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(09/11/14 4:25pm)
The week before classes resumed this fall, Elon University sophomore Chann Little was back-to-school shopping and spending time with family like everybody else. The only difference between Little’s end-of-summer routine and every other Elon students’ is that his outings were being documented by an award-winning MTV crew. Little is the star of an upcoming “True Life” episode.
(09/03/14 10:26pm)
Elon University alum Andrew Creech asked himself: Should students have to drive into Burlington late at night for a bottle opener? How about Advil? Gum? He doesn’t think so.
(08/27/14 11:11pm)
For the international students who come to study at Elon University, one thing is clear: Establishing yourself in a new environment so many miles away from home is challenging. Many international students experience anxiety after temporarily leaving behind languages, cultures and families that shape their identities. Becoming familiar with the multifaceted aspects of college life can be a lot to juggle. For more than a decade, the Elon Local Friends Program has been helping to lessen the distance from home for many of these students.
Elon Local Friends is a group of Burlington and Elon residents who are united under the banner of making Elon’s international students feel at home. From organizing gatherings, sending Valentine’s Day goodie bags, cooking authentic Thanksgiving meals and hosting apple-bobbing contests, the group has planned a variety of activities for international students to attend for the past twelve years.
Marj Bennett and Anne Smith, two Elon residents, pioneered the initiative and formed the group in the fall of 2003.
“The first thing we had to do was make it clear to Elon what our purpose and intention was,” Bennett said. “We were not there to spread any religion. We were there because we wanted to meet international students and create a community for them outside Elon University. Once we established that trust, the program really took off.”
Bennett, who has spent the majority of her life in various countries around the world, said she and Smith understand the challenges that come with sending your child thousands of miles away.
“[My children] were definitely nervous about coming back to study in the United States, especially because they had been abroad for so long, Bennett said. “But people opened their homes to them and helped them adjust once they got there, and that really made a difference.”
Margaret Gurd, who began volunteering with the program from its early stages, says she had no trouble jumping on board.
“My mother would contact the dean in our local college for the names of students [who could not] visit their families during Thanksgiving,” Gurd said. “When I heard that Marj was going to be doing this, I knew I wanted to join.”
Through acts like these, her family became especially close with a student who stayed at their home from Thailand. Gurd recalled dropping the young woman off at the airport and bidding her goodbye as one of her own.
With approximately 50 volunteers and more than 60 regularly attending international students, the group has been rapidly expanding since its inception. And the group’s growth has helped foster bonds in the international community in addition to Elon’s local community.
Donna Harwood, the current leader of the program, is looking forward to welcoming the new international students and has already set dates for six activities. To mix things up, the group started this year with a new initiative: welcoming the parents of incoming international students when they arrive at Elon.
“We truly enjoy spending time with the students and learning about their different experiences,” Donna’s husband Ralph Harwood said. “We’re definitely thinking about expanding on our events. There are a lot of things that happen throughout the year like the Carousel Festival in October, all kinds of art and food exhibits, and it would be great to explore them with the international students,” he said.
Junior Ameya Benegal from Singapore said he always enjoys attending activities initiated by the group not only because it strengthens the international student community but also the amount of care and interest that is put in by every member.
“One of the things I love about the Local Friends is that they sincerely want to know who you are, where you’re from and what your culture is,” Benegal said. “They’re not just asking questions. They’re genuinely interested.”
Benegal added the bonds he has formed have allowed him to form a deeper understanding of holidays celebrated in the United States.
“When the campus completely emptied for last Thanksgiving, I was fortunate enough to be invited to the home of [one of the families I met through the program]. We get a lot of these holidays off, but many of them, like Thanksgiving, are uniquely American holidays. So it really meant a lot to get the chance to actually experience one the way the holiday is experienced [here] and share it with other people,” he said.
Senior Le To, from Vietnam, who has established connections with Local Friends from her first year, said these bonds have transformed holidays and events that, for many international students, only meant feeling homesick.
“I truly feel like the Local Friends are my family in the United States. Thanks to them, I feel more at home, especially during special occasions when most families are together like move-in day, parents weekend and Thanksgiving,” To said. “Elon international students and the Elon community in general are so lucky to have the group, and we can never be thankful enough.”
Bennett encourages international students to continue forming connections with Local Friends and to welcome the new and returning students to attend the various activities planned.
“The relationships we create are beneficial in the ways we learn about different cultures, and at the same time, international students are shown that there is more than one kind of American,” Bennett said.
(05/18/14 6:55pm)
It was just shy of four years ago, that vast canopies of oak trees engulfed the skies above unfamiliar, wide-eyed faces during Fall Convocation. In the midst of nervousness, excitement and confusion, each student from the Elon University Class of 2014 received an acorn, a gift that 18 classes of students before them also received.
This is the tradition inspired by Furman Moseley, a graduate of the Class of 1956 and a Californian entrepreneur in the timber industry.
In his 1991 commencement address, Moseley gave each graduate a redwood sapling to symbolize the importance of growth through hard work. Recognizing the value behind the idea, President Fred Young established the practice as a tradition the next year, swapping redwood trees to oak trees. President Leo Lambert later completed the tradition by giving the acorn to new freshmen.
Staying faithful to Elon’s 23-year-old tradition, this commencement day, the now-graduates will receive a sapling, a reflection of their growth, achievement and intellectual nourishment. Just like the graduates, each sapling has its own story. Each seed sprouted at its own pace and faced its own challenges, but all saplings collectively survived an epic journey of growth.
As the graduates bid Elon farewell, they will find themselves in familiar seats, filled with similar sentiments but possessing a newfound development, sense of accomplishment and vision for the future. The saplings and the graduates will travel far, and though they will plant their roots elsewhere, their collective foundations will be rooted in their hearts as they continue growing parallel to one another.
Rachel Southmayd, a member of the Class of 2013, planted her sapling in a pot on her balcony, right next to her fiance David Campbell’s sapling.
“Receiving our saplings was a lot like getting our acorns. The first thing on your mind is, ‘Now that I’ve been given this thing, this symbol, what do I do with it?’ For us, the answer both times was, ‘Treasure it,’” she said. “This was Elon’s gift to us, much like our Elon education, and we take the responsibility of caring for our trees and the lessons Elon taught us very seriously.”
These saplings, although ordinary plants, are gateways for alumni to return to their alma mater. They are a reminder of their former selves and the changes they have undergone since Elon. As such, they are cherished.
“Two days after graduation, I went to a nursery to get instructions on how to care for our trees and just last week, we transplanted them from their ‘starter pots’ to larger ones to allow them to continue to grow on our balcony of our apartment until we move somewhere permanent,” she said. “Today, the trees have gotten taller, and like us, they stand on their own better now than they did a year ago.”
Other saplings have traveled to various corners of the nation — including the sandy beaches of California.
Dan Quackenbush, ‘13, had a classmate ship his sapling to him in Santa Monica Pier.
“Because of all the separation anxiety and nostalgia that recent grads feel after leaving Elon, it’s nice to have a strong reminder of where you came from and everything that happened to bring you here,” he said. “I would say that the person that I was when I first came to Elon is far from the person that I am now, the same way that a sapling is far from the acorn that it started as.”
Other sapling stories have not been as successful. Elizabeth Neirch, ‘13, lost her sapling to the blades of a lawn mower.
“The morning after I had planted him in a plot near my house, I was outside and saw that he had been viciously cut down. And by viciously, I mean the gardener hadn’t even noticed my little sapling that took four years to get, and he got mauled by the blades of the lawn mower,” she said. “Hopefully the rumors aren’t true that where you plant your seedlings points to what your future holds.”
While the prospects of Nerich suffering a similar fate are slim, she said she believes planting the sapling helped quell her nostalgia.
“I planted it because I had a major case of graduation blues,” she said. “I spent four years at Elon, and after I had packed up my house and said goodbye to some of my best friends, I really wanted to have a way to stay connected to Elon.”
Tyler West, who graduated in 2011, gave his sapling to his grandmother as he believed her green thumb would be able to provide the nourishment that it needed.
“I knew she’d take good care of it. She planted it outside her kitchen window so she could keep an eye on it,” West said. “She staked it, waters it, takes pictures of it. I guarantee it’s been nurtured more than any other Elon oak tree.”
West, who has kept the acorn he received as a freshmen, said he never considered throwing such symbolically important gifts away.
“I never throw anything away. The gifts are lasting souvenirs of my time at Elon,” he said. “The sapling is taller than me now, but it still has a lot of growing to do. And I suppose that’s how I consider myself.”
Adam Constantine, Class of 2010, said he has never once regretted his decision to plant the sapling.
“Being able to see that sapling turn into a young oak was a surprisingly satisfying experience. Every time I come home, I see it and I can’t help but think about my time at Elon,” he said.
Constantine said his now eight-foot tall oak has grown with him through the challenges and successes that many alumni face after graduation.
“As silly as ‘growing alongside my sapling’ may sound, it really does reflect what after school life has been,” he said. “There are times where everything seems to be budding with potential. Then there are times where it seems nothing is going right and your life seems to just go dormant. However, no matter how many trials you go through, you keep getting stronger, keep growing taller and dig your roots further into the ground.”
(04/17/14 8:43pm)
Elon’s commitment to diversity and global engagement has increasingly found a role in all aspects of our student life — classroom experiences, social activities and, most popularly, the food.
(04/03/14 10:53pm)
This weekend hundreds of Elon University students will be participating in ElonTHON, a 24-hour dance marathon committed to raising money and awareness for Duke Children’s Hospital.
(03/12/14 6:57pm)
Lake Mary Nell’s swan is a familiar presence. Her grace and beauty have charmed many who pass the lake. She dominates the area with her majestic features, and people are often compelled to stop and take a picture. Whether your interaction was limited to a picture, or if it extended to several minutes of swan-watching, you might have wondered, “Why is she alone?”
(03/02/14 7:24am)
As college students involved in a variety of organizations, working around an extensive class schedule and pursuing various leadership roles on campus, it’s very easy to get solely absorbed in the environment around you. Elon University senior Ashley Fowler did not succumb to this pressure. Since the fall of her sophomore year, she has moved beyond Elon’s boundaries by passionately researching LGBTQ rights in Lithuania and Croatia.
(02/19/14 6:34pm)
Whether you spent this Valentine’s Day showering your loved one with chocolate and flowers, gathering the courage to ask someone on a first date or lounging around in your pajamas and preaching singles awareness, one thing is certain: Valentine’s Day is what you make of it.
(02/05/14 6:24pm)
Senior year is perhaps the most exciting time for many college students. With graduation just around the corner, seniors start to take the necessary steps to culminate the fruits of their four years of hard work into one final product. Gabriel Noble was among the many seniors who returned to Elon University this fall with the same goal in mind. Instead of preparing for his final classes, however, he was sitting in an office being notified that he would not be able to graduate because of outstanding financial dues and federal loans.
(01/21/14 10:43pm)
Dealing with fall’s deadlines, sleep deprivation and caffeine-induced craziness was so last semester. With nine hours for yourself everyday, Winter Term gives students plenty of time to relax, procrastinate (without consequence) and sleep! But, if you’re tired of stalking all the pictures of your friends on study abroad trips, and if you’re worried about how much time you have spent watching copious amounts of cat videos or back-to-back episodes of (insert any Netflix show here), then here’s some advice from five peers on different ways you could be spending all that time.
(11/19/13 2:34am)
I stare blankly at the wide array of options in front of me and blink. As my eyes race over the different brands, waves of questions flood my brain. What is a wiener? Who is Frank? How can a sausage possibly be vegetarian?! Organic sausages…what does that even mean? Wait — is a sausage the same thing as a hot dog? I realize my seemingly undemanding trip to Target is going to be incredibly arduous.
(11/05/13 9:54pm)
The terrifying prospect of not seeing your classmates again is in the minds of every college graduate.
(11/05/13 6:14am)
In November 2003, Michaelle Graybeal decided to pursue her passion for creation by opening All That JAS, a boutique store offering unique apparel and customized merchandise to fit individual styles.
(10/24/13 4:40pm)
Practice makes perfect, as the saying goes. In fact, bestselling author Malcolm Gladwell once said perfection requires spending 10,000 hours honing your skills.