A New Kind of Humanities Tour

By Rachel Hulshult

September 17, 2014

 

Six students and three professors spent nine days from May 11 to May 19 visiting world-famous cities, seeing well-known works of art and touring historical sites.  This may describe any typical humanities tour, but this one was in the U.S., not Europe.  This was the first ever USA Humanities Tour.

 

The itinerary for the tour included Washington, D.C., New York City, Concord, Mass.; and Gettysburg, Pa. They also made a couple of surprise stops, including Boston and the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, to add “an element of fun,” according to Assistant Professor of English and Humanities, Michael Blouin.

 

Blouin, along with Director of the Humanities Program Lee Blackburn and Associate Professor of English Heather Hoover led the tour. The small group was one of the best things about the trip, said Blouin.

 

“It allowed time for the students and professors to get to know one another better and build friendships,” he said.

 

Students agreed.

 

“We were able to get closer to one another and the professors, as well as seeing some of the most influential places in our country,” said Madison Vance, a senior English major.

 

“While I enjoyed visiting the monuments of our nation’s capital, delving into the many museums of New York City, and roaming the historic streets of Boston,” said Bible and history major Zach Hollifield, “my favorite part of the USA Humanities Tour, and the experience that affected me most, was the time spent with professors outside of the classroom.” (See the sidebar below for his complete reflection.)

 

Much of what students learn in humanities takes place right here in the United States, said Blouin, so taking students to see things that weren’t that far away “seemed like a natural idea.”

 

Most of the students had never been to a big city, so this was a chance for them to get a glimpse of what city life is like, he said.  Maybe they won’t be so nervous in the future if a career or school led them to a big city, he added.

 

“I grew up in the country and haven't been exposed to a lot of city life,” said Vance, who’s from Crossnore, NC, a town with a population of less than 200. “I felt very small next to the towers reaching into the sky.”

 

Vance’s favorite place was New York and she loved seeing a Broadway show.

 

One of the most powerful experiences was visiting the Holocaust Museum in Washington, said Blouin. In a classroom it’s “impossible to express how terrible the Holocaust was,” he said, but seeing actual artifacts brings a “whole new level of understanding.”

 

Similarly, at Gettysburg, the group listened to an audio CD that told them about the Civil War battle. They were able to see where soldiers stood and fought, said Blouin. “Just reading about it is not even close to the same thing. This adds another dimension (to the humanities experience).”

Blouin and Blackburn hope to offer this tour every summer as a more intimate and more affordable alternative to the European Humanities Tour.

 

The 2014 tour counted for one credit hour and cost $1,630. That price included all travel, entrance fees, and lodging, as well as unlimited rides on an Old Town Trolley in Washington, 10 rides on the New York subway, and a ticket to a Broadway show. The tour will likely cost less next summer and be shorter, since Concord may be removed from the itinerary, according to Blouin.

 

Anyone interested in joining next summer’s tour can contact Michael Blouin or Lee Blackburn for information.

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Sidebar by Zach Hollifield

 

While I enjoyed visiting the monuments of our nation’s capital, delving into the many museums of New York City, and roaming the historic streets of Boston; my favorite part of the USA Humanities Tour, and the experience that affected me most, was the time spent with professors outside of the classroom.

 

At a school like Milligan students are often told of the great student-faculty relationships available to them; relationships that one would be hard-pressed to find at a large college or university. And while I have benefited greatly from meetings outside of class and meals in professors’ homes, it was on this trip that I began to see my professors as more than just “professors”.

 

As kids in elementary school we come up with farfetched ideas about our teachers ranging from them sleeping at school every night to them being robots run by the evil principal. And in college it can be quite the same. We see them as lecturers and discussion directors. We imagine our professors are somehow extra-human, I mean how could they be anything less containing all the knowledge that they do. In some cases we even idolize our favorite professors and treat them as academic superstars. And because we hardly see them outside of their roles as professors in the classroom, we forget to stop and realize that there is more to them than just that.

 

On the USA Humanities Tour I was able to spend a little over a week with three great professors in a not-so-roomie 12 passenger van, traveling from city to city, viewing site after site, coming up with our own inside jokes and stories along with way all while learning; and it was phenomenal. But what I gained most from this experience, and what I appreciate about it, was that I was able to see my professors as more than just professors but as human, and what that exactly means is still up for discussion.