Vibrant yellow stars illuminate the walls of the Innovation, Design, Expression, Art (IDEA) Lab in the Elizabethtown College High Library, personifying the hopes, dreams and ambitions of Etown students: bright and bold. Each person experiences an ardent curiosity as they lean on optimism, anticipating a future marked by stability, happiness and success.
The High Library is hosting Reach for the Stars: Community Wishes in its IDEA lab from Aug. 23 to Sept. 10. This event encourages students to share their aspirations by adding a star on the wall, ultimately creating a constellation in which individuals can reflect on both their wishes and those of their peers.
High Library director and event organizer Sarah Penniman recognized the importance of implementing this new activity as the IDEA Lab’s first project of the semester.
“We were just thinking that this has been a really challenging, tough year in the world, and we were so excited to have our community come back together in person this fall. We just thought, what could we do to maybe add a moment of positivity in somebody’s day and just focus a little bit on hopes and dreams for the future?” she said.
The COVID-19 pandemic forced students to alter their goals; it hindered their ability to foster their education and stripped them of social interactions in and out of the classroom–coalescing into a collective sense of loss of community, but Penniman is seeing a change within students this semester.
“There are messages about making friends [and] reconnecting with the people that they weren’t able to see as much last year in person. Just lots of different but inspiring stories for student success, faculty success and then just more general hopes and dreams too,” she said.
The wishes vary from specific, personal hopes to those of a more global perspective that truly capture the value of this event. One student wrote, “I hope to make a life for myself at Etown,” while another expressed a desire for “Safety for the people of Afghanistan.” Although individuals have different goals, there is a consistent overlap: hope. Each student has identified that even after a situation in which the world appeared to be engulfed by darkness, a glimmer of light will eternally glow.
First-year Gabe Karl continues to kindle this light, wishing to participate in service this semester after reflecting on the college’s motto, “Educate for Service.”
