With three months of vacation on the horizon for ETSU students, many plan to take this time to relax. However, some students at ETSU plan to use this summer break to help others or get ahead in their schoolwork.
“I will be participating in the McNair Program,” ETSU student Shelby Hammock said. “It’s a program for underprivileged students, either minorities or first generation college students.”
Hammock said the program starts at the beginning of June and goes through the end of July. She also said the program is a graduate school prep program, so they’ll be taking practice GRE exams and writing a research paper and getting feedback on their work.
“It’s kind of a pathway for the underrepresented,” Hammock said. “It’s an opportunity for people who don’t usually go to grad school to go to grad school. … It’s definitely made me take a more serious look at getting a master’s degree or maybe even a doctorate someday.”
Sophia Fledderman, a sophomore at ETSU, says she will be getting clinical experience for medical school by volunteering at a nursing home in her home town.
“I’m also going to work for a prosecutor in my hometown,” Fledderman said. “I help him look at their medical files. If someone passes away, I’ll kind of go through the autopsy report and give him my input. Sometimes I get to go see autopsies or go to crime scenes.”
ETSU student Rosie McVeigh will be going to the Cumberland Plateau in Middle Tennessee for archaeological field school.
“I’m going with Dr. (Jay) Franklin, who is the head of the archaeology and anthropology department,” McVeigh said. “He and some other students are going, and we’re going to be working on the plateau. There’s also a museum that we’ll be working in.”
ETSU student Ember Hicks said they will be going on a mission trip with their church to Montana.
“They’re going to take a shower trailer, and we’re going to just help out on the Native American reservations,” Hicks said.
Hicks said that the mission trip will last about 12 days and will take three days to get there from East Tennessee. Hicks says they hope to gain more experience on this trip.
“I want to achieve a closer connection with my community,” Hicks said, “and to increase better relations with people up there in Montana. And to gain better experience with mission trips in reservations like that.”
As you look forward to summer 2018, we hope you gain inspiration from your fellow classmates who are going above and beyond in service and professional development.
