F E ATU RE S
SEPTEMBER 6, 2013
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Portraits of first-years give insight about Class of 2017
BY LEK SIU
. For most first-year traditional
students, whether from as far away
as Japan or as nearby as Greensboro,
coming to Guilford College is both
delightful and intimidating. The
pressures of a new curriculum and
social lives present challenges and
new opportunities.
Students arrive with their own
stories, seeking new experiences
that will guide their futures.
Some fit right into college life,
while others need time to adjust.
Each student anticipates a unique
continuation of their personal
story, and at Guilford, their stories
become their own.
"I was really excited," first-year
Nicole Barnard said. "1 guess I
missed home sometimes, but it's
great to be here."
Like many first-years, she said
she didn't fit in right away.
Barnard, from Westchester,
N.Y., said she wants to explore the
"different clubs, meet new people,
and do different activities."
She is undecided on her major,
but she said she likes to write and
is excited to take English 102.
"Guilford is a good place. to
start," Barnard said. "Education is
like a job."
First-year Jose Oliva from
Jutiapa, Guatemala, has been in
Greensboro for over two years.
When he first arrived, he attended
Guilford County's Newcomers
School. He speaks Spanish, English,
some French and some Portuguese.
"I feel very excited to be
here," Oliva said. "I cannot wait
to meet everybody on campus .
. . The campus is beautiful and
everybody's friendly."
Oliva said he wants to major in
political science and hopes to gain
knowledge and experience before
graduating from Guilford.
"Every professor is different in
the way they teach, they act and
what they believe, and that makes
Guilford unique," Oliva said.
"Guilford believes in the success
that students can achieve, as well,
Guilford helps to achieve that
success."
First-year Hvung Ksor from
Vietnam, who has lived in
Greensboro for seven years, said
she hopes to gain knowledge and
confidence by being at Guilford.
She is interested in geography, but
is undecided on her major.
"Guilford is a diverse college
with a lot of international students,"
Ksor said. "Guilford College is a
good school ... A lot of support
from professors and friends."
Ksor said she feels discouraged
because her advisor is only having
her take 14 credits, but she expects
great things to happen. Her First
Year Experience class took her by
surprise, and now she has settled
in and is happy. Guilford is helping
her to succeed, she said.
Bill McCarver '01 remembers his
first day at Guilford vividly, having
driven from Alabama in April to
enroll for the 1997 fall semester. He
said he immediately felt welcomed
and appreciated.
"I liked everybody I met and it
seemed to me everyone liked me,"
McCarver said.
He said he found Guilford
comfortable and, after he arrived
in fall 1997, felt so at home that
soon Alabama was a memory.
His advisor of four years, Dana
Professor of English Jeff Jeske,
once told him, "Guilford College
widened its circle to include you."
"It did," said McCarver, now
a lecturer in Guilford's Adult
Transitions program and a
professional writing tutor in the
Learning Commons.
No matter where they come from
or how they start, students often
find Guilford is the place where
Aey can live life to the fullest and Melissa Fording, a member of the record-breaking Class of 2017, works on
is somewhere they can call home. ^ homework assignment in the quiet of Hege Library after a full day of classes.
Inuit art exhiliit in library tells timeless tundra tales
BY BRENT EiSENBARTH
If a picture is worth a thousand words,
then an art gallery is a storyline.
"Narratives from a Culture in Transition"
debuted in the Guilford College Art Gallery
on Sept. 4. The exhibit displays Inuit art from
artists in Nunavut, Canada's largest and
northernmost territory.
The display showcases Inuit artwork
of various mediums, topics and levels of
abstraction. Stonework, whalebone, caribou
antlers, watercolors and tapestries are
only some of the mediums that make this
exhibition exciting. The artwork recalls
rich Arctic traditions, reflects on the tundra
landscape and peers into Inuit mythology.
Terry Hammond, founding director and
curator of the Guilford Art Gallery, began
researching this project in 2011. Since then,
the exhibition has spawned related classes,
work-study projects and awareness of the
ongoing battle for First Nations' rights.
"Part of the mission of the art gallery is
to promote diverse cultures and to support
the academic endeavors of the college,"
Hammond said.
And it seems this exhibit will do just that.
For example, on Sept. 11, Associate
Professor and Chair of Religious Studies
Eric Mortensen will expound on Sedna, the
goddess of the sea from Inuit mythology.
According to the mythology, Sedna's
fingers became the sea creatures, the Inuit's
staple of life. When the hunt was poor, Inuits
would send shamans, the Inuit middlemen
These works of art, on display in the Art Gallery of Hege Library, were crafted using diverse materials including stone, caribou antlers, and whalebone.
between the natural and the spirit world, to
appease Sedna. The Inuit believe that Sedna
would then provide sea creatures for their
livelihood.
On Oct. 24, Mortensen will compare Inuit
religion with other shamanistic religions. This
event will be held at 7 p.m. in the Art Gallery.
Art is a reflection of humankind's cultural
reality.
That being said, this comprehensive event
would not be complete without speaker Aaju
Peter.
Peter certainly isn't your typical mother
of five: she is an Inuit activist who performs
music, designs modern seal clothing,
translates and recently earned a law degree.
In 2012, she was named to the Order of
Canada for promoting Inuit language and
culture.
She has also been advocating that seal
skins be sold more widely. Currently, the EU
allows seal skins to be used only for cultural
purposes, but not commercial purposes.
"It will have a devastating effect; it already
has on the hunters," said Peter to This
Magazine. "They normally would get $60 to
$90 for a skin. Now they get about $5. The
cost of living is very high in the Arctic. They
won't be able to get enough money to sustain
their families."
Peter will speak at 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 20 in
Hege Library's Carnegie Room.
To offer insights on the works on cloth in
the exhibition, Canadian art historian Marie
Bouchard will present about this unique art
form at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 1 in the Leak Room
in Duke Memorial Hall.
Bouchard has curated exhibitions for Inuit
art across Canada, the United States and
Japan. She is an independent art curator who
has lived in Baker's Lake for 11 years.
"I'm excited to see a new art exhibit from a
different cultural perspective I have not seen
before," said sophomore Nina Troy.
This event is highly anticipated, and it
will work to expand Guilford's horizons,
particularly northward towards Canada and
the Inuit.