Summer Camps Reach Out to the Next Generation

The BW Conservatory of Music has many a summer camp
for pre-college students to take advantage of!

There is more to Baldwin Wallace University than the education of current college students. Each summer, BW hosts camps and programs dedicated to academics, athletics, cheerleading, music, and more;  offering a younger generation of students to benefit from the expertise and mentoring of BW's faculty, coaches, staff and students.

A new Health Care Career Exploration Week is already wait-listing, but other camps continue to register students. The Experience Honors Summer Program is dedicated to smoothing the secondary school to post-secondary school transition process. The Gedanken Problem-Solving Institute, headed by BW Physics professor Dr. Edwin Meyer, seeks to teach students about the importance of problem solving, as well as assist them in developing their own generalized approach to problem solving.

The Gedanken-Problem Solving Institute leads
 students to successful problem solving.

The Baldwin Wallace University Conservatory of Music also has its share of camps, bringing in school age and adult learners to aid them in music studies, workshops, camps, and institutes. String, Piano, Band, and Music Theater camp are all options for younger students. Available to high school students is the International Guitar Festival, CSI: Conservatory Summer Intensive, and Music Theater Overtures (this writer's personal favorite!).

All of these opportunities, however, barely scratch the surface of what the summer BW has to offer. For an extensive list of the camps, click here. And check back, as new enrichment opportunities continue to be added.

Her Haven for Humanity

When Sarah Cunningham ’16, turned 21 while en route to Uganda, she celebrated the milestone quietly. Her gift upon landing was a brilliant sunrise that beckoned her to a land sparse with economic surplus but rich with hope.

“My grandparents are missionaries there who started their own organization to aid children,” she said. “In December, I spent three weeks with them in Uganda doing research that will be used as part of my honors thesis at BW. As a public health major, I was living my dream…to work with women and children in developing nations.

“I visited the slums and conducted interviews with young women,” she continued. “They have suffered illness, pain, surgery, poverty and unfaithful husbands. Their lives were tenuous in many ways and filled with episodes of pain. Yet, they still smiled and carried on.

“When AIDS wiped out a generation of parents, girls grew up without mothers. Conversations about maturation, pregnancy and sex were not discussed in-depth," she noted.

An aspiring OB/GYN physician, Cunningham sees her trip to Uganda as one that united her passion for women and children’s issues with her career goal and heart for humanitarian service.

“I am so grateful for this opportunity,” she said. “The Baldwin Wallace Honors Program helped fund my trip and has done a great job encouraging me to achieve my goals. So, too, have the professors in public health, my church and family.

“I am also indebted to the people of Uganda. The images I saw and the stories I heard impacted me in many ways,” she acknowledged.

Upon leaving, she took with her research data and cherished memories of her grandparents. But also resounding within her heart were images and words blurred within the confines of pain and uncertainty that cut through the slums of Uganda with barbs of poverty, disease and abandonment.

But also with hope, courage and determination.

Honors Students Mentor Middle Schoolers at Science Center

Baldwin Wallace University's Honors Program encourages participation in annual service opportunities in order to help students develop lasting relationships and give back to the community.

Recently, a group of BW Honors students volunteered at the Great Science Academy workshop hosted by the Great Lakes Science Center.  Students worked on a theoretical project, meaning that the purpose of their experimental work was unknown until the end.

The BW students report that they had a great time working with younger students to engage them in challenging but enjoyable activities.

Broadcasting Alumna Reports for Wake Up Wisconsin

Caroline Bach '12

Viewers of Wake Up Wisconsin Weekend are now waking up to the face and voice of a BW alumna. Caroline Bach '12, a broadcasting and mass communications major, and member of BW's Honor's Program has joined the news team at WKOW-TV Madison, Wisc. and now anchors the weekend morning newscast for the station.

During her undergraduate studies, Bach kick-started her career by producing for Parma Area Community Television, reporting on local issues. She later interned at WEWS-TV Cleveland, and at WTOL-TV Toledo. Bach also landed an internship with Dateline NBC and Rock Center with Brian Williams in New York City.

After graduation from BW, Bach served as a weekend anchor at WVVA-TV in Bluefield, West Virginia, where she reported on stories with national impact, such as Hurricane Sandy and the Freedom Industries chemical spill into the Elk River in Charleston.

BW Summer Camps Prepare Younger Students for Success

Every summer, BW hosts camps for students of all ages to help them find success in different areas.

For a traditional summer camp experience, students can try the Youth Adventure Sport Camp and enjoy a variety of activities, from kayaking and survival skills to yoga and ultimate frisbee.

To boost brainpower over the summer, the Gedanken Problem-Solving Institute is a week long camp that uses fun activities to encourage tweens and teens to get creative and develop critical thinking skills. The new Experience Honors Summer Camp is designed for high school students to help empower them during the college application process and allow them to sample different academic subjects.
 

Students that want to focus on one sport, there are plenty of options to choose from: Football Camp, Boys and Girls Basketball Camps, a Girl's College Prep Soccer Camp, and even more options for different sports interests and skill levels. 

BW has an extensive list of Conservatory programs. Camps range from piano to percussion, with a Musical Theater program for high school juniors preparing to audition for colleges, to an adult camp for Music Teaching and Learning.

A complete list of Baldwin Wallace Summer camps can be found here.

Honors Seniors Get "Filthy Rich"

Wealth, love, ambition, family, integrity…what does it all mean in today's society? And is "Getting Filthy Rich in Rising Asia" really the answer?

Last week 18 seniors in the Honors Program addressed these "big picture" life issues with President Bob Helmer and the Honors Program staff for dinner and a roundtable discussion of Mohsen Hamid's book, "How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia."

"I wanted them to have a sense of coming together as a community to share a special opportunity before they graduate," said Amy Story, director of the Honors Program. "This is a way for them to engage with the values of the Honors Program related to independent thinking and lifelong learning.

"This book raises great, open-ended questions about the meaning of a life well-loved. It asks them to consider the value of wealth, love, ambition, family and integrity in our lives, without offering concrete answers," she continued.

"For students about to graduate, these important issues will grow more pressing in their lives," Story added. "Honors is dedicated to developing the whole student. Success is best built on a foundation of self-awareness, of knowing who you are and what you want out of life."

More photos

Boesel Gift Boosts Honors Program

A $1 million gift from Stephen '68, and Jacquelyn Boesel will enable BW to further build the stature and success of the Honors Program. Three student-focused initiatives will benefit from the gift–fall honors retreat, experiential learning, and innovative honors coursework.

"The Honors Program is key to enrolling and retaining top students," said BW President Robert Helmer. "Steve and Jackie's gift is a tribute to their ongoing generosity to the University as well as their belief in the great work already being down to elevate the Honors Program."

"We stand poised to make another leap forward," said Amy Story, director of the Honors Program. And with this inspiring gift, we are well on our way." Read full story and watch video on Honors Retreat.

Fall Honors Retreat

Chemistry, Culture and Cooking Combine for Tasty Final

BW Honors Program students take courses that are innovative and experiential, including "The Science and Culture of Food" taught by the Chemistry Department's Dr. Ray Shively. The interactive course explores the science behind food preparation, as well as the cultural and geographical constraints on what we eat and why.

For their final this semester, 20 students prepared and presented a 13 course dinner at the BW President's House and the experience was caught on video. Dinner guests (and "Top Chef" judges) included President Bob Helmer and his wife Linda, BW Board of Trustees Chairman Paul Carlton and others.

BW Honors Program Recognized by National Council

The BW Honors Program recently earned top national awards from the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC). 

Award-winning BW Honors Program website

In the NCHC student-judged website competition, the BW Honors Program website took first place out of 23 honors programs across the country. The judges applauded "the focus on the students, and what they have done" as well as "the comments and insights from the students' perspective."

Meanwhile, BW also received first place in the NCHC’s Newsletter Contest, in the student and administrator collaboration category, for The Honorable Mention.

BW was recognized with both awards at the NCHC’s National Conference in New Orleans.

Baldwin Wallace Appoints New Assistant Provost

 

BW has named Dr. Lisa Henderson as Assistant Provost. In her new role, Henderson will coordinate and oversee the offices of Career Services, Explorations, the Honors Program, and the Learning Center, along with other responsibilities.

Henderson joined BW’s Division of Education as an Assistant Professor in 1992, eventually working her way up to a tenured, full professor. She has held the administrative station of Director of Undergraduate Programs in the Division of Education since 2004.

In addition, during the 2012-2013 Academic Year, Dr. Henderson earned the American Council on Education (ACE) Fellowship, which provided a year of focused leadership training and administrative experience.

The BW community welcomes her to this new role and wishes her continued success in her career!

Top of Her Class

The BW Class of 2013 included an amazing number of accomplished graduates, but only one was presented with the the Milton T. Baldwin Prize for achieving the highest GPA among the 813 grads. Jennifer Evans of Strongsville earned a whopping 3.989 GPA en route to earning her degree in Pre-Physical Therapy and Public Health.  Jen will be attending Ohio State University to pursue a Doctorate of Physical Therapy. Read more on the Strongsville Patch news site.

Honors Students Collect Good Things in Small Packages

Students in BW's Honors Program collected 2,726 personal care items from the notoriously generous BW community. 

The items will go to Trials for Hope, a non-profit outreach program operated through St. Paul’s Community Outreach Center, that offers personal care packages to those in need.