriptions and hopes to gather over 1,000. So far he has received words from children, high school students, Lafayette students and alumni, business owners, politicians, and senior citizens. His youngest participant to date is two years old and his oldest is 90.
As president of Pards to People, Lafayette’s chapter of People to People, Raisman will be calling on many of his connections to Easton organizations while working on the project.
Raisman will also receive help from students in the First-Year Seminar, "Taking It to the Streets," taught by Bonnie Winfield, director of the Landis Community Outreach Center. The students will tie Raisman’s research into their final projects.
