Digital Design

Digital Design

Project Think Piece

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For our project, Nicolette, Chloe and I are researching intergenerational relationships because we want to learn more about their impact on mental health so that our readers and users of our project will have an opportunity to form these relationships and improve their mental health. This project evolving into something that will include scholarly work as well as an interactive community activity, likely a one-time event but with published guidelines for how to structure it so that it has the potential to reoccur. We are looking at the effects on mental health in intergenerational structures, and how we can synthesize the positive effects that we find into our project. This will likely be in the form of a scholarly essay, but I also would like it to manifest in more interactive aspects on our sight, like personal narratives, a photo gallery, and an interactive map of the different communities in Davidson based on age, if that’s possible (i.e. different schools, The Pines…) as well as mapping out certain areas in the Davidson community that lend themselves to interactive meeting spaces, like the public library, Davidson’s cross country trails, the Town of Davidson Greenway, and Summit Coffee.  I’d like to make this project as narrative-based as possible while still including and integrating scholarly work. I think that it will be interesting to have those both on one platform. Some questions that I have for this project that will potentially help us move forward are: will we be involving specifically the Davidson College community and The Pines community or will we try to broaden our reach and age range? What will our scholarly research include? How will we include people in the Davidson College community and beyond in our project? Will we be able to partner with businesses in town, like Summit Coffee and Main Street Books, for events? It would be nice to use the Summit Coffee space for an event where possibly people from The Pines and people in the Davidson community to meet and form relationships.

Refugee Storytelling Think Piece

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For our project, we are researching refugee lives somewhat after they have fled their homes because we want to learn about their victories and struggles in what has hopefully become their new home so our refugee readers will know that there are others with similar stories who understand their struggles and can potentially network with them. To accomplish our goals, we will create a website as our storytelling platform. One idea which I think is particularly interesting is the incorporation of an interactive map with hotspots into our website, and each hotspot is clickable, prompting a zoom effect and allowing the reader to hear refugee stories from that specific region. Once the zoom is complete, we could potentially have a panel of photos of each person with their first name centered on their photo that link to individual stories; however, the issue of ethical information sharing and anonymity is very important to us, and we want to do everything in our power to ensure that the storytellers are comfortable with the project, so the amount of detail they reveal will obviously be entirely up to them. If they are uncomfortable with the use of their names and faces, we can make a panel of impactful quotes from each story that open a single full story when clicked. From there, I think it would be interesting to have the audio from each interview along with a transcription of the interview to add to the impact of the stories and communicate the emotion each storyteller feels, as well as humanize the stories further by connecting them with a voice.

I have many questions about our project. For example, how wide will the scope of our project be? Will we solely attempt to contact refugees in and around the Charlotte area? Or will we expand our search for stories across the US—or even farther—through technology? How will we balance providing impactful details and clearly connecting a human to each story with ethically sharing information and potentially maintaining anonymity? How will we realize our ideal website? Will we need to review or learn tools like HTML, CSS, and Bootstrap? Or will the relatively simple, broad WordPress editing suffice? How will we attract readers to our project? And once we have readers, how can we help refugees network with other refugees while still maintaining ethical levels of anonymity? At the moment, many of these questions feel overwhelming; however, I think discussing them with my group, as well as simply beginning to work on the project, will help me answer some of them and give me a strong start towards answering the others.

Pledged: SJB

Think Piece: Social Media’s Impact on the Mental Health of Senior Citizens

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Increased social media use has been linked to a higher risk of depression and “fear of missing out.” However, internet use has suggested “a reduced risk of depression as much as 33%” in senior citizens (“How Dangerous Is Social Media to Seniors’ Well-Being?”). We are researching social media’s impact on the mental health of senior citizens because we want to know more about the positive effects that social media access has had on the lives of senior citizens so that our audience will better understand how to help and connect with the seniors in their lives. My interest in health, as well as wanting to focus on a small, manageable group of people attracted me to this project idea.

Last week’s class session about networks sparked project ideas for me. Everyone is a part of various social circles pertaining to the different activities in which they are involved. In the digital age, networking abilities have expanded with the creation of social media platforms. Playing the Wisdom and/or Madness of Crowds game made me interested in creating an interactive component in the project. I want to create an easy-to-navigate website that uses Twine to take users through different scenarios of senior citizen’s social media use. This will show benefits as well as risks of social media use for older generations. For example, the user will get to choose between characters each with their own social media “adventures.” One may be a grandfather who is learning how to Skype his grandkids who live in another state. He may run into a few technical difficulties in the process, but the end result is that he gets to stay updated on his grandkids’ lives despite only being able to see them a few times a year in-person. Another may be a widow who uses Facebook to rekindle a relationship with a friend from high school. She and the friend, who also grew up with the late husband, message frequently. This newfound connection helps the woman deal with her grief. These Twine stories will also include blurbs from actual research studies about social media use and mental health. The stories will illustrate safety issues that senior citizens run into on social media, such as scammers. Aside from social media, good mental health requires a balance of self-care and in-person interactions, so the website will include links to resources: tutorials on how to create social media accounts, safe internet practices and local senior citizen groups that meet in person. Overall, this project’s goal is to create a comprehensive site for caretakers, family members and senior citizens themselves to learn about social media’s contribution to mental health and networking. Hopefully, this resource will motivate our audience to try some of the ideas we recommend.

Questions

  • Where will we find factual information to include in our project?
    • In what way(s) can we expand upon our typical online database research?
    • Are there digital humanities projects on a similar topic already? What approaches did the creators take?
  • Is there a significant amount of scholarship on this topic?
    • What other directions will this project take based on the research we end up finding?
  • What will the design specs of this website look like?
  • Who in the Davidson College community can give us advice on our project topic? Who are the mental health/aging “experts” at Davidson?
    • Current ideas: Kristi Multhaup, Ph.D., Georgia Ringle, Gloria Fortuna, health advisors, Center for Civic Engagement
  • How will we divide the work equally within the group? What will be the group members’ responsibilities?
  • What is the next step?

Works Cited

“How Dangerous Is Social Media to Seniors’ Well-Being?” SeniorNews, 12 July 2019, http://seniornews.com/dangerous-social-media-seniors-well/.

PLEDGED: CME

Project Proposal

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Queer Representation in Television: Analyzing the Relationship Between Queer Television and Queer Audiences By Caroline Roy and Liz Small  In this project we will use digital tools to examine the ways in which representations of queer people on television affects queer communities. The past few years, queer people have experienced heightened visibility in popular TV shows, with more plotlines centered around characters who don’t fit neatly into binary categories of gender and sexuality. We will examine the ways that television creators “queer” their material through the show’s casting choices, production, platform, and narrative structure, and how queer culture both informs and reacts to queer TV content. How are individuals and communities (especially online) reacting to different kinds of representation and what does this mean for the future of queer content?  We plan to focus on three current shows, Pose, Fleabag, and Euphoria. This will give us an opportunity to compare and contrast very different approaches to queer representation and allow us to examine audience reactions to controversial depictions of queerness. We will gather these cultural and individual responses from journalists and various social media sites, particularly Twitter, while making sure to collect a large sample of responses and give credit to users.  This topic lends itself well to visual and interactive displays, especially when making the connections between a show’s content, its behind the scenes production elements, and the dialogue it creates in queer communities. We will need to be deliberate in our definition of “queer” and work to make the project accessible not just to GSS and film students, but also to people who consume and enjoy queer TV without an academic understanding of the subject.  Sources:  Griffin, Hollis F. “Toward a Queerer Criticism of Television,” Feeling Normal: Sexuality and Media Criticism in the Digital Age. Indiana University Press, 2016.  Ralph J. Poole, « Towards a Queer Futurity: New Trans Television »,European journal of Americanstudies [Online], 12-2 | 2017 Salvato, Nick. “Prosthetic Intimacies: Television, Performance Studies, and theMakings of (a) Life,” 2010.

Intergenerational Programming: A Community Case Study

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Intergenerational programs are organized events, where the elderly and youth spend time together and share an experience (Giles). According to a Stanford report, “when older adults contribute to the well-being of youth, it cultivates a sense of purpose and extends benefits both ways” (Parker). For the elderly, this can include a greater sense of fulfillment, reduced risk of depression and feelings of isolation (“The 10 Benefits”). For children, spending time with elderly people can alleviate their fears of them, as well as aging themselves (“The 10 Benefits”). This programming provides cognitive stimulation for both parties, and it keeps personal stories and history alive. From the articles and scholarship I have seen thus far, the general consensus is that intergenerational programs are beneficial. Therefore, I am interested in studying how intergenerational programming can or has impacted the Davidson community. My plan is to create a website that will compile research surrounding intergenerational programming, program ideas and personal accounts from Davidson College students of past experiences with the elderly/grandparents. Additionally, I plan to help facilitate an intergenerational event between a local preschool/elementary school and a nursing/retirement home, which will also be documented on the website. I seek to understand the impact of intergenerational programming because I like how it appears to benefit both groups of people and facilitate understanding across generations. Additionally, I would like to explore how varying cultural and socioeconomic factors affect the impact of intergenerational programming.

This project will require case studies and scholarly articles which can be found from online databases and journals. Furthermore, Davidson Community specific research will be required such as age distribution and other statistics found from public records or past censuses. Personal accounts from created Qualtrics surveys will need to be acquired from Davidson College students. All data will be cited and permission granted for personal accounts and photos to be posted on the website. Lastly, I will need to get into contact with teachers and event coordinators from a local school and nursing home in order to plan an intergenerational event.

Some of my fondest childhood memories are from times spent with my grandparents. Generations both young and old can learn from one another. Also, with a growing elderly population due to the Baby Boomer generation, there is a concern for increased need in geriatric care. There are various components of care: mental, emotional and physical, and I believe that if one is strong then the others can only benefit. Framing this project within a community-based focus will help make it more manageable. However, I do foresee challenges in terms of finding resources to plan and host an event, as well as finding a quantitative way to measure the impact of intergenerational programming. Lastly, I look forward to the project possibilities that will take form through the use of Design Thinking.

Bibliography

Dyer-Chamberlain, Margaret and Lincoln Caplan. Pass It On: Mobilizing Encore Talent to Transform the Prospects of Vulnerable Children and Youth, Stanford University, 24-25 June 2014.

Freedman, Marc. How to Live Forever: The Enduring Power of Connecting the Generations. PublicAffairs, 2018.

Giles, Gary. “Intergenerational Programs: Keeping Seniors Young, Making Youth Wiser.” MentalHelp.net, Recovery Brands, LLC, n.d., https://www.mentalhelp.net/blogs/intergenerational-programs-keeping-seniors-young-mking-youth-wiser/. Accessed 26 Jan 2020.

Parker, Clifton. “Older people offer resources that children need, Stanford report says.” Stanford News, Stanford University Communications, 8 Sept. 2016, https://news.stanford.edu/2016/09/08/older-people-offer-resource-children-need-stanfordreport-says/. Accessed 26 Jan 2020.

“The 10 Benefits of Connecting Youth and Seniors.” Bayshore Home Care, Website American Creative, 10 Feb 2017, https://www.bayshorehomecare.com/10-benefits-connecting-youth-seniors/. Accessed 26 Jan 2020.

Mental Illness as a Public Health Crisis in the U.S. and What Help is Missing

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I’m interested in exploring mental health in the United States in the digital age, focusing on 2000 to 2020. As we enter the new decade, I think that it is important to reevaluate where we are as a country in terms of diagnosing, treating, and spreading awareness about mental illness, and why efforts toward acceptance and destigmatization of various mental illnesses have not lead to definitive solutions for this public health issue. In terms of physical ailments and diseases, effective treatment is more straightforward and feasible (although not accessible to all) than treatment for mental ailments and diseases, even though at their core they are similar. Why is there this disconnect? Why is there less urgency to treat mental illness? We recognize it as a nation issue, yet so many people are not getting the treatment that they need, even though they have access to it. What is the missing link?

In a recent opinion article published by The New York Times, psychiatrist Richard A. Friedman comments on the severity of mental illness in teens and young adults in the U.S., restating a now fairly common statistic: that “suicide is now the second leading cause of death among young people, surpassed only by accidents.” This is shocking, but even more shocking is the lack of concrete solutions created to combat this. As Dr. Friedman succinctly states: “If thousands of teens were dying from a new infectious disease or a heart ailment, there would be a public outcry and a national call to action.” Where is this force? Although less taboo in society, the stigma around mental illness still lingers, making group action much more difficult. I am going to examine how we speak about mental health today compared to 20 years ago, and how technology has shaped both a positive and negative dialogue surrounding mental illness, specifically among young adults.

This project will most likely involve collecting and comparing data regarding mental health in the U.S. from 2000-2020: how many people are diagnosed, how diagnosis has changed, specific words that people use when talking about mental health/illness, what internet platforms people struggling with mental illness use, how the stigma surrounding it has and hasn’t evolved, and how support is disseminated now in the digital age. I will find these in online databases, as I want my information to be as up to date as possible. I also want to look into interviewing people both on and off campus about their experience with mental health, be it directly or indirectly. I think that it would also be interesting and useful to see how people express themselves in creative writing. I think that creative writing is an important way in which people can show their personalities, as well as what plagues them.

In terms of pros, I think that this is an incredibly prevalent and pressing topic that, although it is being addressed in the news, needs to be developed. Awareness needs to be spread. Solutions need to be considered. Concrete action is required, and I want to figure out what that looks like. It will help to be able to compare where we used to be (2000) to where we are now (2020) and how everything that happened in between led to mental health becoming an even bigger priority due to the related deaths. For cons, I am definitely working with a lot of information, and a lot of personal information that will be both difficult and emotional to gather. Also, not all demographics are represented equally online, which is important to take into consideration when collecting data and making claims about the U.S. population as a whole. There are many different populations within our country.

I think that there needs to be a more universal way in which we talk about and treat mental illness, and that starts with more awareness and understanding how we have gotten to this point where mental illness and its treatment is more pressing than ever. I want to examine what is keeping us from addressing this problem with full force, and what’s keeping our impact from being more widespread. Everyone deserves to feel safe in their mind. Everyone deserves that certainty.

Bibliography:

Friedman, Richard A. “Why Are Young Americans Killing Themselves?” The New York Times [New York], 6 Jan. 2020. The New York Times, www.nytimes.com/2020/01/06/opinion/suicide-young-people.html. Accessed 26 Jan. 2020.

Kessler, Ronald C., et al. “Prevalence and Treatment of Mental Disorders, 1990 to 2003.” The New England Journal of Medicine, June 2005, www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa043266?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori%3Arid%3Acrossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub%3Dpubmed. Accessed 26 Jan. 2020.

“Mental Health Action Plan 2013-2020.” WHO. World Health Organization, apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/89966/9789241506021_eng.pdf;jsessionid=195E83C91737E05AD0EB4D8A26104447?sequence=1. Accessed 26 Jan. 2020. Originally published in World Health Organization.

Slater, Lauren. “Three Spheres.” In Fact: The Best of Creative Nonfiction. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2005. 3-23.

Proposal

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What kind of stories are Davidson College students drawn to and why?

I am interested in collecting information from Davidson College students about what kind of stories in written word, visual or auditory experiences fascinate them. The stories must have a fictional basis. I am interested in the art of crafting novel stories. I would be looking for trends in certain genres or topics stand out and why. I would like to understand how the stories and narratives which students are attracted to reflect the way students prefer to receive information by way of medium and genre.

From the information which is collected, I would contextualize the preferences through research of the significance behind the collection of stories in film, television, literature, and other mediums. I would like to analyze specifically social issues which could be present in the works which are popular among the stories nominated by Davidson College students. Another approach to this project, is to begin the research from already known popular texts, and film released within the last year. Within those popular stories, it would then be easier to control what social concerns could be analyzed and further evaluated. Films released relatively recently including, Joker directed by Todd Phillips and Parasite directed by Bong Joon Ho directly address social injustice. Other films such as Little Women by Greta Gerwig and Marriage Story by Noah Baumbach, address more indirectly gender norms. Television shows which have grown in popularity relatively recently, such as You, Unbelievable, and The Politician tackle mental health and social injustice as well. The project could then take form in interviews of students, videos and images from the sources, and analysis in a written work. 

I would in particular try to determine whether mediums such as visual narratives are more common over textual narratives. This could perhaps support my hypothesis that visual information has become more effective in attaining student attention. If this can be proven then I am interested in the portrayal of social issues in fictionalized mediums today. I believe that analysis of socio economic class structure, gender norms, and other social structures in these films, television shows, or texts could reveal a message about social injustice in our world and what people can redeem from their fictionalized representations. Choosing a couple of stories, whether that is through film, tv, or text which embodies popular interest on campus would be a challenge. However, analysis of these popular works could solidify an understanding of our student community’s interests bound by a love of the captivating art of storytelling. 

Preliminary Bibliography

Cooke, Anthony Carlton. Moral Panics, Mental Illness Stigma, and the Deinstitutionalization Movement in American Popular Culture. Springer International Publishing, 2017, doi:10.1007/978-3-319-47979-8.

Gaylie, Veronica. “Raising Awareness of Social Justice and War Through Film and Poetry.” Radical Teacher, vol. 113, no. 113, Center for Critical Education of NY, Jan. 2019, pp. 64–122, doi:10.5195/rt.2019.596.

Mccann, Edward, and Huntley-Moore, Sylvia. “Madness in the Movies: An Evaluation of the Use of Cinema to Explore Mental Health Issues in Nurse Education.” Nurse Education in Practice, vol. 21, Elsevier Ltd, Nov. 2016, pp. 37–43, doi:10.1016/j.nepr.2016.09.009.

Ortner, Sherry B. “Social Impact Without Social Justice: Film and Politics in the Neoliberal Landscape.” American Ethnologist, vol. 44, no. 3, Aug. 2017, pp. 528–39, doi:10.1111/amet.12527.

Peaslee, Robert Moses and Robert G. Weiner. The Joker: A Serious Study of the Clown Prince of Crime. University Press of Mississippi, 2015. Project MUSE muse.jhu.edu/book/39977.

Project Proposal

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Sam Browning

Professors Suzanne Churchill and Sundi Richard

English 406: Digital Design

January 26th, 2020

Gamification as a Tool to Increase Student Motivation and Enjoyment of Education

I am proposing a study of the implementation of gamification in both physical classrooms as well as through online services like learning management systems because I want to understand the efficacy of gamification as a tool to increase both the motivation and enjoyment of students in order to strengthen our education system and combat the growing epidemic of student disinterest in education, as well as potentially mock up an improved platform for gamification myself. As of now, I believe that gamification is an overall beneficial and important tool to incorporate into the classroom, and that it will help students enjoy learning. Scholars have certainly found that gamification has many positive impacts, such as the creation of a better, more fun learning experience and environment, the provision of instant feedback, and the ability to change root learning behaviors; however, they have also noted some drawbacks. By making play mandatory, the fun of gamification could disappear, making the entire point of the system null and void, and by rewarding mastery of a subject while disregarding the effort put into the subject, students can fail to see the point of putting forth more effort only to receive no reward or a poor result, resulting in a lack of motivation. In regards to public assumptions on the topic, they are likely quite varied. For those who don’t know what gamification is or haven’t seen data on its applications and utility, the use of the word “game” in the beginning of the term can make it seem like the schooling is becoming less focused on learning and more focused on fun, which isn’t true; it’s about merging fun with learning. However, there are also a great number of people that recognize the issues plaguing our school system, such as unmotivated, burnt-out students, and are open to incorporating new teaching methods to see if they help solve these problems. I would guess that those members of the public who have children or frequently work with children would be in favor of gamification, as they have almost certainly discovered for themselves the power of games in motivating children.

I have already gathered several sources to investigate this topic, and I will certainly amass many more as I move forward. As a broad introduction to the topic, one of the first sources I will use, “The History of Gamification: From the Very Beginning to Right Now”, provides a general overview of the beginnings and evolution of gamification. Some other sources, such as Dicheva et al. (2015) and F.F.-H. Nah et al. (2014), synthesize data and information from a wide range of case studies on gamification in education, allowing the reader to observe overall trends, beneficial aspects, and negative aspects easily. I can then seek out individual case studies listed and read through them to gain a more in-depth understanding of their methodology and results. One source in particular, Broer and Breiter (2015), is a fantastic source for the examination of gamification in LMS’, specifically tackling the following five popular LMS’ in 2014: Moodle, Edmodo, Blackboard Learn, Schoology, and Canvas. Yet another category of source that I’ve found is a guide to the implementation of gamification in the classroom, as exemplified by Huang and Soman (2013). This kind of source will allow me to better understand how teachers can implement this pedagogy in the classroom, as well as showcase several implementations in their review of several studies at the end of the article. Finally, one of the teachers I met during my schooling in Wisconsin, Mr. Michael Matera, is a huge proponent of gamification, and I’m almost certain he would be willing to be interviewed and/or provide me with several sources and contacts in the field.

This particular project interests me because I, like almost every student I know, have sometimes struggled mightily with finding the motivation to complete schoolwork that can sometimes feel tedious and pointless, and I’m a criminal procrastinator. From my point of view, everything becomes more fun when the principles of games are applied, especially as someone who is naturally competitive. Other people would be interested for similar reasons; gamification helps combat the monotony of schoolwork and the disinterest of students, and it can be used to decrease procrastination and increase interest in the material itself. My project is viable because there is a large amount of recent research on gamification, and a mock-up of an online system of gamification could simply be hand drawn pictures of a website with explanations of the functions shown in each picture written on the side. One of the greatest challenges of my project will likely be scope. It’s difficult for me to focus on a topic more specific than the gamification of education, and that subject is incredibly broad, meaning I could be overwhelmed with the amount of sources and options available to me before I even begin. A second challenge of the project would be the process of applying my results to the world in a meaningful way. I could potentially reach out to the Community School of Davidson to talk to them about the inclusion of gamification in their curriculum, or even to professors or administration at Davidson about adding gamification in the classroom, but asking teachers to significantly alter their teaching style and curriculum is a huge request.

References

Broer, J., & Breiter, A. (2015). Potentials of Gamification in Learning Management Systems: A Qualitative Evaluation. 10th European Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning, EC-TEL 2015 Toledo, Spain, September 15–18, 2015, Proceedings, pp. 389-394. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24258-3

Darina Dicheva, Christo Dichev, Gennady Agre, & Galia Angelova. (2015). Gamification in Education: A Systematic Mapping Study. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 18(3), 75-88. Retrieved January 26, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/jeductechsoci.18.3.75

Furdu, I., Tomozei, C., & Köse, U. (2017). Pros and Cons Gamification and Gaming in Classroom [PDF]. BRAIN: Broad Research in Artificial Intelligence and Neuroscience, 8(2). Retrieved from https://arxiv.org/pdf/1708.09337.pdf

The History of Gamification: From the Very Beginning to Right Now. (2019, August 29). Retrieved January 26, 2020, from Growth Engineering website: https://www.growthengineering.co.uk/history-of-gamification/

Huang, W. H.-Y., & Soman, D. (2013, December 10). A Practitioner’s Guide To Gamification Of Education[PDF]. Retrieved from https://rotman.utoronto.ca/-/media/files/programs-and-areas/behavioural-economics/guidegamificationeducationdec2013.pdf

Kiryakova, G., Angelova, N., & Yordanova, L. (2014). Gamification in education[PDF]. Retrieved from http://www.academia.edu/download/53993982/293-Kiryakova.pdf

Nah, F. F.-H., Zeng, Q., Telaprolu, V. R., Ayyappa, A. P., & Eschenbrenner, B. (2014). Gamification of Education: A Review of Literature. In F. F.-H. Nah (Ed.), HCI in business: First international conference, HCIB 2014, held as part of HCI International 2014 ([16th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction]), Heraklion, Crete, Greece, June 22-27, 2014 ; proceedings(pp. 401-409). Retrieved from Springer database. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24258-3

Maria Brown

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As a senior at Davidson College, I have studied English and Art History. I currently live in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania but recently moved from Ann Arbor, Michigan. I have interests in the Arts, Business, and Community Development. I hope to become involved in the small business and nonprofit world. I have experience working with non-profits through various volunteering opportunities in community development, education and health care. I have also worked with small businesses in occupations ranging from customer service to social media marketing.

Through my studies, I have grown fascinated by the workings of human expression and behavior. I believe that business provides the potential for individuals to positively effect those around them and themselves. Business shapes our interactions in such a profound way.

 Another way of interaction is through art. I find it interesting how artistic forms replicate an individual and how it interacts and shapes a community and a society. The power of art to encompass a zeitgeist and the human condition can express ways in which we can be human together.

Yet, another important aspect of these interests in the Arts and Business is how to utilize these forms to empower others.

Chloe

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Chloe standing in a sunflower field

Hello! My name is Chloe Eater and I am a Senior English major at Davidson College. When I am not doing homework in the library, you can find me with my cheerleading teammates at the basketball games or on-call for an EMT shift at the Davidson Fire Department. In my free time, I enjoy being with family and friends, taking walks around town or going to the gym for a quick workout sesh.

At the moment, I am applying for graduate school programs in biomedical science. Eventually, I hope to attend dental school and open my own practice. While studying abroad in Zambia this past summer, I saw a need for health care of many kinds but noticed that dental hygiene was an area overlooked. Given the opportunity to meet my career goals, it is important to me that I give back to my community.

Thanks for reading!

Please follow me on my digital design journey here.

Sam

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Hello! My name is Sam Browning, and I am a sophomore with an intended English major and Digital Studies minor at Davidson College. In my spare time, I sing in both the Davidson Generals all male a cappella group and in the shower, and I play a lot of Spikeball. I have also recently become interested in rock climbing and love spending time with my friends doing pretty much anything. Furthermore, I am a very talented artist (see my self portrait below). If you’re interested, check out my Digital Design site! Hopefully, some cool stuff is on the way. Either way, thanks for stopping by!

– Sam

Marina

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Hi! My name is Marina Shallcross, and I am a Senior English major and Spanish minor at Davidson College. I am a creative writer who cares deeply about exploring ideas of memory, love, loss, familial ties, and disability through both fiction and creative non-fiction. I want to translate my life experiences into something tangible, accessible, and universal in order to connect others in their shared sentiments. I believe in the power of stories and think that we can all benefit from more vulnerability, which leads to connectivity, by finding and sharing our commonalities. Discovering and creating writing that examines life—the quotidian, the surprising, the traumatic—in an evocative and thoughtful way helps to both ground me in life and propel me forward. I’m currently writing a thesis about my relationship with my older brother with autism, specifically examining how it has grown and changed as a result of life events that have separated us as well as our natural maturation into adulthood.

A few of my favorite books at the moment are: After the Eclipse by Sarah Perry, The Opposite of Loneliness by Marina Keegan, War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, and The Brief, Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz.

I’d love to publish a novel or memoir dedicated to my late mom and possibly open a business that employs autistic people. Right now I really enjoy writing about the people I love. I’m still figuring out how to get from A to B, if the “B” even exists. But I think I have time.

    Hello world!

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