Presentation Day: Students Share How They Engaged the Community this Fall
Museum Studies Seminar and Practicum: Cathedral Museum Tour:
This morning began with an invigorating tour through Perugia’s cathedral museum, located beneath the Umbra Institute. The tour was led by Akosua Ako-Addo. Akosua taught tour attendees about how the church recycled pagan symbols in order to make new followers feel more welcome and comfortable, back in Roman times. She also shared how Rome, at one point in history, was not deemed safe for the church and, at that point, Perugia was a significant location where bishops met and Popes were chosen. The church museum extends underground and individuals viewing the archaeological side of the museum are able to climb down the ancient hillside as they view sites such as the buried medieval church building, which rests on top of a Roman house, which rests above an Etruscan temple.
Photography and Ceramics: Art Show
“Photography has inspired me to stop and look at the finer details. When exploring new cities, I couldn’t help but stop and capture the little moments,” shared Samantha Ide as she pointed out some of the photos she took.
Julia Mericle and Haley Donathan, who participated in the Introduction to Ceramics course posed with their favorite ceramics pieces that were created after studying historic Umbrian ceramic styles. When asked about her experience in the course, Julia said, “I like that we were taught several different traditional methods for creating ceramics, but we were still able to be creative with what we made.” She also described the process of dipping ceramic creations into glaze before creating designs that were then painted.
Community Engagement Presentations
Many classes at the Umbra Institute engage the community either through service-learning projects, community-based coursework, or seminar and practica courses. This afternoon, representatives from each class shared their projects and what they valued most about the work in which they participated. Twenty presentations were given, of which, the following contributions were made:
- Intercultural Communications students shared how they worked to break language barriers using body language as they conducted reading sessions in local libraries. The readings were then recorded to assist blind readers, helping them hear the stories in English.
- International Business Strategy students shared their work with Pashmere, a local luxury cashmere designer. The presentation covered how they worked to convert goals to strategies in a consulting project with the company’s owners.
- Cosa Nostra students shared their experience with the Libera Association, an Italian anti-Mafia organization, and Col di Pina farm in Pietralunga, a property that was previously owned by the Mafia and was confiscated by the Italian government, which then gave the property to locals to cultivate. Students shared the dramatic differences between the Hollywood interpretation of the Mafia, and the reality of the Mafia that is presented through Italian media.
At the end of the presentation event, students voted for their favorite presentations. The winners were students from the Museum Studies Seminar and Practicum, who shared their work with local museums as they uncovered local history, and the Placemaking course, which shared their work with the Borgo Bello community and promoted their Neighborhood Puppet Show and Project Presentation Event (to take place tomorrow night).
Still to come…
- This evening, students enrolled in Creative Writing and the Taste for Knowledge will share their creative works during a Creative Writing Reading event.
- Tomorrow, Placemaking students will conclude their semester with a Neighborhood Puppet Show and Project Presentation event.
- On Friday, Archaeology students will provide tours of a local museum.