Recently released findings from the 2003 study conducted by the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA titled Spirituality in College Students: Preliminary Findings from a National Study, reported that whereas more than half of student respondents (52%) reported attending religious services frequently when they first entered college in 2000, less than one third attended frequently during their junior year in college. However—the personal importance of "integrating spirituality into my life" increased from 51 to 58 percent.

Friedlander sees other reasons for the class's popularity as well: "Many of the students who signed up for this class were inspired to do so after participating in last fall's Finding Your Own Path lecture series, which the SKS co-sponsored with the Duke Chapel Pathways Program. Students today are hungry to explore spiritual questions, and they are looking for new and more exciting ways to do so." Ed Cheely, Director of Development for the SKS explained "After word got around about our fall semester class, Authenticity 101, we were overwhelmed by the student demand for a follow-up class. The class had to be expanded to two sections because so many students signed up when the class was first announced. "

Elizabeth Teel, a Duke sophomore, explains why she decided to take the class: "Out of all of my experiences at Duke, last fall's Authenticity 101 class has given me the most insight into life and myself. I want to keep on thinking about the things that matter most and I feel like this sort of discussion-based course is key for that. Plus—the people are awesome." Another student responded "Right now I am at a place where I do faith, but yet I can't seem to find myself spiritually. I am hoping that this house course can help fill that void in my life. The fact that this course will be taught through some films really excited me. I have never done such a thing, and I think this will be a wonderful new learning experience for me. I think I am a visual learner, so films will be great."

The class will include powerful movies such as The Matrix, Fearless, American Beauty, They Shoot Horses Don't They?, Groundhog Day, Memento, Defending Your Life, Jacob's Ladder, Our Town, Forrest Gump, Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse, and documentaries on the Apollo 13 flight and on the 1996 Mt. Everest disaster. Readings will include Franny & Zooey, The Razor's Edge, and "An Indian Life" from Hermann Hesse's The Glass Bead Game. The key to the class, however, will be the personal explorations that students will make through the written assignments and in-class discussions.

Says Mr. Turak, who retired after selling his first of two software companies, Raleigh Group International, in 2000 and continues to work with the SKS, "This class, like everything the SKS does, requires the courage and willingness for each of us to examine ourselves and our lives—so that we can live more authentic lives of service. It's intense, and it gets people out of their comfort zones, but that is what students are looking for these days."