Lifestyle

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LIFESTYLE 9/26/26 8:38pm

Outdoor performances bring dancing to Elon’s neighborhoods

By Alannah Klingsporn

The annual Dancing in the Landscape kicked off Family Weekend Sept. 25. The event featured four performances across Elon’s Global Neighborhood. Assistant professor of dance and artistic director for Dancing in the Landscape Jasmine Powell says the performance is memorable because it takes place outside and in a different location each year.

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LIFESTYLE 9/25/26 8:27pm

David Brooks says to make more friends, develop social connections

By Sterling Jope and Abby Gravely

David Brooks thinks young adults should date more. The author and former columnist shared this idea to a sold-out audience in Alumni Gym on Sept. 25 as Elon University’s Fall Convocation speaker. Brooks said dating was a significant source of education for his generation. And a lack of dating isn’t the only challenge Generation Z faces when it comes to social connection, according to Brooks. 

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LIFESTYLE 9/22/26 11:11pm

Bingo girls bring energy to SUB Late Nights

By Sara Alfonzo Betancourt

To most people, they are known as the Bingo Girls. To the Student Union Board, they are Late Night chairs, and there is more to hosting bingo nights than meets the eye. Elon sophomores Alecks Mantell and Allison Bell are the faces of late-night bingo events hosted by SUB. Bingo nights are characterized by scoreboards, sought-after prizes and community felt outside of those events.

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LIFESTYLE 9/19/26 1:00pm

Memories of cooking with family spark hands-on cooking class

By Evan Cooper

Every Thursday morning in Colombia, the Montoya Posada family would gather in their grandma’s house. Over 20 people spending their time together and most importantly, cooking lunch. She said those memories are what inspired her to start El Centro’s in-person cooking classes called “Vamos a la Cocina,” meaning “Let’s go to the kitchen.”

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LIFESTYLE 9/19/26 11:25am

More than one identity: What it means to be Latine in the South

By Lilly Molina

Senior Bella Espinoza is from Athens, Tennessee, has fair skin, red hair and talks with a southern twang. Most people, she says, when they meet her, don’t believe that she is half Mexican. Espinoza said she wanted to embrace her Mexican side, but she was raised not knowing a lot about her Latine heritage, and growing up in rural Tennessee made it even harder to find a community that could teach her more about it.

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LIFESTYLE 9/19/26 12:15am

Tibet to Elon: Sand mandala represents message of balance, compassion

By Lily Mosbacher

Elon University’s Truitt Center for Religious and Spiritual Life welcomed a Tibetan Buddhist tradition to Elon this week through the Green Tara Sand Mandala, a three-day event focused on healing, compassion and learning about Buddhism. Tibetan Buddhist monk Geshe Sangpo crafted an intricate mandala from colorful sand in Numen Lumen Pavilion’s Sacred Space. Students, faculty and community members stopped by throughout the process to watch the design take shape. 

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LIFESTYLE 9/17/26 8:00am

Elon Law School dean follows through on tattoo deal

By Addison Hinson

Zak Kramer, dean of the Elon University School of Law, joined the faculty in 2023 where he met the class of 2025 as the students began their year of law school. The class made a deal with Kramer: if at least 85% of the class passed the bar exam on their first attempt, he would get a tattoo. Elon Law’s class of 2025 had a 91.96% first-time pass rate on the February 2026 North Carolina Bar Exam.

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LIFESTYLE 9/16/26 2:52pm

From student to senior minister: Elon alum returns to Elon Community Church

By Mia Torres

After nearly 15 years serving as a minister in Connecticut, the Rev. Jonathan Chapman is returning to Elon, this time as the senior minister of Elon Community Church. For Chapman, returning to Elon marks a chance to reconnect with the community that first shaped his path while beginning a new chapter of ministry.

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LIFESTYLE 9/15/26 11:58pm

Students dance into Hispanic Heritage Month at Elon

By Sara Alfonzo Betancourt

Tapping feet and swaying hips lined the bricks of Medallion Plaza at Elon University’s annual Hispanic Heritage Month kickoff. The kickoff is the first of many events to honor Latin American countries and their cultures. The event was hosted by El Centro and Elon’s Center for Race, Ethnicity and Diversity Education.

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LIFESTYLE 9/15/26 11:05pm

High-tech magician Trigg Watson brings ‘Magic for the Future’ to Elon

By Joe Michaeli

High-tech magician Trigg Watson brought smartphones, technology and audience participation together for “Magic for the Future” in McCrary Theatre on Sept. 15. Watson’s performance blended traditional illusion with technology people interact with in their everyday lives. Throughout the show, audience members were invited on stage and incorporated into several of his tricks.

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LIFESTYLE 9/14/26 7:57pm

Upcoming Elon Performing Arts production highlights community, resilience after 9/11

By Karsyn Vann

Audiences will experience an untold story of hope, resilience and the power of community when the curtain rises on Elon University’s upcoming production of “Come From Away,” the fall musical of the 2026-27 season. “Come From Away” is a musical written by Irene Sankoff and David Hein that tells the true story of 7,000 airline passengers stranded in Gander, Newfoundland, after U.S. airspace closed on Sept. 11, 2001. The show will run in McCrary Theatre from Oct. 30 to Nov. 7. 

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LIFESTYLE 9/13/26 4:06pm

‘Fun, fashion and fundraising, baby’: Local fashion show supports breast cancer nonprofit

By Amelia Metz

What began as a plan for a simple profit share at a Gibsonville boutique grew into something much larger. After some brainstorming, the owner of Pink Lola said her passion for fashion gave the team an answer: a runway show benefiting Little Pink Houses of Hope. Pink Lola hosted the fashion show Sept. 12, bringing together models, local businesses and community members to raise money for the Burlington-based nonprofit. 

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LIFESTYLE 9/12/26 3:21pm

Graham community gathers for annual 9/11 commemorative 5K

By Joe Michaeli

Nearly 500 runners and walkers gathered behind the Graham Fire Station on Sept. 12 for the city’s sixth annual 9/11 Commemorative 5K, honoring the lives lost in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The event included a 5K run and walk, a noncompetitive one-mile course, the First Responders Team Cup and a new Community Team Cup. Attendees could also participate in a blood drive, visit first responder vehicles and take part in a range of other activities.

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LIFESTYLE 9/10/26 11:34pm

Friends of the Alamance County Public Libraries return for fall book sale

By Charlotte Pfabe

The Friends of the Alamance County Public Libraries’ biannual book sale is back with 50,000 books, CDs, DVDs and other items stocked at May Memorial Library in Burlington. The sale runs Sept. 12-20. Members of the organization can start shopping a day early on Sept. 11.  

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LIFESTYLE 9/10/26 10:44am

Elon groups promote safe consumption with mocktail event

By Brinna Hayes

Students and faculty spanning across age groups, workforce positions and experiences joined together Sept. 9 to enjoy mocktail drinks around the patio of Lakeside Dining. SPARKS, or Students Promoting Awareness, Responsibility, Knowledge and Success, joined Peer Educators, Phoenix Free and Elon Dining to host the event. Phoenix Free supports students who want to be substance-free or have had negative substance experiences in the past.

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LIFESTYLE 9/2/26 11:52pm

Students and clubs connect at Fall Organization Fair

By Evan Cooper

Students and on-campus clubs filled Young Commons for Elon University’s 2026 Fall Organization Fair. Hosted by the Office of Student Involvement, the Organization Fair is a chance for students to see the different on-campus clubs and organizations open to them at Elon.

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LIFESTYLE 9/1/26 5:05pm

Student finds her community 3,000 miles away from home

By Emma Perman

For many freshmen, moving into college meant packing the practical things like clothes, toiletries and pictures of family and friends; to make an unfamiliar room feel a little more like home. For Jayne Gilchrist, that also meant making room for her childhood stuffed animal and a pair of cowboy boots. 

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LIFESTYLE 8/31/26 8:51pm

Elon’s Common Reading looks beyond the basketball court

By Elissa Leka

For some students, a book about basketball might sound like an unlikely Common Reading. For Elon’s incoming class, however, poet and essayist Hanif Abdurraqib’s “There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension” could offer a different path into conversations about identity, community and belonging, as freshman begin their college journey this semester. 

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LIFESTYLE 8/30/26 12:36am

Elon University’s BSU welcomes students to cookout

By Emma Luckman

Elon University’s Black Student Union came together on Phi Beta Kappa Commons to welcome new students to their Welcome B(l)ack Cookout on August 28th. They had food, games and a student DJ to fill the space. Vice President of Special Events Juliette Elise Hill said this event is a space for inclusivity and collectiveness among the Black community. 

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LIFESTYLE 8/24/26 2:16pm

Elon University Music Theatre Program continues award-winning education

By Megan Walsh

Dedication to the craft, leadership and unique opportunities are just some of the features of Elon University Music Theatre, or “MT” program, that faculty and students said make their program award-winning. In May 2026, the Music Theatre program was included in a Hollywood Reporter article listing the top 25 drama schools in the world, and in August 2026, Elon was named the top school in the Princeton Review’s “Best College Theater” category. 

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