The spring tradition, CELEBRATE! week, is comprised of events honoring Elon University students’ achievements in academics, but many students recognize the week by one day less of class.
“I do definitely think it is underappreciated,” said senior Brenna Lakeson.
During her freshman year, Lakeson spent the day of Student Undergraduate Research Forum (SURF) at the zoo, but said her experience as an orientation leader helped her better grasp the value of the event.
[quote]I really don’t know very much about CELEBRATE! week, I’m afraid. - Sam Davis, sophomore[/quote]
“I think a lot of students see it as a day off instead of a day to attend the seminars, and I do wish people took more of an advantage of it to learn and support others,” she said.
Provost Steven House designed CELEBRATE! week, which occurs this year April 22-28, while serving as the Dean of Elon College 12 years ago to mark exemplary achievements in scholarship and service.
“I think it is significant in that we can come together as a community and really appreciate some of the great work that students and faculty are doing together,” said Paul Miller, director of undergraduate research and coordinator of SURF Day, a prominent component of the week.
Nevertheless, aside from awareness of the presentations during SURF Day, students express a shallow understanding of the week.
“I really don’t know very much about CELEBRATE! week, I’m afraid,” said sophomore Sam Davis.
Although Davis attended student presentations last year and described SURF Day as a good opportunity to learn from student research, he said he wished he knew more about the remainder of the week that is important to the institution.
Senior Alexandra Garced indentified a lack of publicity as a hindrance to student participation. She said she is unaware who is presents and where the event occurs. Furthermore, transfer students sophomore Lear Haninovich and junior Tina Tozzi said they were uninformed about the designated day until a week prior to the event when they learned students had no class SURF Day. Nevertheless, Tozzi said she was still unaware of what took place during the day off from class.
“Maybe I haven’t been paying attention or maybe it hasn’t been expressed to me,” Tozzi said.
While information concerning the week of events is available on E-net, Garced said she thinks students are not typically inclined to go to the website for campus information. Lack of knowledge regarding the event deters students from participating, according to sophomore Alexa Zapicchi, who spent last SURF Day at the beach.
“It wasn’t really publicized that much to me,” she said. “I didn’t have an interest in it because I didn’t know what it was.”
[quote]It wasn’t really publicized that much to me. I didn’t have an interest in it because I didn’t know what it was. - Alexa Zapicchi, sophomore[/quote]
Informing students of specific presentations relevant to their field of study would better motivate students to attend, Zapicchi said. Supporting friends who are presenting also encourages students to attend sessions throughout the day, according to senior Kelly McNamara, a SURF Day presenter this year.
Her experience observing others present encouraged her to share her research, she said.
“I think it’s really important to celebrate what work people have been doing,” she said.
Attending presentations reveals academic possibilities for all students, according to Miller. Motivating others to present supports a consistent exchange of ideas, he said.
“There are a lot of interesting presentations, novel ideas and significant findings,” he said. “And it’s significant for all involved and opens your eyes to what is possible for you. Even if you’re not a presenter it doesn’t mean you won’t be next year.”
April Post, senior lecturer in Spanish, also promotes the week as an indication of academic possibilities.
“It’s disappointing for me when I don’t see students participating because it shows that they’re not supporting their fellow classmates and they’re missing out on the opportunity to see what working with a faculty mentor can be like,” Post said. “If they don’t know what that experience is like, they’ll be less likely to do it themselves in the future.”
Post said SURF Day enables her to find research relevant to her course to explain the connections between studies in and out of the classroom.
While junior David Kerman said he recognizes the importance of celebrating academic enrichment, talk of CELEBRATE! week and SURF Day is usually absent from student conversation.
“I think there definitely is a disconnect (between the perceived value of the week), because to administration and faculty it is this great thing, but I don’t know if they really realize that, other than the students that are participating in it, not that many people go to see stuff,” Zapicchi said.