The Honors Bugle

Core Class Spotlight: Race, Ethnic, and Minority Issues

By Madeline Worcester

While college students take hordes of classes relating to their majors, liberal arts universities like Ashland also require core courses that are mandatory for graduation. These categories of classes—such as history, aesthetics, and religion—allow students to gain valuable, universal perspectives that venture beyond their comfort zones. The Honors Program offers several core classes each semester specifically dedicated to Honors students. Each student in the program is required to complete four of these core sections to graduate, each covering a different facet of the curriculum.

One of the Honors core classes offered this semester is SOC 301: Race, Ethnic, and Minority Issues, a social science core class.

Dr. Allyson Drinkard, assistant professor of criminal justice and sociology, said that this is the first time Race, Ethnic, and Minority Issues is being offered as an Honors core class. It was originally an online course that was brought to the classroom this fall. While she claims that this newness adds a level of intimidation at the professor level, she has been content with the results of hosting the class in person, particularly with the conversational and open nature of the course.

The class is primarily discussion-based, which many Honors core classes strive to be. This promotes the exchange of ideas and enhancement of knowledge. According to the students in the class, they synthesize primary readings and textbook materials through summaries and asking questions. On October 22, the class focused on an article titled “The New Racism” by discussing their views of the article and how they related to previous in-class documentaries. Every student had a chance to speak multiple times, courtesy of the small class size and pure interest of the group.

While the conversations on October 22 focused on African-American discrimination, the class covers a vast range of minority groups, including Native Americans and their treatment by society. The instances of prejudice are tragic in and of themselves, but the course does not end with the iteration of facts. Students in SOC 301 discuss ways in which society might change for the better, even if the changes themselves are small.

Drinkard specified that the class is a “safe space to speak your mind and hear what other people

Inside this IssueFall Fun 2

Faces of the Honors Program 3

Peer Mentor Q&A 4

December Graduates 4

The Honors Grecian Odyssey: An Epic Adventure 5

Thank You 6

Thoughts from the Editor 6

Fall Newsletter 2019 | Volume 12, Issue 1

Ashland University Honors Program 401 College Avenue | 103 Clayton Hall Ashland, Ohio 44805

Dr. Jeffrey Weidenhamer, Director

Kim Pool, Program Coordinator

phone: 419.289.5260

email: honorsapps@ashland.edu

www.ashland.edu/honors-program

ashlanduniversityhonorsprogram.blogspot.com

Follow Ashland University Honors Program

Follow auhonorsprogramcontinued on the next page

Fall FunBy Shelby Stoltz

Core Class Spotlight: Race, Ethnic, and Minority Issues (continued)

Honors RetreatAbout 80 honors students spent a weekend in a hotel in Bellville during this year’s honors retreat! They participated in community-building activities, discussed the summer reading An Enemy of the People, and met with the Honors Executive Board to plan the year’s events. Some students also joined Program Director Dr. Weidenhamer and his wife on a canoe trip down the Mohican River.

Fall Honors LectureHonors students heard Darryl Bellamy present “Leading Fearlessly.” Bellamy challenged students to identify their fears, helping them understand the reality of fear in leadership and encouraging students to step up both on and off-campus. The experience showed the audience that they are not alone in their fears and taught them steps for dealing with fear. One honors student commented that it “inspired [her] to take advantage of opportunities even if [she’s] not so confident about them,” another said she learned “it was possible to overcome fears.”

Peer Mentor Pumpkin CarvingHonors mentors and mentees met as a group to celebrate Halloween. They carved pumpkins and competed in a costume contest, taking time to relax from classwork and further develop their mentoring relationships.

MastermindsA group of honors students traveled downtown Ashland for a trip to the Masterminds game lounge at the start and end of this semester. They had evenings of food and fun-filled games

Service OpportunitiesThis semester, Honors students donated hygiene items, toys, and non-perishable food items to be distributed in the form of Operation Christmas Child boxes and Blessing Bags for the Ashland Salvation Army Kroc Center.

Cedar Point HalloweekendsA group of Honors students went to Cedar Point’s Halloweekends to ride coasters as high as their academic abilities! They enjoyed the coasters, haunted houses, and fall festivities of the evening as a brief break from classwork.

Zoo LightsHonors students again traveled off campus together, this time to see the Christmas lights at the Columbus Zoo! The event was free for students who brought 5 non-perishable food items to donate to the Zoo.

have to say.” The classroom is not a place for the sheer rejection of ideas, but rather the exploration of prejudice in modern society.

The students are grateful for the chance to discuss humanitarian values rooted in reality, not simply an unfounded sense of idealism. In other words, they enjoy the real-world application that they are now able to support with information from articles and primary sources. Mariel Leatherman, a freshman in the Honors program, explained that acknowledging prejudice in the classroom allowed her to see it everyday as well. She called the class a “worthwhile” experience, due to its ability to mix old history and new perspectives.

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Faces of the Honors ProgramBy Shelby Stoltz

www.ashland.edu | 3

Peer Mentor Q&A By Ellissa Chambliss

Honors Peer Mentors are assigned based on majors, minors, and interests to help incoming students adjust to AU and the Honors Program. They participate in events such as an ice cream social, pumpkin carving, and an ugly Christmas sweater contest! Noah Ford is a first-year, international political studies and political economy student with the Honors Program this fall. His peer mentor is Grey Johnston, a sophomore political science and history student.

Q: What do you think is the most important aspect of the Honors Peer Mentor Program?

Noah: The most important aspect of the Peer Mentor Program is to just provide someone you know already on campus. With Grey as my mentor I found it easier to talk to people, especially upperclassmen. The first few weeks of college can be intimidating and a peer mentor helped mitigate some of that stress by helping provide a comforting atmosphere.

Grey: At least to me, the most important aspect of the Honors Peer Mentor Program is the opportunity to build into an incoming student. There is so much confusion, anxiety, and fear that comes with going to a new place. It’s about both being with and building into the incoming class. Helping them along the roadblocks, and being their first friend on campus. Setting the tone for their university experience.

Q: How often do you two meet? Is it only for peer mentor events or do you do things outside of the program?

Noah: We’ve eaten dinner together before and went to Olive Garden for Grey’s birthday (Happy 20th!). Doing stuff like this just helps you enjoy college more and provides a fun, fulfilling experience. I would definitely encourage hanging out with your peer mentor!

Q: What aspects of university life does the peer mentor help with?

Noah: Peer Mentors can help adjusting to the campus life… Grey

and I both happen to be from the great state of Texas, so we’ve kinda experienced the same thing as far as moving a thousand miles from our home. Grey’s already been here a year though so he’s able to help me adjust to being so far away from home.

Grey: Learning the flow of college life, answering questions that you think that you probably know the answer to but aren’t quite sure, making friends, and helping out with developing good study habits. With degree plans, capstones, major/minor requirements, and the ever-looming insecurity of not knowing every detail, a peer mentor helps to guide their mentees through these hurdles.

Q: What’s been your favorite event so far & why?

Noah: My favorite activity was the Honors retreat. It was so nice to meet the Honors community as well as some of my fellow freshmen, it was a great event to get to know people.

Grey: Pumpkin Carving, I had literally never done it before.

December Graduates

Kaitlyn BaileyCapstone Title: Answering the Battle Cry of Freedom: Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and the Call to Noble Action

Mentor: Dr. Jason Stevens

Majors: History & Political Science

Minor: Ethics

Quote: “We must love them both, those whose opinions we share and those whose opinions we reject, for both have labored in the search for truth, and both have helped us in finding it.”

– St. Thomas Aquinas

Kiana ZieglerCapstone Title: Meditation of the Flesh- Self-Therapy for Chronic Illness

Mentor: Dr. Keith Dull

Majors: Fine Art (Painting Concentration) & Commercial Art (Graphic Design Concentration)

Quote: “Find what you love and let it kill you.” – Charles Bukowski

Esther GoodellCapstone Title: Analysis of Program Effectiveness for the Life Calling Class I, Community Services Club, and Business Internships at Ashland University

Mentor: Professor Kris Hovsepian

Major: Marketing

Minor: Entrepreneurship

Quote: “Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace, the soul that knows it not, knows no release from little things.” – Amelia Earhart

Elizabeth TakacsCapstone Title: Replication Study of ‘Going Green to Be Seen; Status, Reputation, and Conspicuous Conservation’

Mentor: Dr. Chris Chartier

Major: Psychology

Minor: Social Work

Quote: “And now that you don’t have to be perfect, you can be good.”

– John Steinbeck

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The Honors Grecian Odyssey: An Epic AdventureBy Madeline Worcester

The city of Athens may be mentally preserved as a fragment of Ancient Greece, but the reality is something much more familiar: the sound of constant honking, traffic and tourists on every road, small buildings juxtaposed with vibrant personalities bustling through the streets. Athens may not exude Greece’s traditional textbook images of hydras and minotaurs, but it does feature a captivating culture that extends through the entire country.

A group of thirty-five Honors Program students—along with Dr. Christopher Swanson, former program director, and Becky Schaaf, former program coordinator—traveled to Greece last summer as a study abroad experience. They braved the sea of Grecian marble and concrete for a total of ten days, spanning from May 6 through the 16.

According to junior Jessica Myers, the flights were long and numerous but the impact of traveling to Greece was almost immediate.

“I woke up with about a half hour left in the flight,” said Myers. “I could just see the coast of Athens as we were landing. And it was kind of this moment of seeing these gorgeous mountains, this gorgeous view and being like oh, I’m actually landing in this place that I’ve dreamed about going to for a really long time.”

The group toured many historical sites over the course of the trip, such as the Acropolis and the Parthenon. Some of their favorite experiences, however, stemmed from adventures beyond the standard tours.

Kara Hollinger, a sophomore, said her favorite experience was traveling to an abandoned citadel. Students were given the chance to explore the grounds on their own before departing.

“There’s grass everywhere and it’s just…a very romantic setting,” Hollinger said. “You could see where the well used to be, so it was really beautiful the way that nature took over this old city...It literally felt like being in a novel.”

Myers illustrated another experience from the Temple of Poseidon, in which some group members scaled a cliff and physically encountered broken pieces of fallen temple pillars.

“Most of the temples are [archaeological] sights on Greece—you can’t touch anything,” she said. “You’re not allowed, you will get yelled at…[but] I actually got to touch and feel this piece of history.”

This study abroad experience was offered through the Honors 390 course, which is an interdisciplinary seminar broken into four smaller sections of material. Honors 390 is offered every semester for students in the program, but it is only tied to a trip every other spring. Each of the sections had something to do with Greece, whether that meant studying Homer’s The Odyssey or delving into classic Greek philosophers.

Hollinger found studying mythology through The Odyssey to be beneficial in determining certain locations’ contexts and history; for example, understanding “why you were at the temple of Poseidon and why you were by the sea.” She noted that these myths are still prevalent in America’s culture today, dominating the western image of Greece. Series like Percy Jackson and the Olympians popularize and educate the masses on these traditional myths, even at a younger age. Hollinger explained that she reread this particular series herself before traveling this summer, although the group couldn’t find any

copies translated into Greek while on the trip.

Myers found that the details about modern Greece were the most beneficial for the trip, like learning about the country’s government and economics. For her, it provided a practical application for the trip.

“When you think about Greece, so often you think about Ancient Greece,” she said. “Say you’re going to Germany...you’re going to think about some of their history but you’re also like, ‘Germany’s a country! I know what they do.’”

On the contrary, the version of Greece perceived by modern tourists is far more glorified. It takes traveling personally to places like Athens to get a concrete understanding of a country.

Overall, the Honors Grecian excursion was both intellectually and culturally fulfilling to those students who attended. The next study abroad trip for the Honors 390 class will be in May, 2021 to the German and Swiss Alps.

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This past year, my dad was interviewed at his job for a web series this company had to promote a product. It was a few simple questions to get to know everyone-- nothing special. One of the questions was, “What’s your favorite movie?” I know my dad has a plethora of favorite movies: “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” “Pretty in Pink,” “Silence of the Lambs,” the list goes on and on. What he said surprised me more than any number of movies he could have said. “The Lion King.” It was shocking because that’s my favorite movie... but I never assumed he loved watching it just as much as I do. When asked why it was his favorite, he responded, “It’s my daughter’s favorite. We’ve spent a lot of years watching

that movie and even if it’s not my favorite storyline, it reminds me of her.” In college, it’s easy to get wrapped up in yourself. You make new friends and join new clubs. Eventually, school takes over and you have to take time away from the fun to do work. It’s hard to commit time to sitting by yourself in your room when you’re used to seeing your friends every day, but sometimes it’s necessary. During that time, it’s easy to feel lonely. You aren’t constantly surrounded by friends to brighten your spirits when things get tough and it’s easy to forget that there’s someone there. Hearing that interview reminded me that I had someone with me at all times, even when I didn’t feel like it. Remember that in those difficult, crazy, busy times, someone is always on your side.

2019-2020 Honors Executive Board

President | Grey Johnston

Vice President | Jessica Myers

Secretary | Gracie Wilson

Treasurer | Konrad Hodgman

Public Relations | Serena Hollis

Freshman Representatives Hannah Myers, Mya Lockwood, Michelle Sant

Honors Bugle InternsEditor | Ellissa Chambliss

Assistant Editor | Shelby Stoltz

Writer | Madeline Worcester

Photographer | Mikayla Gypton

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Thank You

Thoughts from the Editor

After 12 years of directing the Honors Program, Dr. Chris Swanson has moved on to serve as the Chair of the Mathematics Dept. Taking Dr. Swanson’s position is Dr. Jeffrey Weidenhamer, a Trustees’ Distinguished Professor of Chemistry. Although he has big shoes to fill, we know that he will be a great addition to the Honors Program and continue its history of excellence. Along with Dr. Swanson’s departure is Becky Schaaf, who served as the Honors Program Coordinator for four years. She took a full-time position as the Program Director at the Ashland Salvation Army Kroc Center. Stepping into the coordinator role is Kim Pool, who has over ten years of experience in college advising and career counseling. We thank Dr. Swanson and Becky for all of the hard work they put into the Honors Program and wish them luck in their next endeavors. We also welcome Dr. Weidenhamer and Kim into their new roles in the Honors Program.