By Rachel McLemore ‘12
Nearly 50 Hendrix students have taken their love of learning beyond the allotted school-year and enrolled in a variety of courses during Maymester. From May 16 to June 3, Maymester students are enrolled in an intensive course of study taking one class for two and a half hours a day, five days a week.
Maymester is an opportunity for students to earn a credit towards graduation while also offering a chance to explore topics that might not be offered during the academic year.
This year’s Maymester courses include:
- Western Art History Survey I
- Robotics Exploration Studio
- Creative Writing: Building (and Bending) Narrative
- Short Fiction
- Crossings: Creating Cultural Identity through Food and Language: United States and China in Dialogue
- Introduction to Game Theory
- Calculus I
- Human Rights in Political Theory
- Sleep and Dreaming
- Social Psychology in Film
- Physics in Literature
Eric Monroe, a senior biology major, expressed excitement about Maymester because of the opportunity to engage material “in a more unique learning atmosphere.”
Professors who teach Maymester courses also experience a different educational atmosphere.
“One of the exciting things for me about Maymester was the idea of teaching what we really wanted to teach, what we thought students would like to learn about, but that didn’t fall into the traditional course list,”said Dr. Jennifer Peszka, assistant professor of pscyhology.
Students in “Cross-Cultural Dialogue: Creating Identity through Food and Language” made videos, posted to YouTube, as part of their class assignment.
The course was taught by Dr. Jay McDaniel, professor of religious studies; Jo Ann Stevens, assistant director of the Writing Center; Dr. Songhe Wang, visiting professor of Chinese language and culture; Dr. Carol West, professor of English studies; and Stella Capek; professor of sociology.
The videos were made by students from different cultures – China, the United States, and Burma – to share recipes from their home countries and teach others how to make them. Vivian Dong, a sophomore from China, and two other Chinese students, who were teaching assistants and participants, created videos from the evening sessions. Vivian and Haiyan Huang, a junior from China, received Odyssey credit for this. The third assistant was You Tian from China, who graduated in May with a degree in economics and business.
The videos can be viewed at:
http://www.jesusjazzbuddhism.org/good-taste-this-summer.html
It isn’t all work and no play for these students.
After classes, the Student Activities staff has planned a number of activities including game nights, sand volleyball, free movie nights, and dining outings.
Tonya Hale, director of Student Activities, said that these activities are planned to provide some things to do so that Maymester students a fun counterbalance to the fairly intense workload.
Maymester has benefits outside the classroom as well. According to Kelsey Manning, a junior psychology major, it is “adding to my Hendrix experience: I have met some amazing new people.”
Rachel McLemore is a senior history major from Marion, Ark. She is a student writer in the Office of College Relations and a member of the Office of Admission’s Hendrix Experience Ambassador Team (HEAT).