By Caleb Hawkins, Emily Bontrager and Kylee Purdy
Indiana Wesleyan University abstained from its usual class schedule last Thursday for its annual event, Celebration of Scholarship.
The event, an opportunity for IWU undergraduate students from all different divisions a chance to present research projects to peers and faculty, had students presenting their projects throughout the day in various academic halls on campus. Josh Cartwright, a business and honors humanities major, said the presentations were a chance for the younger students at IWU to go out and support some of the upperclassmen on campus.
“Go learn from your peers, go learn from your scholars,” Cartwright said. “More than anything, just be a part of the community.”
Cartwright said he found it important to support others who are outside of his own division. He said he appreciated the chance to learn about the findings of their research in a different area of study than his own.
“I think it’s important just as IWU community to show up and be present in those different situations and hear the research that they’ve put in as well, because we’re all doing the same thing,” Cartwright said. “They’ve been researching these topics for a year, a year and a half, two years, or since freshman year, so it’s just important to come support them in those findings, and you’re going to learn something great too.”
Theology and Ministry majors participated in Celebration of Scholarship for the first time. Mike Tapper, a professor of Theology at IWU, said he was grateful for the students to have the chance to present to local pastors.
“We feel really strongly about the connection of Indiana Wesleyan University and the local church,” Tapper said. “And it seemed like a win-win; the students having an opportunity to express what they’ve learned in the classroom and marrying it and connecting it to the local church and having pastors here.”
Taper said the presentations were a culmination of the things the ministry majors had learned over the course of their time at IWU. He said he hoped the presentations would help better prepare the students for life after college in their future careers.
“We feel like it’s a really good opportunity for students to establish a clear and concise vision for their future,” he said. “In some cases, some of the students are establishing a really clear definition of what they perceive to be a problem, a vocational problem, and a solution.”
Several underclassmen participated in the day as well. Gibson Wing, a sophomore English major, said that exploring the way different Victorian-era poets interact with death for his presentation helped him learn things he hadn’t previously known.
“I’m just hoping to grow deeper in my roots with my scholarly community—all the people with like minds,” Wing said.
