Elizabethtown College is home to many fields of study, from the arts to the sciences. Our college truly values this diversity of academics. While some may be in an Organic Chemistry Lab for 3 hours every Monday recrystallizing with Dr. Walby, others of us may spend their fair share of Tuesday evenings working tirelessly to mold their next big project out of big clumps of clay. While all of these fields are uniquely difficult, one thing remains true for all: it’s our integrity, drive and creativity in the pursuit of knowledge that separates us. This college is built off the ideas and work of its students, faculty, as well as staff and in an effort to display this out of the ashes, one course has risen to the challenge.
This past week I had the opportunity to get in touch with Dr. Wendy Bellew in the hopes of finding out more about a course she teaches titled, “ED360 – Integrated Strategies for Creative Expression in Early Childhood”.
“The emphasis of the course is practicing how to incorporate creativity – fine arts, performing arts, music, movement, critical thinking, literature – into elementary classrooms, how to both infuse creativity into learning, and how to learn through creativity,” Bellew said.
One student speaking on the importance of this subject said, “Creativity is important for letting students express themselves, creating a positive and fun environment, and promoting learning and growth while also building an inclusive community,” second-year biology secondary education major Hannah Sharp said. This course seems to have it all, a culmination of a variety of fields leading a creation distinct in all manners of ways.
Furthermore, it seems this course offers an exciting opportunity for its students in the form of a project of sorts. The IDEA Lab in the High Library is a hub of knowledge and creativity and it was through this outlet that a project was formulated. A project that could and would be shared throughout this campus community. So this semester’s group “felt strongly that their emphasis wanted to be the ‘Community of Etown,’” Bellew said. She went on to explain, “They planned, prepared and are now implementing a campus-wide scrapbook where all members of the campus community can upload a picture showing ‘what it’s like to be a Jay’ for them. After the pictures are developed, students can return to add their photo to one large scrapbook.”
Looking forward it seems that this project will be highly beneficial to the campus community in more ways than one. This project will allow for the campus to become an overall more tight-knit community, bringing together students and faculty from many various backgrounds. This in turn will also craft bridges, not only between majors and fields of study but also between students of differing years.
“This is an exhilarating opportunity to unite students and faculty alike,” Camdyn Buohl, first-year biochemistry major, said. This will also allow students to reflect on the future of times of old, to reminisce on their soon-to-be missed outgoing seniors and some leaving staff.
This will also allow for new students in the future to begin to embrace the many traditions of the college and this campus in general. To begin the transition into what it means to be a student here at Etown.
“The class hopes this scrapbook can be displayed in a place where it can be viewed by current students and prospective students alike,” Bellew said.
