Honors students head to Mexico for study abroad trip over spring break
If 2012 does turn out to be the twilight of humanity, at least the students in HON 321M will have spent their last spring break in warm weather.
The End of the World: Mayan Math is a special topics Honors class that examines the Mayan doomsday prophecy by learning about Mayan mathematics and culture. The class will be taking a spring break trip to Mexico to visit three sites including Chichen Itza, said Holland senior Will Damian.
"A lot of what we’ll be doing is looking at the ruins, talking about what they might have used different buildings for and getting some of the culture in," said Professor Donna Ericksen, who co-teaches the class.
In terms of culture, Professor Tibor Marcinek, the class's other instructor, said the class learned a bit of Spanish. One assignment they will have is to speak to a waiter or waitress in Spanish to practice.
"We talked a lot about the different sites, what they would be used for, why they were used," Ericksen said. "(We will have them) imagine what the city might have been like at its prime and fully populated. Part of the trip too is just to relax a little bit. That isn’t going to be a lot though. They might be disappointed, because it is pretty structured all the time they’re going to be there."
Whitehall junior Chelsey Colston said she has practiced her Spanish and is looking forward to interacting with Mayan people. She has also learned about Mayan glyphs and numbers.
"When they get to the sites and hear from the tour guides what’s going on, I think they’re going to be able to really fill in all the gaps and bring to it what they already know, which is a lot," Ericksen said.
Ericksen and Marcinek agreed there have been challenges to teaching the class. Each had to learn material beyond the mathematics to be able to get up each week in front of the students and teach.
"I told them I don’t think I’ve seen so many Mayan movies in my life or read so many Mayan books," Ericksen said.
Marcinek said he has not taught a study abroad topic class, nor has he taught ancient culture. He said there would be an exit survey to assess how the class went and possibly to consider teaching it in the future.
"We’re really excited for them to get this experience, and I’m excited to experience it with them," Ericksen said. "I haven’t probably worked this hard to teach a class in a long time, but it’s been really worth it. It’s been really rewarding"
