Imagine being in a place where everyone appears to be your opposite, where the culture and environment are contrary to your experience and where you find yourself in a constant struggle to find your niche.

In the early ’70s Lorene Cary experienced such a scenario when she was transplanted from her Philadelphia roots into the elite environs of Saint Paul’s School in New Hampshire.

Cary’s experience as a minority in academia, both as a student and a teacher, became the source for her memoir Black Ice, an autobiographical account of the inevitable growing pains that accompany adolescence.

The book was named the 2007 selection for the First-Year Reading Project.

The recurring themes of adjustment and growth should be familiar to incoming first-year college students, who may be leaving home and their comfort zone for the first time, said Michele O’Connor, assistant vice provost for first-year and transfer programs and chair of the reading project committee.

“Cary’s book is an intriguing story about a young woman’s effort to find herself, her community and her place in a new atmosphere,” O’Connor said. “As students transition to the college environment this fall, we hope that Cary’s story will help them develop their own connection to the Temple community.”

As part of the First-Year Reading Project, entering freshmen are encouraged to read the selected book before the start of the fall semester. The project seeks to provide a common intellectual experience for students, faculty and members of the Temple community and promote cross-disciplinary thinking and dialogue in learning communities, freshman seminars and other first-year courses where the text might be discussed.

During the academic year, a committee consisting of Temple faculty, undergraduates and staff select the First-Year Reading Project book. Entering freshmen learn about the project during their orientation visit and receive resource materials. When they arrive in the fall they are invited to take part in several special activities, including a film series, crossword-puzzle competition and small faculty- and student-led discussions to support the continued discussion of the novel.

Cary is scheduled to visit the Main and Ambler campuses to discuss her memoir on Oct. 4.