BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – While many students will be bundling up to ring in the New Year, Illinois Wesleyan University junior Aislinn Lowry’s plane will be touching down in Egypt, taking her to excavations of the ancient world.

Lowry, a Greek and Roman Studies major, has been accepted into Excavations at Amheida program through New York University. She is one of only 10 undergraduate students chosen from across the nation, and is the first Illinois Wesleyan student admitted into the program.

“To say this is an opportunity of a lifetime is an understatement. I’ll be learning from the most innovative minds in the field today,” said Lowry, a Jefferson City, Mo., native. She will arrive in Egypt on Dec. 31 and will return in late March 2009.

The Excavations at Amheida program combines classroom seminars, field trips and work on a functioning archaeological dig site. Nestled in the Dakhleh Oasis in western Egypt, the site draws professionals from around the world. “When we are working on the site, we will be there from sun-up to sun-down, and staying at the field house at night with some of the top archaeologists in the world,” said Lowry.

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BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – For Illinois Wesleyan University senior Kristin Zavislak, seeing the Ara Pacis – the Roman Emperor Augustus’ monument to peace in Rome – was more than breathtaking, it was oddly familiar.

“I started to notice how the Ara Pacis Augustae was strikingly similar to the Lincoln Memorial,” said Zavislak, a Greek and Roman Studies major from Lombard, Ill.

Her discoveries were recognized earlier this year when Zavislak was chosen as one of five undergraduate students from across the United States to present at the Classical Association of the Middle West and South in Asheville, N.C. Her topic, “An American Emperor and the Roman President: Images of Lincoln and Augustus,” garnered attention. “I heard people talking in the lobby about my presentation, and knew then it was going to draw a crowd,” said Zavislak.

The classical influence on American artists was especially strong in Lincoln’s time. Known as Neoclassicism, it was a period when artists discovered a rebirth of interest in ancient Greek and Roman architecture and art. Zavislak’s paper explored the similar look and feel of art depicting President Abraham Lincoln and the Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus.

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BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Students from an Illinois Wesleyan University class are taking a look at how to make the west side of Bloomington stronger.

Illinois Wesleyan students enrolled in the University’s Action Research Center (ARC) class have spent the semester investigating the needs of youth in west side neighborhoods, as well as the resources that are currently provided by not-for-profit organizations. Students will present their findings at 3 p.m., on Friday, Dec. 5 at Beckman Auditorium of The Ames Library (1 Ames East, Bloomington). They will be joined by students from an Illinois State University class, who will present findings on issues facing seniors on the west side.

The event is free and the public is invited. Members of the Bloomington City Council have been invited, along with members of the West Side Revitalization Task Force, which studies ways to rebuild and attract homeowners and businesses to the city’s west side neighborhoods.

Students in the ARC class conducted surveys and interviews with youth and several organizations to ascertain challenges and opportunities for young people. “The goal is to help find some creative ways to get youth engaged in improving their community,” said ARC Director Deborah Halperin.

Illinois Wesleyan junior Rae Rein said she was thinking of the future when she joined the ARC class. “Everyone says youth is the future, but how can young people get to a promising future if they don’t have the resources they need in the present?” Rein asked. “If we want to see kids succeed, then we have to give them the opportunities to succeed.”

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BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Millions of Americans watched the results of the history-making election of Sen. Barack Obama as the first African-American to the Presidency of the United States on Nov. 4. Many of those Americans were overseas, including the 61 Illinois Wesleyan University students studying abroad, from England and France, to Argentina and Oman.

Obama was favored to win in many European polls, and Illinois Wesleyan students studying in Europe watched the excitement for the election build, and the jubilation of many people when the results were announced. At the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, Mark Kasperczyk attended an election party in one of the residence halls. “It was surprising how many people cared about the election here,” said Kasperczyk, a senior physics major. “The party was huge, with people overflowing into the sidewalks until around 3 a.m.” Kasperczyk estimated about 200 to 300 people stayed for most of the night.

Many students studying in Illinois Wesleyan’s London Program stayed up all night to watch the election coverage, even to hear Obama’s acceptance speech at 5 a.m. London time. “It was on the front page of every London newspaper that I saw the next day,” said Carolyn Leonard, a sophomore psychology major. “All of our British teachers were very excited that we stayed up to watch, and very understanding of how tired we all were.”

Sophomore Katie Bayles, an anthropology major, said the world was watching the election closely. “The tension that had been building from the extended coverage over the week came to a peak Tuesday night on the [British subway] Tube. I realized that everyone’s faces were pressed into the papers, reading about the upcoming election, what time the coverage started, even when California’s polls would close,” said Bayles, noting they understood the importance of the West Coast polls.

Nicholas Kogelman grew up in Hyde Park, Obama’s neighborhood, and said he felt a special tie to the election. “It was difficult not to be able to go downtown for his rally, but truly amazing to watch from an outside perspective,” said the senior business administration major. “It put the election in a global perspective and reinforced the magnitude of the ramifications of this election. After the election – and many of my fellow classmates share this opinion – that this was the proudest we have been as Americans in London.”

Watching from Spain, senior Ann Chang also found it difficult to be away from home during the election. “It was my first time voting, and not being able to witness people our age joining together to actually vote and show their American pride was rough,” said Chang, a mathematics and Hispanic Studies double major, who still called the chance to witness the election through the eyes of the Spanish “incredible.” The morning after the election, Chang said headlines were splashed across every newspaper she could see. “Talk of him is everywhere. And right now I can hear my Spanish neighbors saying how happy they are that he won.”

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