8 1 February 13, 2015
The Guilfordian
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ilford's J- Term provided students with opportunities to gain new experiences on and off campus. Students had the ability to travel to places such as Ghost Ranch in New Mexico, pictured above.
BY ALLISON STALBERG
Staff Writer
From media bingeing on Guilford
College campus to making jewelry in
New Mexico to rebuilding a village
school in El Salvador, students
return to this spring semester with
newfound experiences.
Guilford’s January term offers
students a way to receive credit
in classes that are not normally
available.
They also often happen in places
outside the campus bubble.
Take senior Trent Evans, for
example, who traveled to Central
America and aided in redeveloping
a school in El Salvador.
“My favorite part of the trip
would be learning and taking in
the hardships El Salvador has faced,
then being able to hear the stories
and see the people who were affected
by such a harsh history,” said Evans.
“It’s a form of learning that you just
can’t get in a classroom setting.”
Further south from Evans, senior
Kristy Lapenta spent J-Term on
South America’s equator in both
the highest capital city in the world
and the Galapagos Islands.
"It’s every biologist’s dream,”
said Lapenta. “The baby sea lions
were awesome. I would just sit on
the beach, and they would just
waddle up, sniff your feet and then
run away. Well, a sea lion running:
more like waddle away rapidly.”
Other students such as first-
year Jonah Woodstock went across
the Atlantic Ocean. Among other
Guilford students, he studied fantasy
writers in Oxford with Instructor of
English Caroline McAlister.
“My favorite part was how I
would take a class and then be able
to go out into the town and see
firsthand what I was just learning
about,” said Woodstock. “Walking
the same walks as Tolkien, and
going to the same pubs that Lewis
Carroll went to, I was immersed in
history.”
Senior Andrew Jones did not
have to go so far from home. He
went to New Mexico to study the
art of silversmithing.
“I choose New Mexico because
I knew some people who went, and
it was pretty hyped,” said Jones.
“It just seemed like somewhere to
go that was not too far away, still
accessible, spoke Enghsh and I’ve
never been to that part of the
country.”
Don’t want to leave campus?
No problem. There are still J-Term
options for people who wish to
stay at Guilford. Sam Knecht,
sophomore, was taught about binge
media under Associate Professor
of English Heather Hayton and
Assistant Professor of Psychology
Rachel Riskind.
“I got four credits for watching
all of ‘Game of Thrones,’ reading
two Neil Gaiman books, and
playing through a Pokemon game,”
said Knecht. “We had to post
journal entries at the end of every
day. We also wore a pedometer
everywhere and counted the calories
we were eating because it was an
experiment.”
Assistant Dean of Career and
Community Learning Alan Mueller
also taught improv/sketch-comedy
and the art of the job interview.
“I met some cool people, and
we had off-campus activities so
I didn’t really feel that isolated
feeling I expected to get during
an on-campus J-Term,” said senior
Cameron McDowell. “I learned
a great deal about thinking on
my feet, as well as how to present
yourself in a job interview situation,
how to ‘check yourself in regards to
posture and involuntary motions.”
So if you want to get experience-
centered learning, or just need some
required credits out of the way, J-
term is there for you.
Who knows? Maybe it will open
new doors like it did for Lapenta,
who plans to intern at the Galapagos
after graduation this spring.
“I’m just glad I had this
opportunity,” said Lapenta. “That’s
what I like about Jan Terms, I
couldn’t study abroad for an entire
semester and graduate on time due
to being a double major. That’s why
I think Jan term is really cool.”
Local Qpiaker history gets a cinematic revamp
BYTHORTOBIASSEN
Staff Writer
like “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest,” “The “You get much more of a feel for it, like how loud the
Abyss” and the “Day of the Dead” remake. They now work muskets were, and you get to see things up close and personal
in a variety of roles in the film industry and have their own which is a little different than watching ‘The Patriot,”’ Roe
Two plays depicting some of the most exciting times in production company that films in North Carolina. said.
Quaker history are being reimagined to make them more On the weekend of Feb. 6, a film crew helmed by the Some students worked behind the scenes like fellow senior
dynamic than ever, and some Guilford College students are Jones brothers shot a “Sword of Peace” teaser trailer designed Noelle Lane, who worked on the production as a costume
along for the ride. to entice audiences to see the play by combining period assistant.
Snow Camp Outdoor Theater is an Alamance County accuracy with intense cinematic action and drama. Simulated “It just connects to our history of who we are as a campus
company that produces plays based on significant events in cannon fire blasted clouds of dirt and ash from the ground, really well,” said Lane.
Quaker history. Their two shows, “Sword of Peace” (about actors in British and colonial uniforms bellowed orders and Perhaps most excitingly, even bigger things may be in the
Quakers in the American Revolution)
and “Pathway to Freedom” (about
Quakers who ran a station on the
Underground Railroad) have entertained
and educated audiences for years.
Now, brothers Dean and Starr Jones,
who have extensive experience in all
areas of the Hollywood studio lot and
have worked with Snow Camp Outdoor
Theater for years, are reworking the
shows to ensure that they continue to
connect with audiences for years to
come.
Writer-director Dean Jones plans to
refocus and rebrand the shows.
“We’re going to try to re-define
outdoor drama to make it more
cinematic with a film score from beginning to end, special
effects, sound effects, big battle scenes, stuff that makes it
have higher production value to try to entertain people from
scene to scene,” said Dean. “Not just from the historical
view; we have to entertain folks at the same time.”
The Jones brothers boast impressive resumes. Born and
raised in North Carolina, they both hold BFAs in acting
and directing from UNC Greensboro. They got their start
in makeup and effects, eventually working on blockbusters
We're going to try to re-define outdoor drama to make
it more cinematic with a film score from beginning
to end...
Dean Jones, writer-director
works for Snow Camp.
“We hope to develop both stories into
feature fihns, and we’ll shoot them all in
this area,” Starr Jones revealed. Feature
films would provide an important
consistent revenue stream for Snow
Camp.
James Shields, a Snow Camp board
member and director of the Bonner
Center at Guilford, is thrilled with the
film prospects and the new focus on
cinematic style.
“It’s a totally different direction
for us, but we’re really excited about
the prospect of having this thing with
‘Sword of Peace’ happen,” said Shields.
“With a film piece, you can do so much
thrust and parried in sword fights and meeting houses full more, and it’s very rare that you can do that and actually do
of Quakers debated whether or not to join the brewing it on the spot where it happened.”
revolution. According to Starr Jones, it all comes down to passion for
The sense of excitement was palpable and Guilford students one’s roots and history,
who volunteered their skills for the trailer said that they “It’s living history because we are where it happened,” said
enjoyed helping to make the narrative come to life. Senior Starr. “It’s important to tell the history of what happened,
and history buff Chris Roe played a colonial militiaman and and to honor the people that did the things they did, both
said that, even with the stop-start nature of filming, it still the people willing to fight and the Quakers because it took
made him feel more connected to the past. everybody. They were all American patriots in their own way.”