Page 13 - Southern Magazine-Winter/Spring 2013

winter-spring 2013 / 11
he January Exploration Term
is only a few weeks long, but
it can make a big difference
in the lives of Birmingham-
Southern students.
This slower-paced term, tucked
neatly between the fall and spring
semesters, provides fresh approaches
to learning, smaller class sizes, and
travel—often with service-learning
components. E-Term encourages
creativity and experimentation as
students focus more intensively on a
single topic.
More than 70 students studied
abroad, mostly on faculty-led trips.
Students traveled to Italy, India, the
Czech Republic, Thailand, and the
Caribbean, to name just a few places.
They also traveled with faculty or staff
to cities in the U.S., including New
Orleans, San Francisco, and Park City,
Utah, for the Sundance Film Festival.
This year there were 18 new
E-Term course offerings, plus 32
independently-designed contracts.
Students must complete at least two
Exploration Terms during their time at
BSC, although most students choose
to participate in E-Term every year.
“Exploration Term frees students
from the demands of multiple courses
during the regular term,” said Katy
Leonard, director of exploration term
and contract learning. “It’s a unique
part of the culture of BSC.”
That culture is what earned
Birmingham-Southern a spot in
“Colleges Thinking Outside the
Box for New Courses,” published
Jan. 16 by the educational website
CollegeXpress. According to the
article, BSC continues to explore
innovative topics to boost its
curriculum inside and outside of the
traditional classroom.
T
ne group of talented BSC students brought the classic
rock opera, The Who’s Tommy, to life during an E-Term
course taught by Professor of Theatre Michael Flowers.
The show was performed Jan. 24-27 to enthusiastic
audiences. Thirty-five students were involved in the
project, serving as actors and production staff. Twelve of the students
were theatre or musical theatre majors who worked on the show
as their senior project. This classic and energetic rock opera from
the 1960s tells the story of young boy named Tommy who, after
witnessing a horrific event involving his mother and father, becomes
catatonic, hiding from the world. After being mistreated by his
family and friends, because no one knows what to do with him, he
eventually discovers that he is a genius at the pinball machine. Katie
Holmes ’05 (pictured on keyboard) served as the show’s musical
director.
PHOTO BY JOSEPH BAILEY
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