Laura Kaeppeler, '10, rehearses "The Magic Flute" in her Opera Production J-Term class. Danielle Stokosa, '13, works on her telescope in the course Telescope Making.Kenosha air traffic controller Jody Davis explains equipment to Emily Stein, '11, during a field trip to the Kenosha airport for the J-Term course Aviation and Meteorology.Professors Tom and Linda Noer discuss a paper with Kari Peterson, '11, in Frank Lloyd Wright and Modern America.Students gave classic board games a "Frank Lloyd Wright" twist in the J-Term course Frank Lloyd Wright and Modern America.Students in the Frank Lloyd Wright class also designed, then built structures using wooden blocks.Students got creative in a papermaking class offered during J-Term.Spencer Best, '13; Krista Sturycz, '13; and Stephanie Bobholz, '13; study for their course Discrete Structures.A sample work of student work created during a J-Term papermaking class.

J-Term at Carthage

J-Term 2010

On-campus, students studied aviation, acting, astronomy and more


Story by Elizabeth Reinhardt, '12, and Tess Beltran, '12
Photos by Tess Beltran, '12; Ken Sabbar, '10; and Erika Share, '12


J-Term 2010 sent Carthage students around the world — from Argentina to Taiwan, Nicaragua to Namibia, as well as Rome, Berlin, India and Belize.

Yet students who stayed on campus to brave Wisconsin's January weather had plenty of adventures as well. Here on campus, students studied architecture, aviation, art, film, paleontology, advertising, the global economic crisis, journalism, children's literature, opera, telescope making, acting, and so much more.

J-Term is a time to explore new and interesting topics, and students of all disciplines enjoyed having a chance to expand their horizons into a new field.

"I love J-Term because I get to focus on one thing and put all of my energy into it," said Erika Geiger, '11. "I don't have to split up my energy and focus between a bunch of subjects."

Lifelong Interests — Architecture and Aviation

Kari Peterson, '11, from Blooming Prairie, Minn., is majoring in chemistry. But, she spent J-Term learning about architecture in Frank Lloyd Wright and Modern America. The Carthage Symposium course was taught by Carthage history professor Tom Noer and Carthage social work and sociology professor Linda Noer. Students studied Wright's architecture through readings, discussion, videos, and field trips to Wright's studio, buildings and homes in Chicago and Oak Park, Ill., and Spring Green and Racine, Wis.

"I think that it is nice to have this class as a symposium because Wright was such a complex person," Kari said. "Not only did we get to learn about his architecture, but we also got to learn about his personal life. We got to look into some of his influences, and the influences that he has had since his death."

During the course, students took traditional board games and gave them a "Frank Lloyd Wright twist," and also built and designed buildings using blocks. Joe Schwarzhoff, '13, from Cannon Falls, Minn., and Genevieve Mundis, '11, from Harvard, Ill., both took the class to fulfill a symposium requirement, and because they are interested in design, they said.

Flexing Their Creative Muscles — Art and Acting

While all J-Term courses offer a creative approach to studying a single topic, some courses help students hone their own creative skills.

Eric Sipe, '13, a psychology major from Plainfield, Ill., participated in an original student-run production through Ensemble and Experimental Acting. Students will perform in "The General of Hot Desire," a new play by John Guare based on a Shakespearean sonnet. The play is part of a showcase of new work at Renaissance Theatreworks in Milwaukee. Showtimes are 5:30 and 8 p.m. Feb. 1. Students had to audition for the course in order to participate, and also ran the production for the performance.

In Printmaking: Monoprints, students learned the process and theory of printmaking and chose an area within the art form in which to specialize.

"It is roughly a four-day process, and we usually have two projects going at once so there is always something to do," said Peter Leaman, '12, an accounting and Japanese major from Detroit, Mich.

Papermaking also allowed students' creativity to shine, said Becky Volkman, '10, from Lake Villa, Ill. "I enjoy the creativity of it," she said. "We can mix and match colors and make different types of paper in different shapes. We make all the choices."

Fulfilling a Requirement — Non-Lab Science Courses

J-Term also gives students a chance to fulfill requirements.

Katie Smiley, '12, from Antioch, Ill., took Geology of National Parks to fulfill her non-lab science requirement, but also because she's interested in travel. "I went to a national park over the summer and I really want to travel, so I thought it would be interesting," she said. In the course, students learned how specific parks were formed and studied the geological aspects that make the parks unique. Professor Joy Mast shared her personal experiences and photographs in the class.

Ray Arimura, '11, an English major from Sleep Hollow, Ill., took Dinosaurs, Walking Fish, and Cave People. She joined the course to fulfill her non-lab science requirement, but she also wanted to learn about dinosaurs. The course is a study of evolutionary theory through vertebrate paleontology, which is the study of extinct animals with backbones. Professor Thomas Carr led students on field trips to the Dinosaur Discovery Museum in downtown Kenosha and the Kenosha Public Museum.

"Professor Carr set up the displays at the Dinosaur Discovery Museum," Ray said. "He is very knowledgeable and passionate about it."

Professor Douglas Arion guides students through the process of making their own telescope in the non-lab physics course Telescope Making.

"We have to make and polish the mirrors ourselves and then decorate the tubes. We meet in the morning and the afternoon, and it took us two weeks to get the mirrors ready," said Danielle Stokosa, '13, from Eau Claire, Wis. who is majoring in business. "It is very tedious. Professor Arion does not give us an easy-step manual. We have to measure the focal sizes from existing telescopes."

The telescopes were available for public viewing on Jan. 27.

Literature in also heavily studied during J-Term in new and interesting ways. Kayla Parsons, '12, a neuroscience and biology major, and Sumana Manda, who is studying to get her certification to teach high school English, both took George Eliot's 'Middlemarch'. In this course, students studied gender inequality in Victorian England and gave presentations on different aspects of life during that time period.

Embracing your major

J-Term can also be a time for students to discover elements of their majors that they cannot study during regular semesters.

Spencer Best, '13; Christa Sturycz, '13; and Stephanie Bobholz, '13; are all freshmen majoring in math. They were advised by upperclassmen to take Discrete Structures during J-Term because of its complexity.

"Basically, we do math without numbers," Spencer said. "We use logic, variables and symbols to solve equations."

The popular course Food, Fitness, and Kid's Fiction is only open to education majors and fulfills a symposium requirement. "In the course, we relate healthy living to children's literature," said Natalie Christensen, '10, from Grafton, Wis. "We go to the dance studio to exercise and also listen to guest speakers."

Field education is also a large part of J-Term. Some students choose to participate in internships, while others take courses that help them get special certifications. Ron Kowalski, '11 , a physical education major, took Observations — Adaptive Learning in order to get certified in adaptive learning. In the course, students traveled off campus and worked with mentally and physically disabled students in local schools.