Photographer: Anabelle Price
On the evening of July 9th, Sarah Beach started her class with an engaging question: “What is your favorite GSP story told this summer?”
Sarah Beach is the instructor for the Philosophy focus area here at Murray during the duration of the Governor’s Scholars Program. During the school year Sarah is a professor at Spalding University, where she teaches Communication Studies. While many Scholars here are nervous for their future, all we have to do is look at Sarah. She is an amazing example of a Scholar who has achieved great things since her summer at GSP in 2010.
This thought-provoking question effectively opened up the scholars not only to each other, but to the broader topic of the class that night: Storytelling in Philosophy. Sarah got her scholars thinking about their own lives and stories they told to relate back to their own personal philosophy. While their answers varied wildly, everyone was attentive to their peers and the story they wove. This attention and focus guided the discussion for the rest of the class session.
Clair Nusbaumber, a Philosophy scholar, had a very interesting story which she was willing to share with me. “ I joined a board game in the lobby which had been apparently going on for nearly two hours. People were dropping in and out. When I joined I had no idea what the rules were, but I ended up flying under the radar, learning the rules, and winning the game in the end.” Relating back to her own philosophy, she described herself as competitive and seeking the desire to fill that value in her experiences.
After that warm–up question, Sarah led her scholars into discussion about their impending field Trip to the National Quilt Museum, scheduled July 10th. It was fascinating how the class creatively weaved in philosophical thoughts about the topic of quilting. Some may not understand how quilting relates to the topic of philosophy, but the scholars were able to see past their unfamiliarity of this subject to broaden their minds.
Everyone has their own personal philosophy; from values to beliefs and from thoughts to actions, we (as a society) built our own philosophies from our culture and environment. A way that these ideas are shared between generations is through our art. Quilts and other artistic creations exhibit the creators stories and values, I.E their personal philosophy.
Naturally the question of what is art guided the class from this point on. Many of the scholars answered that question with their personal opinions and experiences. One scholar’s response stuck out amongst the heated debate, as he calmly questioned, “What is not [art]?” As many scholars had opinions on what art is and is not, this response guided the rest of the discussion and ended it with a general consensus that everything can be considered art because of human involvement in its creation.
All this built up to the announcement of the scholars’ final project. Each scholar is to create a project which relates back to their personal philosophy or a lesson they learned in their life. Their project, which will only be presented among the Philosophy Scholars, will let each scholar take a creative approach to presenting their stories while they discover their voice.
The values and hidden philosophies in life help to build our own personal values and convictions. We learn from the mistakes and triumphs of our cultural past as values are passed down help to build up our future.
Photographer: Anabelle Price
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