Student Stories

Amidst the rolling hills of the Covadonga Valley in Spain, UNC Charlotte history major and Odyssean Scholarship recipient Keegan Cary came to understand the serendipity of encounters with people from different walks of life.

Jerusalem, rich in culture, history and historical conflict, is the spiritual capital of the Western world. Since 2007, a large, complex archaeological excavation has been conducted there under the direction of UNC Charlotte in an archaeological investigation perhaps unlike any other.

Sixty UNC Charlotte students who are enrolled in Spanish language classes caught a glimpse of what it means to live in poverty in a foreign country, struggling to survive with limited language skills through a simulation organized by Spanish lecturer Susana Cisneros.

Atrocities can start with seemingly insignificant acts. UNC Charlotte students have learned this painful, yet powerful lesson through their in-depth study of the Holocaust. As scholars in the course “Bearing Witness to the Past: A Journey to Auschwitz,” they have traveled to the death camps of Auschwitz and Krakow. They have studied the photographs of the dead and read their names. They have seen the mute mountains of surrendered belongings – the shoes, the battered suitcases, the eyeglasses.

A cadre of UNC Charlotte students this summer worked alongside homeowners and local masons in Ahuachapán, El Salvador to build foundations for new homes, through a partnership with Habitat and with support from donors. The program offered hands-on experience building affordable housing, integrated with academic course content designed to develop deep understanding of complex social problems.

Graduates of the Technical/professional writing program discuss how the versatile nature of the program helps prepare students to succeed when they enter the workforce. The program is offered through the English Department in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.

UNC Charlotte’s Graduate Life Fellows program enters its eighth year this fall with the selection of seven fellows — including four from the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences — who will build community on campus with programming, events, workshops and outreach participation for graduate students.

UNC Charlotte student scholars are researching diverse topics ranging from lightning strike patterns in the Southeast U.S. to the connection between Maya Angelou’s poetry and contemporary hip-hop to the impact of UNC Charlotte’s student-run food pantry.

When people consider biodiversity, they often think of far-flung Amazon rainforests or vibrant coral reefs in tropical seas. While biodiversity ranks high on the global scale, it is also vital to the health of humans and the environment at the local level, something that UNC Charlotte doctoral student Angelique Hjarding is addressing through her research and creation of the Butterfly Highway project.

UNC Charlotte undergraduate students Keegan Cary and Emma Franz will deepen their knowledge and understanding of the world through an immersive semester-long study abroad experience in Spain, as the 2015 Odyssean Scholarship recipients.