Class travels to United Kingdom for magical learning experience
Learning about magic in school is not just for Hogwarts students anymore.
An English literature graduate and Honors Program class at Central Michigan University toured the United Kingdom during spring break. Part of their curriculum was to study the cultural phenomenon of J.K. Rowling’s "Harry Potter" book series. Students traveled to landmarks instrumental to the books and movies in Edinburgh, Scotland, Durham, Gloucester, Oxford, Watford, London and Cambridge during the course of 10 days.
Professor Joseph Michael Sommers, explained the trip as “looking at the (Harry Potter) books as an artifact of a society that we experience—for it is the United Kingdom that is the true literature of the course—the books serve as our portal of entry into that world.”
The study abroad trip was an added bonus to taking a class for Haslett sophomore Emileigh Stoll.
“I would have taken this class even if we didn’t have a study abroad trip because I am mildly obsessed with Harry Potter,” Stoll said. “The whole experience of traveling abroad just makes it that much more of an enriching experience.”
A highlight of the trip for Stoll was Warner Brother's Harry Potter Studio, which had most of the original sets and props from the movies.
“I remember standing in the Great Hall and being speechless,” Stoll said. “That was like our version of our acceptance to Hogwarts that we were never going to get.”
Sommers explained his desire was to construct a class that would raise the bar for students’ expectations for what could be accomplished in a classroom.
“The looks on their faces, so many smiles, so many tears of joy from watching this universe that they love unfold in front of their eyes,” Sommers said. “That's the real magic of Harry Potter for me.”
For Sault Ste. Marie junior Emma Harrington, the first stop in Edinburgh couldn’t be topped for the rest of the trip.
“The main focus of the trip was Harry Potter, and everywhere we went was significant to Harry Potter, but at the same time I learned all of the history, all of the culture from these cities. It was definitely all-encompassing,” Harrington said.
Harrington went into the semester telling herself she would study abroad. When the class became available, she said it was perfect because she is a huge Potter fan.
“I get to go to class twice a week and have an academic discussion about Harry Potter with a group of people who are interested in the same things that I am,” Harrington said.
The opportunity to do research and write papers on topics she is truly interested in has been a great part of the class, she said.
“It was so cool to actually be standing in the same place as some of your favorite actors and childhood movies and get a little glimpse of what they did or where they filmed,” said Delton junior Elizabeth Jackson.
Jackson said students would have gotten to know each city better if they would have had more time, but getting to see a wide range of Harry Potter-related landmarks in a short amount of time was an amazing experience.
“I liked being able to so many different places, and now I have a reason to go back because I want to spend more time in all of them,” Jackson said.
A permanent 100-level course on Harry Potter for the English Department is being designed and developed as a part of the suite of new 100-level English course offerings forthcoming in the near future, Sommers said.
“I don't know a professor who wouldn't kill for those moments where their students' faces are aglow in educational delight,” Sommers said. “I have a lifetime of those memories from a 10-day trip.”
