| Trip to Bear Island |
Trip to Bear IslandIn April 2004, 36 students from two First Year Seminars--one in Anthropology, the other in American Studies (click for the course description)--traveled to Bear Island to study coastal development, environmental activism, the history of the state park system, and race relations in North Carolina. The trip consisted of a two-day camping trip that included presentations by students, environmental activists, and members of the state park service. After the trip, a student in the American Studies course wrote: Freshman year (Spring 2004) I took a class taught by Dr. Rachel Willis called Navigating America (AMST 006 E). During this class we were to take a trip to Bear Island as a group and to give presentations on its history and wildlife. The three students (including me) who were unable to go on the later field trip, during which the class camped on the Island, went on an earlier scouting expedition to see the state of the Island and its resources as well as to do more research that the students at UNC-Chapel Hill were unable to find. This scouting trip was financed by the Johnston Center for Undergraduate Excellence. This trip and that class taught me that the best way to learn was through "experiential education." I had an amazing time and learned not only about the island but the surrounding communities. It inspired me to travel and learn more, and the week I got back from the trip I heard from my French teacher that the applications to go study abroad that summer had been extended for the Montpellier program that UNC-CH has in France. I applied at once and went to France that summer. I loved the study abroad experience so much that I went abroad again to Seville, Spain that following spring semester (Spring 2005). I feel that the freshman seminar class taught by Dr. Willis completely changed the course of my undergraduate career. It taught me the importance of traveling and learning things first hand. As soon as I came back to UNC, this fall 2005, I contacted Dr. Willis to see how I could work with her again. I ended up joining her as a Teaching Assistant for her freshman seminar, Access to Higher Education, and am also in charge of designing the website for the Access Project that she has been working on. This project measures accessibility on all 16 public college campuses in North Carolina for wheelchair users. My experience in studying abroad taught me that I wanted to participate more in my community here as well. Since coming back from Seville, I have joined several different organizations. I volunteer at the Inter-Faith Council in Carrboro and the Women's Center in Chapel Hill every week. I am also an Executive Board member and Membership Chair of the Sierra Club of Orange and Chatham County. Just recently, after serving two years as an Executive Board member, I have become the co-president of the undergraduate ALCU (American Civil Liberties Union) at UNC. My study abroad experience also taught me how difficult it is to go to a new country and how important friends and locals are to your study abroad experience. That is why I am also mentoring an international student from Denmark through the EASE campus group. I truly believe that all of these things are in some way a product of the fact that I took Dr. Willis' freshman seminar and learned that "what goes around comes around." She gave me a wonderful semester and showed me how one person can influence you to do bigger and better things with your life. Today through all of the things that I am involved in I'm trying to give some of that back to this University and community. --Ana Hacic-Vlahovic The two courses involved were: AMST 051 [006E]: Navigating America: Journeys, Voices, and Transportation Communication Intensive (CI); Experiential Education (EE); Field Work; North Atlantic World (NA); Social and Behavioral Science/Other (SS) [GC Social Science] Rachel Willis This first year seminar is designed to teach students how to navigate new intellectual terrain and unfamiliar information from a variety of disciplinary perspectives. In this class, which emphasizes discussion, we will analyze some of the major journeys of discovery in America. The course will begin with the discovery of America, continue through the American space program and end with the development of the Internet. We will focus on how economic resources (financial, physical, and human) have transformed scholarship and the university. Students will be expected to make a voyage of discovery on the campus or in the surrounding community. The voyage can be either physical or intellectual, but must be chronicled with a documentary journal and presented to the class in a medium that conveys the individual's perspective, journey, and discoveries. The student journeys and presentations can be made individually or in groups. These assignments will enable students to appreciate the views of others as well as integrate learning inside and outside the classroom. Two weeks at the beginning will be spent developing the course focus through introductory overviews and a number of class exercises designed to promote intellectual community and student participation. The next twelve weeks will be spent reading, viewing, and discussing the accounts of journeys in America. The remaining class meetings will be devoted to the student presentations of their own journeys. ANTH 051 [006E]: Environmentalism and American Society Social & Behavioral Science/Other (SS) [GC Social Science] Dorothy Holland This seminar takes on the social problem of environmental degradation. We examine the environmental movement as a transformative process linked to changing systems of power and privilege, consumer desire, and culturally developed attachments to place and nature. Students conduct original group research project on the environmental movement in North Carolina. |
