As a Watson Scholar and a third year mentor for the Watson & Odyssey program, I have had the chance to see the program grow into what it is today. Watson & Odyssey is a need based scholarship that has allowed many of us to have the Elon experience we wished for.

The summer transition program gave me a solid support system that proved to be huge benefit throughout my 4 years here. I have a group of like minded scholars who I can depend on when needed most. Before coming to Elon University, I made it my goal to study abroad and experience another culture by being submerged in it rather than reading about it in a book during class. Thanks to the scholarship program I was able to live out my dream. Every year I am granted $21,000 towards my tuition and an extra $4,000 to study abroad. While at Elon, I have taken a service trip to the Dominican Republic and helped a family build a home in six days when it usually takes two weeks. I have also studied abroad in Florence, Italy where my classes were held in cathedrals, museums and on hill tops looking over Florence. As an Art major, studying in Florence, rich in art history, was something I never thought I would have the chance to do but thanks to Watson & Odyssey I was able to surpass my dreams and make my decision to choose Elon one I will always remember!

-Desmond Harrell ’15

We are going back into the blog vault to pull a previous post about on-campus events! Wanting to visit campus but wondering which experience will best fit what you’re looking for? We have broken down (again) each of our events and what you can expect to be covered.

Traditional Campus Visit (Information Session & Tour)

When: Monday-Friday (morning and afternoon times available), most Saturdays (9am, 10am, 11am)

Who: All are welcome!
What: A 30 minute information session with an admission counselor, followed by a student-led tour of the main portions of campus. Families also have the option of taking a self-guided driving tour afterwards to see other parts of campus not included in the campus visit. Families unable to register for a tour are welcome to take a self-guided walking tour of campus and utilize our admissions counselor on duty to answer any questions they may have. If participating in this visit option, please plan your visit to Elon to last 2 hours. Seniors (only) also have the option of sitting in on a class. (Note: class visits must be arranged at least 2 weeks prior to coming to campus.)
How: Families are urged to register for their campus visit prior to coming to campus. March and April are our busiest months and campus visits will almost certainly fill up. You can schedule a campus visit here: http://www.elon.edu/e-web/admissions/visit.xhtml

Phoenix Fridays and Maroon Mondays (NEW)

When: February 20, April 13, and April 17
Who: Admitted students
What: If you’ve been admitted to Elon, we invite you to spend a day on campus, and see what it’s like to be an Elon student. Students will attend a class, have lunch with a current Elon student in one of our dining halls, and take a campus or residence hall tour. Students and families can expect to learn more about residence life, academic programs, as well as student life on campus. Phoenix Fridays are capped in order to allow for a personal experience with current Elon students, faculty and staff so please sign up in advance.
How: Students can register for Phoenix Fridays via their Application status page.

Fellows Scholarship Weekend

When: March 6-7
Who: Admitted students. Students must be invited to participate in Fellows weekend.
What: Elon University will welcome candidates invited to interview for the Fellows Programs to campus beginning Friday, March 7 at noon. The two-day event concludes Saturday evening, March 8. Throughout the weekend candidates will take part in interviews, panel discussions, seminars, presentations, receptions and tours.
How: Students invited to participate in Fellows Weekend must register via their OnTrack account
For questions about Fellows and Scholarship Weekend, please email fellows@elon.edu.

Rising Phoenix Weekends (Formally named Spring Orientation Weekends)

When: March 13-14, April 24-25
Who: Admitted students who have paid their $500 enrollment deposit
What: Spend a weekend exploring campus and find out about the exciting opportunities that await you at Elon. Rising Phoenix Weekend is a two-day event that celebrates your acceptance to Elon and prepares you for enrollment in the fall. It’s a great way for you and your parents to learn more about life on campus, our signature Elon Experiences and hear from Academic Advising, just to name a few. Hopefully this weekend will answer all of your questions about Elon and what to expect in college.
How: Students may register for either Rising Phoenix weekend via their application status page. Participation requires advance payment of $500 enrollment deposit. (Please allow 72 hours for your deposit to be processed.)

Explore Elon (Our version of an open house)

When: April 11
Who: All
What: Spend a day touring Elon’s campus and meet professors and students who will answer all of your questions about college life. Learn more about Elon’s academic and scholarship programs, have lunch on campus, and find out how you could spend the next four years of your life! Students will have the opportunity to sit on special interest sessions regarding Global Study, Internships, and Campus Life.
How: Registration will open up in the coming weeks.

For any questions about your campus visit, feel free to call our office at (336) 278-3566 or email admissions@elon.edu.

The Leadership Fellows program has been, hands down, one of the best opportunities I’ve had to learn about myself while here at Elon. The four-year program allows you to track your leadership development in a variety of different settings. The first year is about learning about one’s self as a leader, and I had the chance to better understand my strengths and weaknesses, and how to respond to different working scenarios. I also had the chance to take a variety of different personality tests and participate in workshops to also learn about myself as a person: what makes me tick, how I handle different social situations, etc.

The next year is about learning how to work with others, and I had the chance to learn how my leadership traits effect how I am able to work with others. This was also when other fellows in my class were beginning to establish themselves within their respective organizations, and I realized what a resourceful network of students I had through the fellows program. During the next two years, the fellows program has given us a lot of opportunities to make ourselves the best leaders we can be on campus, and mentoring us through our Common Good Project. The Common Good Project is a chance to work on something that will continue to benefit the community we’ve found here at Elon even after we graduate.

I truly have had great time learning about myself as a leader for the past 4 years, but I cannot overemphasize the amount of support that I’ve had through the program as well. It has been a great group of people that genuinely care about me and my development here at Elon. It is an experience that I would definitely recommend to anyone that is interested.

-Stanley Dowell ’15

Being an Honors fellow has been my most formative experience at Elon University. A two year, self-driven but faculty mentored research thesis is the hallmark of the honors experience. The honors program is set up to scaffold you through this process and connects you with all the opportunities available to augment your research and your academic career. Elon has a plethora of resources that are particularly useful for any student doing research and the honors program ensures that we are fully aware of all of them.

My research mentor and I met because of the direction of the then honors program director. With the help of my mentor, I applied for and received the Lumen Prize spring of my sophomore year – a semester before honors fellows start proposing their research. The Lumen Prize is a $15,000 research grant given annually to 15 Elon sophomores. It allowed me to travel to Senegal, West Africa for 6 months and also spend 2 months in New York City in order to complete my research on Senegalese migration narratives.

The honors program exposes us to different resources available on and off campus. Early on, we were introduced to the office of National and International Fellowships. With their support, I applied for the Boren Scholarship – a federal program that supports students in their efforts to study abroad in less commonly studied abroad locations and learn critical need languages that are usually not taught in universities. I was able to spend two months at the University of Florida studying Wolof, the lingua-franca of Senegal, before I embarked on my research.
In addition, the Honors program creates a community like no other. Honors fellows are in the same orientation group together, and take Elon 101, Core 110 and other courses together. From the start we were welcomed to Elon wholeheartedly, and had a cohort of people with a similar commitment to their education to befriend immediately. The directors of the program also took the time to get to know us and made an effort to create a community that we could thrive in. Honors fellows have two learning communities available to them, I chose to live in neither but between the activities and classes we had together for 4 semesters, people from the various honors cohorts became my closest friends.

Being an Elon student opens many doors to you. In addition to being challenging and intellectually stimulating, the honors program allows you to take advantage of all these opportunities at Elon and beyond.

-Omolayo Ojo ’15

I’m very excited to be an Elon College Fellow! This 4-year program for students with majors in the Arts and Sciences facilitates many opportunities at Elon, culminating with an undergraduate research project. We spend the first semester of freshman year attending colloquiums to learn about the research of different faculty members who are mentors in the program. Then, during winter term of freshman year, we create research questions and take a five-day trip to Washington, D.C. to conduct the inquiry. During the sophomore seminar class we begin to develop our own research interests and select a faculty mentor who we will collaborate with throughout the research process. Junior year we submit our project proposals and begin reading to gather background research for our project. The junior year seminar concludes with a poster session in which we present our initial research to second-year fellows.

While my question has changed a lot throughout the past two years, with the guidance of my faculty mentor, I have finally settled on a research topic that I am excited to pursue. My research will examine communications preferences of faculty (email, texting, home phone, Skype, etc.) and how these methods affect student outcomes like retention, class attendance, and academic achievement. In addition to the research opportunities, Elon College Fellows also receive a $1000 study abroad grant. Last Winter Term I used my grant for a month-long study abroad program in India. In India we traveled throughout the three southernmost states teaching in schools and engaging with the communities. For the last three days of the trip we traveled to Northern India to experience the culture in New Delhi and Agra, and of course see the Taj Mahal! Overall, the Elon College Fellows program has enabled me to take full advantage of my time at Elon.

-Kelley Dodge ’16

After months and months of touring and online researching, my mom and I had been highly encouraged to look at Elon University for its communication school. We decided that because so many people were begging us to check it out that we needed to give it a try.

We toured on October 28,2011–a day that started the first day of my Elon career.

I fell in love with Elon: The location, small classroom environment, architecture, the television studios, collaboration of students and faculty, and finally the opportunity to be a part of a cohort of students who, even before coming to campus, were focused and driven about excelling inside and outside the classroom in the realm of communications.

I applied to be a Communications Fellow and I consider it to be one of the best decisions I’ve made as an Elon student.

I, along with my fellow 2012 Communications Fellows, come from all backgrounds and each come to campus with different dreams and passions but we are all united in the fact that we want to be leaders both on and off campus in the communications field.

Among the components and opportunities that come with being an Elon Communications Fellows are the opportunities to take classes together and take educational trips to learn more about the media markets in major American cities.

My first day walking into COM 100 was the first time in my life I didn’t feel like the oddball in the room. The room was filled with young men and women who too loved journalism, news, writing, current events and most importantly shared my dream of impacting the realm of professional communications.

As mentioned above, as Comm Fellow I have gotten the chance to travel to Atlanta and Orlando on an all expense paid learning experience in order to better learn about the news industry as well as meet and network with Elon alums and fellow Comm Fellows who are using what they learned as a part of being an Elon Comm Fellows program in their jobs and professions and want to give back to current students who are pursuing similar dreams.

Back on campus, being a Comm Fellow comes with certain expectations that I have chosen to exceed in order to set myself up to be the best communication student I can be thanks to the generous investment I have received from my professors, fellows and classmates.

I am a leader in student media by serving as an anchor and reporter for Elon Local News, Elon’s Emmy award winning news leader. Being a leader on campus through student media and in the classroom is both an expectation and an opportunity that all Comm Fellows strive to meet and exceed in order to better the program and the school as a whole.

Professors and faculty know that I along with my fellow fellows serious from the start of our first year about the field so they can come to us first about projects and opportunities on and off campus.

Moreover, through the experiential learning grant through the Fellows Program, I am able to study abroad with Elon. In January of 2015, I am studying abroad in Barbados in order to learn about the media, culture and sport of the island nation. Without this grant, I would not be able to have such an opportunity. I am so excited to learn more about the news industry in a completely new culture, which will make a better journalist and global citizen.

The greatest advantage of being an Elon Communications Fellow is found in the relationships that I share with my fellow fellows, staff, faculty and alumni.

-Meredith Stutz ’15

I still remember the first email I received as an Elon student. The director of our Business Fellows program sent us a message the summer before classes started saying, “Hope you guys are excited for your trip to Poland!!” Timeout. Poland? Needless to say I was surprised by the message, but I had no idea how exciting the adventure I was about to embark on would become.
The Business Fellows program at Elon’s Love School of Business is a unique opportunity for students to gain valuable business and professional development experience. From day one, students are introduced to leadership opportunities on campus and encouraged to challenge themselves academically and professionally. Business Fellows take two classes each semester as a cohort for the first two years of the program, which I believe helped our group grow strong friendships.

Each year of the Business Fellows program has a unique theme. Students spend their first year developing their teamwork and study skills through their classes and a first-year study abroad experience in Winter Term. Our class spent nine days in Krakow, Poland, but other recent groups traveled to Ukraine, Cuba, and Mexico. Our trip to Poland was an awesome opportunity to learn about Polish culture, history, and business. To this day, we all talk about our great memories on that trip.
During sophomore year, students focus more on professional development. We learned valuable skills such as resume writing, interviewing, and relationship building that are essential to success in business. During junior year, most students study abroad, many for a full semester. Our group of Fellows studied in Argentina, Singapore, Denmark, and China, just to name a few. I spent a three-week Winter Term traveling to Cuba and the Cayman Islands to study accounting and economics. We also traveled to New York City for a three-day weekend where we visited the New York Stock Exchange and major companies in accounting, finance, and marketing.

Finally, senior year students work in capstone projects. Finance, accounting, and economics majors invest a portion of Elon’s endowment in different stocks and mutual funds, while management, marketing, and entrepreneurship majors work with local businesses to develop marketing strategies and business plans. It’s essentially like having a full-time internship, which is really helpful during job searches.

Overall, my experience in the Fellows program has been fantastic. It’s a great program with great rewards for students who are willing to work hard and challenge themselves. I’ve made so many great friendships with fellow students in the program, and I encourage hard-working business students to apply and challenge themselves. Who knows, maybe you can travel to Poland as well.

Denis Dotson ’15

A Day in the Life of an Elon University Student

Name: Elizabeth Chang
Year: Senior
Hometown: Richmond, Virginia
Major(s): Marketing, Art History
Minor: Professional Sales
Elon Experiences: Study Abroad (CIEE International Business & Culture Program in Seville, Spain in Fall 2013), Internships (Fine Art Carolina Marketing Intern, Art Works Studios & Galleries Event Management Intern), Leadership (Sigma Kappa Sorority’s Vice President of Philanthropic Service), Community Service
Campus Involvement: Elon University Tour Guide, Art History Department Ambassador, Sigma Kappa Sorority, Colleges Against Cancer Special Events Committee

TUESDAY, November 14th
8:30 AM Wake up, homework
9:30 AM Panhellenic Brunch
10:15 AM Walk to class
10:30 AM Art History Methodologies with Dr. Ringelberg
12:25 PM Sales Management with Dr. Gillespie
2:00 PM Lunch
2:20 PM Operations & Supply Chain Management with Dr. Horky
4:00 PM Special Events Committee Meeting with Colleges Against Cancer
5:00 PM Studying in the Great Hall
6:30 PM Dinner with friend
7:30 PM Frozen
10:00 PM Homework
11:30 PM Roommates & bed

I have three classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but only one on Mondays and Wednesdays, leaving those mornings free to work as a tour guide in the office of admissions. I woke up early this morning to finish the readings for my first class. I am an art history major so I have a lot of reading for my classes, but all of it is very interesting which makes the work worthwhile!

Today, my sorority sister Shelly and I walked to campus early to go to Delta Delta Delta’s Panhellenic Breakfast in the Moseley Student Center’s kitchen. Delta Delta Delta is one of the 12 sororities on campus. I belong to a different sorority, Sigma Kappa. Today, Delta Delta Delta hosted a brunch for the nine PHC sororities. It was a great way to mix and mingle with women from other sororities and I loved seeing some of my friends that I don’t get to see every week! I ran into my best friend Katie, who is in Phi Mu and studied abroad with me in Seville, Spain last fall, at the brunch. Catching up with her was a great start to my morning.

After the brunch, I walked to my first class, Art History Methodologies, in Powell House. My class has only seven students, including myself, and is currently my favorite class because of its small size. It is held in a small conference room where I get to discuss in detail with my classmates and professor the concepts associated with historical art research. I have learned a lot this year from this course and am excited to apply this knowledge next semester to my capstone Art History Senior Seminar class & research project.

My next class is across campus in the Koury Business Center. I am a double major and love the difference between my two disciplines. I recently declared a Professional Sales minor after taking a sales course last semester and falling in love with the subject. This semester I am taking Sales Management. In contrast to my art history class, there are about thirty students in this class and the course involves a lot of projects, case studies, and role plays.

My third class of the day, Operations & Supply Chain Management, is on the floor below my second class in the Koury Business Center. Usually between classes, I grab a quick coffee at Java City coffee shop in KOBC. This class is taught by my favorite professor, though the subject is not my favorite. Two of my good friends – my roommate Marie and my best friend Thomas – are in my class and sit on either side of me so that we can work together when we have projects or group discussion. Today, my professor brought the whole class donuts, which was a fun surprise!

After class, I ran back to the Moseley Student Center for a Colleges Against Cancer Special Events Committee meeting. Colleges Against Cancer is an organization that hosts Relay for Life in the spring to raise money for the American Cancer Society. The Special Events Committee plans smaller events year-round to fundraise and promote Relay for Life. Today, we discussed plans for upcoming profit shares with local restaurants, TriathELON, and a potential acoustic concert at a local bar.

After my meeting, I stopped by Global Commons, more specifically the great hall, to work on some of my homework. The Great Hall is a new study space for students that opened at the beginning of the school year.

Then, I met my good friend and fellow art history major, Bethany, for dinner in Lakeside, one of the main dining halls. Over curry chicken and mango flan, we discussed her current research. Bethany is a Lumen scholar, which is the most prestigious research scholarship given to students. She recently was informed that she will be one of a few undergraduate researchers to present at a prestigious research conference in Wisconsin in the Spring. She is a very dedicated student that I am lucky to call one of my closest friends.

After dinner, I met my roommates in the Performing Arts Center to attend Frozen, an adaption of a Tony award winning play about mental illness. My sorority sister, Morgan, who is a Communications and Theatrical Design and Production worked on Frozen for her senior thesis project & we all attended to support her hard work. The play was chilling and very well done. I have never been disappointed by a production that I have seen in the Performing Arts Center.

After such a busy day, I went home to finish up my homework, catch up with my roommates, and get ready for the next day!