Marlon Lewis ’20 — Before I begin, I would like to first give thanks to Michael Dill ‘71 for his generosity and commitment to giving back to Wabash. The Dill Fund was established to support the educational mission of the College by enabling students to explore off-campus opportunities outside of the normal academic year. I was given the opportunity to pursue a workshop in Penland North Carolina at Penland School of Craft. It was a two-week intensive glass casting workshop led by Sayaka Suzuki. Without his contributions, I would not have been able to afford my summer experience

I had no idea what was in store for me on this journey. The drive from Asheville to Penland was beautiful. Mountain ranges, rivers, streams and forest on both sides of the road. I had never seen the landscape of North Carolina before, so I was completely taken aback by its beauty. My driver made

Marlon Lewis ’20

a left turn about 40 minutes into the trip, and we began ascending up the mountainside, the small town we just were in vanishing behind the thick tree lines. The driver nor myself had any idea what was yet to be seen further ahead. Up two thousand feet from the nearest town, we emerged out of the forestry and it was just beautiful. Huge open fields and behind it over a hundred years of Penland history atop the mountain. They integrated their historic log cabin buildings and their modern additions beautifully.

To my surprise, there were only five undergrads besides myself out of the 180 people in the 18 sessions that took place over the same two week period, that was a huge shocker to me because I had just assumed that everyone would be relatively around my age. There were people of all ages and backgrounds, people from over thirty states and seven countries. One thing that shocked me but wasn’t really a surprise was the lack of Black bodies in the programs. There were two others besides me, one of whom was a resident artist of Penland. It was great to meet so many people from places all over and to hear their passions and stories and experiences. The knowledge they would pass on just in our subtle interactions was priceless. We were all brought together because of what we knew Penland could give us a life-changing experience.

Glass casting was a style of art I had never heard of before Penland and the technique pat de ver I had no experience with. Our Instructor Sayaka was phenomenal; the two weeks we spent with her felt like two months. Our days started at nine in the morning and many times did not end until three in the morning to go to sleep and do it over again. I made lasting connections with my workshop mates as well as with those in other workshop sessions. Whether it was camp fires on the noll or jam sessions in the cabin, we were always finding something to do and express our creativity.

I was able to channel thoughts and ideas that wouldn’t have been possible if I did not have the opportunity to attend. My artistic ability, insight, and vision all achieved new levels thanks to this experience.

There was a road name “Road to the heavens above” that was beautiful to me, it was perfect for where I was. I had never seen a street or road name like it in my life, and it was one of the last things I could expect to see when I arrived, but it’s a detail and a sight that will remain in my memories for a lifetime.

Abdoulie Waggeh ’20 — Helping someone has always been a goal of mine. Having the opportunity to pursue that goal means everything to me. South Bronx United was a soccer organization that I was part of, and it is an organization that helps student-athletes with education and soccer. During the mornings from 8:00 am to 12:00 pm, the program focuses on education. After lunch, the program shifts its focus to soccer practices or games. As of now, I am working with a group of 6^th-grade elementary school students as a math teacher and also as a mentor. My everyday routine for class includes something we call warm-ups, which is a 5-10 mins activity that we go through every morning from Monday to Thursday. During this time, each student tells me what they did the day before and the different goals they want to achieve during the day. Patience is a skill that has been very useful to me. There are many ups and downs when working with young kids, because some students listen, while others do not. I found out quickly that it is hard to teach a class if other students are not listening. Something that I learned from professional school teachers who are our supervisors is to be patient and work with the kid that is disrupting the class individually. During this process, I have gotten to know these kinds of students more, and my job is to motivate them to get back in the classroom and perform well. Fridays are our fun days for the students because all the activities are based on fun things like, for example, going to six flags, kayaking, or going to the zoo. Students have to present from Monday to Thursday in school in order to participate in these trips. This was another way to get students to behave in the classroom because they want to attend the trip. Overall it has been a learning experience for me, and I want to give a special thank you to the Dill fund organization for providing me with such a great opportunity, and also for funding my internship. I also want to thank Cassie Hagan for helping with the application process. Thank you.

Noah Rapp ’22

Noah Rapp ’22 — When I was deciding where to go to college, I can remember recruiters telling me about all the fantastic opportunities that Wabash College offers its students like a valuable internship or a chance to travel to another country. Little did I know then that I would have the opportunity to live out these recruitment promises a year later after my freshmen year at Wabash. For six weeks this summer, I have had the chance as a pre-med student to study abroad at Harlaxton Manor in Lincolnshire England. My professor Dr. Bost has taught an interesting and insightful course on virology and public health. Not only is the course exciting but also studying this topic in England has added to the impact of this course. Our class has taken field trips: to the science museum in London to see Watson and Crick’s original DNA model – the beginning of modern genetics, to Cambridge to walk the same streets as many brilliant scientists, such as Darwin, Newton, and Hawking to name a few, not to mention exploring, London’s National History Museum. While these experiences have enriched my education and this course, being allowed to observe and interact with different cultures has added to my understanding of public health in a way that cannot be replicated in a classroom. Walking through the crowded London streets, unsanitary Paris metro, and traveling all around Europe by plane, boat, and train, has allowed me to understand the threat of antiviral resistance better, new viruses appearing, and bioterrorism. It can be difficult to comprehend just how easily a virus can become an epidemic  until you’ve had the opportunity to travel from country to country in a matter of hours, in densely populated cities full of people from all over the world just waiting to possibly bring an unexpected and deadly souvenir back home such as a virus. Not only has this educational venture been an opportunity to expand my knowledge in the classroom, but this has been a priceless, life altering-experience.

The opportunity to immerse myself in Europe for six weeks as a 19-year-old is truly special. I have had the time of my life exploring London, Cambridge, Paris, Loire Valley, Edinburgh, and next week I’ll be off to Rome and Florence. Personally, some highlights from each of these cities include: the jaw-dropping St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, experiencing a service inside Westminster Abbey, traveling to the mysterious Stonehenge; viewing hundreds of masterpieces in the Louvre, Rodin, and Orsay museums; walking through the Catacombs in Paris, exploring the Chambord and Chateau in the Loire Valley, sitting in front of the Eiffel Tower while it lights up at night eating macarons with new-found friends, and waking up bright and early to see the unforgettable sunrise from Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh, Scotland. These are only a handful of the priceless, life-long memories I have had the opportunity to make thanks to the Wabash Dill Fund. I am incredibly grateful and appreciative to have been given this opportunity, and my life has been changed forever thanks to the generous donations. I am humbled and proud to be a part of a college with such strong Alumni support, which sees the value in making educational experiences abroad possible.

Andrew Freck ’21

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.