Brandi-lin Wilkins'10 and Annie Wright'10 talk about Annie's experience abroad.

Coming Back: When Studying Abroad Makes Home Feel Foreign

Before spring 2009 Annie Wright’10 had never traveled outside the continental United States. Half way through her junior year, Wright left Gordon to study in Latin America for a semester.


“Where the heck am I? I asked myself as the plane landed in San Jose and I saw hundreds of houses with tin roofs crammed together,” said Wright, a social work and sociology major from Yarmouth, ME. In Costa Rica, Wright stayed in a home that had no hot water, no oven, no dishwasher, and no car. Then she found out that Costa Rica has the second highest standard of living in Latin America.


After Wright’s stay in Costa Rica she traveled for eight hours on a bus, then 30 minutes on a rickety boat, and then by horseback until she reached a tiny stick house in a remote part of
Nicaragua. Wright and many other Gordon students who have studied globally wrestle with the contrast between their experiences abroad and at home as they re-enter life at Gordon College.


For some, months of experiences and new ideas can be extremely challenging to live with and require a lot of post trip processing. Muriel Hoffacker’12, a communication arts major from Suffield, CT was not able to understand the profoundness of her experience while studying abroad in Orvieto, Italy.


“I needed the contrast of coming home and experiencing culture shock to realize what had just happened in my life,” said Hoffacker. Though once home, Hoffacker and other returning students struggle to process and make sense of their global experiences.


Hoffacker anticipated an easy transition into Gordon life as she looked forward to reconnecting with friends and sharing her new experiences. “Although I could share my memories of Italy every day, people do not want to hear them.” Hoffacker, like many other students, have found it difficult to process their semester abroad alone.


Associate dean of students, Julie Ray, often speaks with students re-entering Gordon. “Students come back questioning their faith, church, and family,” she said. “While in this transition students don’t know what they can keep from their experience and what they should leave behind.”


Many students returning from abroad struggle to integrate their new understanding of life with old living styles. Wright feels this pull in thinking about economic disparities. “We at Gordon spend so much time addressing poverty that we don’t look at wealth,” she said. “One main thing I took home with me is that poverty corrupts the body but wealth corrupts the soul.”


While students returning to Gordon desire to share their areas of growth, many of their peers don’t seem receptive. “People ask general questions and after I answer them, they say, ‘oh how nice’ and walk away,” said Wendy Redcay’10 who studied in Thailand in the spring of 2009.


Fellow students may seem uninterested but returning students are also responsible for the lack of communication. “They need to make it clear that they need to do some debriefing and out loud processing,” said Julie Ray. “They can’t just assume that their friend knows they have something on their mind.”


After fall semester of her junior year, social work major Brandli-lin Wilkins’10 watched her entire group of friends say goodbye to Gordon and venture into new cultures. “When they came back there were a lot of tears and anger but all I could do was ask questions, listen and let them flip through every picture,” said Wilkins.


For Wright reaching for help outside her group of friends, to professors, has been key in reconciling her transition. “Coping has included finding people who have shared my previous experiences and have thought about the things that I am learning,” said Wright.


While students like Wright seek help to understand their global experiences, many students at Gordon do not. “We can’t force students to debrief,” said Dr. Liesl Smith, assistant director of global education. “We have programs for returning students but out of 80 students who go abroad only around 10 take advantage of the re-entry programs.”


Dr. Smith and the others at the global education office who have lived abroad understand the realities of spiritual floundering and academic struggles that surface after returning home. According to Smith, the pressure of returning to Gordon can be overwhelming and students don’t want to add to their schedules to seek help.


Starting next semester students wishing to satisfy their global understanding core requirements must complete a six hour pre and post trip class. The first class will help students think about what it means to be an American citizen and how they are shaped by American culture. The second post trip class is designed to help students reflect on the things they value from their own culture and the culture they were immersed in. “We want to help them form a new third culture upon coming home,” said Smith. “This class will equip them for the ongoing questioning that they will face.”


By the time senior year rolls around nearly 38% of students have traveled abroad, and those that haven’t know someone who has, says Smith. “You will continue to live in the tension caused by spending time abroad and that is okay,” said Austin Mueller’10 who studied abroad in Costa Rica. “Not all answers will come immediately but there is extreme value for everyone involved in the process.”

The Elements of A Minute Before Friday

Jonna Lightfoot MacLaughlin might be a fictional character in Jo Kadlecek's book, A Minute Before Friday, but one thing is for sure. MacLaughlin is a journalistic hero who faces the same conflicts as real life reporters such as Carl Bernstein, Bob Woodward, and Edward Murrow.

MacLaughlin knows who she works for; citizens. She is not interested in the "new strategy" implemented by Walter Wood, a man hired to help the Clarion newspaper stay alive. Wood's strategy is a business technique that involves printing stories that make other stories look boring. The problem is that this work ethic goes against an important element of journalism posed by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel in their book, The Elements Of Journalism. The second element says that journalism's first loyalty is to citizens. Wood and editor Skip Gravely are not loyal to citizens; they are loyal to money. They transform MacLaughlin's article about Wiccans into a slanted piece that's only interest is marketing. Their only goal is to sell more newspapers.

This goal also goes against the first element of journalism which states that journalism’s first obligation is to the truth. MacLaughlin pursues a story that her editors forbid her from following because she understands her obligation to expose the truth. Wood and Gravely don’t care about printing the truth; they are more obligated to their own reputations and financial situations.

So what should MacLaughlin do? The ninth element of journalism answers this question. It states that journalists have an obligation to exercise their personal conscience. This involves challenging editors, publishers, owners, and even citizens for the truths sake. Even though MacLaughlin pursued the truth and challenged authorities, her article was never printed. But it didn’t matter because as the last element of journalism explains, citizen’s have obligations to. Because of all her hard work outside of the newsroom and aside from the articles she wrote for her job, the corruption at Regal was exposed.

Watergate: Uncovering The Truth

Journalism is more than presenting facts to the public. Reporters are supposed to pursue the truth in order to provide citizens with the information they need to be free and self governing. In their book, The Elements of Journalism, Bill Novach and Tom Rosenstiel lay out 10 principles of journalism that ought to be followed by all journalists. Several of these principles are seen in the film All The President’s Men (1976).

The film tells the story of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, two reporters for The Washington Post. Woodward and Bernstein start following a story about five men arrested for breaking into the Watergate building however as they continue reporting they crack the famous Watergate scandal. The most evident principle seen in this film is the importance of original investigative reporting. Woodward and Bernstein did not just wait to see what other newspapers wrote about. Instead they did the dirty work themselves and acted as detectives. They crossed red tape, knocked on every door, took every lead, made every call, spend hours sorting through evidence, demanded answers to the what, where, when, why, and how, and followed up on everything.

Because of their investigating, Woodward and Bernstein gathered evidence and eventually were able to expose the truth and uncover Nixon’s corrupt scheme. Even when told over and over again that didn’t have anything and that the story wasn’t worth it, they were unwaveringly dedicated to the truth. Woodward and Bernstein were told that running the story was a huge danger, called shabby journalists, and called liars by the White House but they didn’t give up. They followed the story until they eventually uncovered the scandal.

Woodward and Bernstein were also dedicated to another principle of journalism; the discipline of verification. At one point in the film the two reporters realize that they didn’t get enough fact in an interview so they go back and re-interview a woman because they understand that they can’t rely on their gut feelings alone. Their publishers also make sure that they don’t print anything unless they have verified every detail with at least 2 or 3 sources.

Woodward and Bernstein worked relentlessly for many sleepless nights to uncover the truth and report on it. Because of evidence gathered by these two men, Nixon was found out and forced to resign.

Good Night, and Good Luck

Good Night, and Good Luck (2005) tells the story of Edward R Murrow, a pioneer of American broadcast journalism. In 1954 Murrow showed the American public his dedication to reporting truthful news. Despite being strongly urged to reconsider his stand, Murrow put his career on the line when he chose to air a television series exposing Senator McCarthy during the Red Scare of the 1950s.

Murrow’s story exemplifies many of the journalistic principles that authors Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel explore in their book, The Elements of Journalism. During the Red Scare Murrow could have been obligated to his own reputation as other journalists were. Many reporters were not willing to expose McCarthy because they were afraid of being pegged as communists. Murrow however, was not afraid. In the words of Kovach and Rosentiel his first obligation was to the truth. Murrow worked diligently to collect and bring to light hidden facts about McCarthy so that citizens could know the truth and act on it.

The Elements of Journalism also highlights the importance of loyalty to citizens. Murrow was fearlessly dedicated to telling citizen’s stories. During the Red Scare, Senator McCarthy accused over 200 people of being communist infiltrators. When Murrow’s editor said there wasn’t much to write about in response to McCarthy’s behavior, Murrow did not back down. He told citizens stories when other reporters did not.

In telling the public’s stories Murrow demonstrated another element of journalism, providing a voice to the voiceless. He told the story of an Irish man from Michigan who was kicked out of the air force because his father read a Serbian newspaper. The man was not provided a fair trial and was told that if he wanted to keep his job he had to denounce his family. Murrow was so set on covering this story that he was willing to pay for the ads for permission to write it.

By providing a voice to the voiceless Murrow also served as a monitor of power. When he chose to cover the story of the man from Michigan, Murrow showed McCarthy that he didn’t have the authority to accuse whoever he wanted to of being communist and that there would be consequences for his actions. Murrow used his news show to make the corrupt actions of the government more transparent to the American public.

Edward Murrow and his colleagues were dedicated to providing citizens with more than just facts. His truthful reporting, loyalty to citizens, and perseverance helped him succeed in bringing down McCarthy and made him a highly esteemed reporter with his own exhibit at the Newseum in Washington, D.C.

Civil Rights and the Media

During the civil rights movement the media allowed all of America to see the gross atrocities being committed against African American protesters. Reporters filmed violent acts such as brutal beatings, attacks with fire hoses, and police setting dogs on civilians. Upon seeing this coverage in their homes, Americans, including President Kennedy, made a decision to act and within a relatively short time African Americans began to gain civil liberties. As an aspiring journalist this motivates me to think about my duty as a writer and what truths I can uncover with my stories.

Twenty Years of Silly Putty, Microscopes, and Community

By Allison Lynch and Natalie Giordano

As freshman biology major Ashton Colby poured a vial of hydrogen peroxide into a liquid green mixture he asked, “Are you guys ready for this?”The mixture was for the “Elephant Toothpaste” experiment during Gordon College’s Science Carnival on Saturday, October 10th in the Ken Olsen Science Center. For the past twenty years during homecoming weekend, the science department has organized activities and experiments geared towards children and their accompanying alumni parents. “I like to bring science to a broader community – out of the lab and into the public arena” said Dwight Tshudy, Associate Professor of Chemistry at Gordon.

“We like to show that we’re geeks,” said Rachel Shirron, ’10, double major in chemistry and math who co-coordinated the carnival this year. This year, the carnival committee was excited to incorporate the “It’s Elemental!” theme of National Chemistry Week, which begins October 18th. “It goes along great with the electrolysis experiment,” said Shirron.

For children, Shirron’s electrolysis demonstration was a novelty, but for alumni Jen Forster, ’94, who had not seen the updated science center until this homecoming, the carnival revealed Gordon’s progress. “It’s really cool to know [the KOSC] has all the new technology,” she said.

But the three floors of biology, chemistry, and physics activities do not happen overnight; planning starts in September. “It’s a lot of work,” said Shirron. All the work culminates into a fun and engaging display of chemical eruptions, silly putty globules, microscope slides, and M&M math puzzles. “It’s always rewarding,” said Tshudy.

Tshudy’s goal is to connect alumni parents with professors, and to involve Gordon students in the volunteer work. “Students can get out and bring science to a bigger audience,” said Tshudy. “This is the only day we get to play with physics toys; the rest of the time we have to do lab work,” said Jordan Montgomery, ’10, who taught kids like Alexander MacTaylor, 4, about magnetic damping.

Fortunately, the advanced concepts are condensed for the younger audience. “We keep it simple and fun,” said Tshudy, because “Science is for all ages.” As for associate physics professor David Lee, whose daughter Paloma enjoyed sitting in an expandable plastic orb, “It’s a lot like magic.”