Andrew Freck ’21 — As my bus pulled up to the manor which was to serve as my home for the next five weeks, I couldn’t help but be awestruck. This summer I was lucky enough to participate in a program at Harlaxton College in Grantham, England, a small town situated about 2.5 hours north of London. Not your ‘run-of-the-mill’ internship, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to study in a different country for an entire month, while still under the supervision and instruction of Wabash College faculty. While at Harlaxton, I participated in, and received credit for, a biology class taught by Wabash professor Dr. Anne Bost. As a student in BIO199: Viruses and Public Health, I learned about the life cycle of viruses, as well as their other biological implications, through a multidisciplinary lens. For instance, as we discussed on our first day in class, ‘health’, even as defined by the World Health Organization, has meaning well beyond medical science. When considering the “state of complete physical, mental, and social wellbeing, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” which is characteristic of a ‘healthy’ individual, for example, it is clear that knowledge of other fields like economics or philosophy is also necessary. Thanks to BIO199, I was able to gain a better understanding of the challenges facing our world, as well as more specific insight into how viruses spread and are treated. Along with this, I also had the opportunity to travel to many other countries through excursions provided by Harlaxton. These excursions allowed our biology class to step beyond the classroom, applying what we studied and seeing many of the historical places and artifacts about which we learned. For example, my class and I had the opportunity to take a field trip into London to see the model of DNA built by Nobel-winning scientists James Watson and Francis Crick. I would like to thank Dr. Anne Bost for all the work she put into ensuring that this summer course was not only interesting and informative, but also thought-provoking, and for always pushing her students to think about the real-world implications of what is discussed in the classroom. I would also like to thank the Dill Fund for making this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity possible and for helping me further my education. I truly believe that the cornerstone of Wabash College is its network of generous, caring, and knowledgeable professors and alumni which never cease in working to provide fantastic learning opportunities, like the one I had the pleasure of participating in, for its current students. Thank you to all of the staff at Harlaxton College, Dr. Anne Bost, and all of Wabash’s generous alumni, specifically the Dill Fund, for making this opportunity possible.
