Students write and publish book over winter term
Winter Term classes can be stressful with a tight timetable, but Elon has a group of students who fought that timetable, and now their coursework can be bought across the world. Identity, culture shock and embracing independence are just a handful of issue students can face while traveling abroad. "Being in a place where you're not comfortable with anything, you really see who you really are underneath," said Jordan Joshua, an Elon Senior. This winter term, with the power of the pen, students who have studied abroad had an opportunity to share their experiences by writing a book. "It not only goes with the materialistic and the pretty surface level things of going abroad or coming back, but it also goes into deep personal analysis," said Emily Delaplane, a teacher's assistant to the class. Elon Professor Tom Arcaro set the pace for his class from day one without hesitation. "When he said we were going to be writing I book I thought... that's heavy," Joshua said. Despite the amount of work, Arcaro used teaching techniques that helped get the creative juices flowing. In a typical class you are assigned papers for work, but for this class, students wrote blog posts about specific personal experiences, some of which ended up in the book. Since 72 percent of Elon students study abroad before graduating, the class agreed on the importance of analyzing their life-changing experiences. "This is the reflection that students need when they come back, or before they go," Joshua said. The students aren't the only contributors.
