Honesty, Activity and Creativity by Emily

Honesty, Activity and Creativity by Emily - July 2020 Scholarship Essay

I currently work for a gap year program located in Vienna, Austria and am about to start my Masters of Divinity at McAfee School of Theology this upcoming fall. As an American I had to really think about how to transfer over my American upbringing and educational system into an international context. For the past three years students in our program have come from various countries and states such as Iran, Scotland, Virginia, Washington, Maine, Kansas, Arizona, Germany, and Czech Republic. Creating an environment where every student can learn and thrive is very important and essential to honest and transformative conversations. Project:Vienna, the gap year program I work for, allows students to come and participate in refugee integration work, intern at a multicultural church and be a theological student.

The program was set up in this way so that both active and passive learning work in a cyclical motion; each affecting the other. So when assessing the question “What would your dream classroom look like? How would it help you excel as a student?”, I reflect on my own experience as a coordinator, teacher, and student. Here I realize that I have been given the unique opportunity to help create the type of classroom environment for my students which I dreamed about while I was in school. With that being said, the environment that I have created and maintained is founded on three main principles. The first is that honesty and openness is the only way to have real conversations. I read a study recently that shows that the principle this upcoming generation prioritizes the most is honesty and authenticity. Honesty, trust and openness are crucial in creating a classroom environment that assists and pushes students to engage on a deeper level.

Second, is the realization that what we are learning in the classroom does not stay in the classroom. That all we are learning has real and vital implications in the world around us. If we learn about what something means on a philosophical and theological level such as to serve and love others around us, we then need to actually go out and utilize those tools. Whether it's the arts or science, literature or math, it is important to create a classroom environment where students see that what they are learning does not die within the classroom, but is ignited once they step out into the “real world”. I believe that teachers who create classrooms with this environment in mind will then create students that first, excel in their emotional intelligence by prioritizing authenticity and, second, are aware that the lessons they learn and the conversations they engage in should not stay here, but should give them the power and wisdom to go out and use this knowledge to make real change in their city, country, world and themselves.

Finally, as a graduate from Virginia Tech in Creative Technologies and Experiences I am always an advocate of using visual teaching tools and creative projects to help explain and educate students. I am a strong believer in the transformative power of creative expression and art. I was able to and currently thrive in this community and believe that it would help others thrive as well. I have also seen that art has the remarkable power to cross cultural lines and bring people of different cultures, languages and upbringings together.