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“Curious Lion” by Dr. Terry Waldspurger, adjunct instructor in Appalachian’s General Education Program and faculty/staff runner-up in the Landscapes or Wildlife category.

“‘Curious Lion’ was taken in Hwange National Park in western Zimbabwe. It was my first trip to Africa, and I was exploring the shrinking habitats of endangered species,” Waldspurger said. “This solitary lion had moved into the territory previously defended by Cecil, who was killed by an American hunter in 2015 after being lured from protected parkland.”

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“Middle Earth” by senior recreation management major Bryant Ebert, student winner in the Landscapes and Wildlife category.

When describing his photo, Ebert said, “The morning sun shines on the valley between the peaks of Craigieburn Forest Park and Korowai/Torlesse Tussocklands Park on Aug. 10. As an outdoor education student in New Zealand, I had a unique opportunity to experience the stunning landscapes of this picturesque country firsthand. Through my courses, I learned about the physical and cultural history of the country and its landscapes as well as their significance.”

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“Remnants” by senior risk management and insurance major Peter Marino, student winner in the Artistic or Abstract category.

“This photograph was taken on a hiking trail above Glencoe, Scotland, in early April,” Marino said. “This photograph is significant to the theme, ‘Exploring the Unknown,’ because it demonstrates both beauty and destruction in one of nature’s most magnificent places. Today, the Scottish Highlands have only 4 percent of their native forest cover remaining, a product of its long history rooted in deforestation.”

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“Landlocked: Surfing in Munich” by Tristan Rodenhauser ’12, a graduate student in Appalachian’s college student development program and student winner in the Cross-cultural Moments category.

“As I took an afternoon walk around the English Gardens in Munich, I was drawn to a small gathering of locals watching dedicated European city surfers attempt the man-made Eisbachwelle wave as the channel diverts flow from the Isar River,” Rodenhauser said. “A local surfer is frozen in time as they jump onto the board.”

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“Rice Harvest” by first-year art and visual culture major Sierra Schweitzer, student winner in the Global Learning category.

This photo was captured while Schweitzer studied human rights and environmental politics in Thailand, including the mountainous rural village of Na Nong Bong. “Their community has been torn apart by mountaintop removal mining, which poisons their rice fields in the valley below. (The rice) counts for not only a large portion of their income but (also) feeds their village. The women harvesting in this shot are a part of the Radical Grandmother Collective, who protest the government-funded mining companies and have been arrested multiple times for the cause.”

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“Divine Blessings” by senior biology major Hannah Vrooman, student winner in the People and Portraits category.

“This photo was taken on an outing with my group to explore the city of Lusaka and to gain a better understanding of the culture and way of life in Zambia,” Vrooman said. “This photograph beautifully demonstrates the joy that the people of Zambia feel every day, and this joy truly helped me to gain an appreciation for feeling happiness over the small things in life. Zambian people taught me that it is possible to love deeply even in the midst of deprivation and poverty, and this photo is the most representative instance of that attitude in my collection.”

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“Modern Additions to the Tianmen Mountain Landscape” by Jessica Donley, university program specialist for the Beaver College of Health Sciences and faculty/staff winner in the Landscapes or Wildlife category.

“I wanted to travel to Tianmen Mountain, because it looked beautiful with its mountainous landscapes,” Donley said. Tianmen Mountain is part of Tianmen Mountain National Park, which is located in the northwest portion of China’s Hunan Province. “Although I had lived in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Boone for several years, Tianmen Mountain remained unique and unknown to me. Only when I traveled there was I able to know and learn the culture,” she said. “The mountains were beautiful, and yet their landscapes were influenced by walkways, glass skywalks, cable cars and an elevator that was built to transport people from the top and bottom of the mountain.”

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“Exploring the Maastricht Art Caves” by Lillian Nave, senior lecturer in Appalachian’s General Education Program and faculty/staff winner in the Artistic or Abstract category.

“I had taught about them many times, (but) I had never before explored these man-made tunnels and caves, carved over centuries in Maastricht, Netherlands,” Nave said. “During WWII, paintings had been secreted there from Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum so that Hitler could neither plunder nor destroy them in his march across Europe since the caves served as the perfect subterranean safe house for the masterworks of Dutch history.”

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“How Hands Convey Heritage” by Patience Perry, adjunct instructor in the Department of Cultural, Gender and Global Studies and faculty/staff winner in the Cross-cultural Moments category.

Perry said the woman featured in his photograph is Rita Hayou, an 88-year-old who does not speak English. “She described the reverence for sheep, the gift of wool and the artistic process of hand-made Navajo woven rugs through demonstration, nonverbal communication and through interpretive services offered by her daughter and granddaughter,” she said. “We explored a different pace of life, cultural way of being and a spiritual attitude of abundance through Rita’s demonstration.”

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“Having lunch for the Buddha” by Dr. Scott Relyea, assistant professor in the Department of History and faculty/staff winner in the Global Learning category.

“Our program’s first day amidst the historic temples and monasteries of Mount Wutai, one of China’s four important Buddhist mountains, was the Buddha’s birthday,” Relyea said. “As part of annual celebrations, monasteries open their dining halls to Buddhist nuns and monks from across China and the region, and to lay practitioners and curious visitors. The diners all follow different schools of Buddhism, represented by the colors of the monks’ robes in this photo; men and women sit on different sides of the dining hall. In addition to food, the monks and nuns receive gifts of fruit or dried food items, even cash collected from lay practitioners and visitors to the temple.”

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“Wide-eyed Dragon at the Festes de Gràcia” by Jamille Wallick, adjunct instructor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction and faculty/staff winner in the People and Portraits category.

“Sara, my dear friend from Barcelona, is guiding my son along a beehive street,” Wallick said, describing her photo. “Sara lived here for several years and shared with us her favorite “plaças,” where we watched old and young meet for a chat or to play music together and laugh at cafe tables. The Festes de Gràcia is an extension of the spirit of Gràcia, (and) each street comes together to come up with a concept and spends weeks planning and decorating their street with recycled materials. The festival is playful community collaboration on a grand scale.”

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“A Yellow Flower,” by senior history, social studies education major Reagan Conner, student runner-up in the Artistic or Abstract category.

“The picture is of a small yellow flower growing out of the ruins of an old building that housed the SS, or the Nazi secret police,” Conner said. “I chose this photo because I found it unique that a flower would be growing in such a place when I was there.”

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“The Spice Keeper” by Alli Elam ’18, a summer 2018 graduate of Appalachian’s Bachelor of Science in communication, journalism program and student runner-up in the People and Portraits category.

“This photo connects with this year’s theme (“Explore the Unknown”) because, as an abroad student, I had no idea what the food markets were like over there (Europe),” Elam said. “This market had an exceptional design of fruits and flowers on the gray ceiling, and you’re surrounded by magnificent food and beverage vendors and restaurants. I observed this woman sell the spices to customers who came by this particular setup spot.”

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“The Great Wall” by junior communication, advertising major Hannah Gibson, student runner-up in the Landscapes or Wildlife category.

“This photo was taken at the Great Wall of China in Beijing. This was taken on the last day of our three-week journey,” Gibson said. “I couldn’t believe the massive size of the Great Wall and the hills we had to climb to get there. The wall and the mountains surrounding looked as if they went on forever, and I loved getting to see so much beauty from so high up.”

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“Maghrebi Mint Tea” by senior commercial photography major Emily Sassen, student runner-up in the Cross-Cultural Moments category.

“My time in Morocco was unlike anything else I have experienced in my life. Exploring the endless markets in Marrakesh, watching the main square transform to serve street food at night, hearing the call to prayer and visiting a Berber village in the Atlas Mountains filled my three days in Morocco,” Sassen said. “Experiencing the happiness, generosity and community values of the Berber people put my life and ideals into perspective. Sharing this Maghrebi tea ceremony with the Berber family was an unforgettable cross-cultural moment that summed up my whole trip to Morocco.”

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“Remembrance” by Appalachian alumnus Jack Terrell ’18, who holds dual B.S.B.A. degrees in international business and economics, with minors in Chinese and German. He is the student runner-up in the Global Learning category.

“Thousands of years of tradition and religion laid next to each other,” Terrell said of the moment caught in his photograph of Jerusalem. “The cemetery overlooks the sacred Dome of the Rock, where Muhammad ascended to heaven. One of the most common Jewish cemetery customs is to leave a small stone at the grave of a loved one after saying Kaddish or visiting. A way for the visitor to say, ‘I remember you,’ and with every visit, you build your memories.”

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“Home Away From Home” by Sarah Donavan, lecturer in the Department of Social Work and faculty/staff runner-up in the Global Learning category.

“This photo depicts my colleague and her daughter walking down the path to our villa in Grecia for one of the last times at the end of our three-week stay,” Donavan said. “I was surprised by the rush of emotions upon coming to this realization in the moment the photo was taken. Our Costa Rican hosts were a wonderful, welcoming group of people that truly made us feel at home in their country.”

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“Discovery in Sun and Shadow” by Lynn McNeil, adjunct instructor in the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures and faculty/staff runner-up in the Cross-cultural Moments category.

“This photo of business student Erin Johnson shows her taking advantage of an easel set up in the museum for sketching,” McNeil said. “One of the things I enjoy about taking business students to France is to see them explore forms of knowledge that they don’t typically encounter in their business classes. Study abroad opportunities allow them to experience the human relationships and motivations behind the business. They engage with the world in different ways — sometimes in ways that leave them feeling off-balance, but energized, as they discover new perspectives, interests and skills in themselves.”

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“Who says Trash is Waste!” by Dr. Lubna Nafees, assistant professor in the Department of Marketing and faculty/staff runner-up in the Artistic or Abstract category.

“It was just interesting how bottle caps were stitched together to create a mat and then decorate a basket. Trash art has no limits!” Nafees said.

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“Woman Planting Rice in Saipu, Nepal” by Dr. Gregory Reck, faculty/staff the runner-up in the People and Portraits category. Reck, a former research professor in Appalachian’s Department of Anthropology, retired from the department in spring 2018.

“This is a portrait of a woman participating in community rice planting in Saipu, Nepal. Individual families in the community cooperate with one another in a kind of free exchange of labor, creating levels of cooperation and community spirit that have all but been lost in the contemporary world,” Reck said. “The contrast of the deep green of the rice sprigs with the colorful red clothing of the woman and the forested mountains behind bring to life a world that is rarely experienced or known by most humans.”

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Appalachian announces winners and runners-up of 2018 International Education Week Photo Contest

A national leader in education abroad

Appalachian has been recognized as a top-10 school for students who study abroad in the Institute of International Education’s "2018 Open Doors Report." The university received the following rankings:

  • 6th nationally among comprehensive master’s degree-granting institutions for the total number of students who studied abroad for credit in 2016–17.
  • 3rd nationally for the number of students who participated in short-term programs for academic credit during 2016–17.
By Jessica Stump
Posted Nov. 15, 2018 at 3:55 p.m.

BOONE, N.C. — Appalachian State University’s 2018 International Education Week (IEW) Photo Contest is part of a weeklong celebration of transformational global experiences at home and abroad.

Appalachian’s Office of International Education and Development partnered with several student clubs, faculty members and departments across campus to bring over a dozen cultural events to the Appalachian Community during IEW, Nov. 12–16.

This year's contest, with the theme of “Explore the Unknown,” received more than 110 submissions from Appalachian students, faculty and staff.

A panel of students judged faculty and staff photographs, and a panel of faculty and staff judged the student entries.

The winning and runner-up photographs are on display during IEW on the second floor of Appalachian’s Plemmons Student Union, in front of Linville Falls (Room 226).

IEW on the national level is a joint initiative of the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Education that aims to promote programs that prepare Americans for a global environment and attract future leaders from abroad to study, learn and exchange in experiences in the U.S.

The first IEW took place in November 2000, in response to the April 2000 executive memorandum issued by President Bill Clinton that stated, “It is the policy of the federal government to support international education ...” and committed the administration to “encouraging students from other countries to study in the United States.”

See below for the winners and runners-up in this year’s contest.

2018 winners

Students

  • Bryant Ebert, senior
    Major: recreation management.
    Hometown: Davidson.
    Photo title and category: “Middle Earth,” Landscapes and Wildlife.
  • Peter Marino, senior
    Major: risk management and insurance.
    Hometown: Raleigh.
    Photo title and category: “Remnant,” Artistic or Abstract.
  • Tristan Rodenhauser ’12
    Major: college student development graduate program.
    Hometown: Nags Head.
    Photo title and category: “Landlocked: Surfing in Munich,” Cross-cultural Moments.
  • Sierra Schweitzer, first-year
    Major: art and visual culture.
    Hometown: Raleigh.
    Photo title and category: “Rice Harvest,” Global Learning.
  • Hannah Vrooman, senior
    Major: biology.
    Hometown: Lewisville.
    Photo title and category: “Divine Blessings,” People and Portraits.

Faculty/staff

  • Jessica Donley
    Title: university program specialist.
    Campus unit: Beaver College of Health Sciences.
    Photo title and category: “Modern Additions to the Tianmen Mountain Landscape,” Landscapes or Wildlife.
  • Lillian Nave
    Title: senior lecturer.
    Campus unit: General Education Program.
    Photo title and category: “Exploring the Maastricht Art Caves,” Artistic or Abstract.
  • Patience Perry
    Title: adjunct instructor.
    Campus unit: Department of Cultural, Gender and Global Studies.
    Photo title and category: “How Hands Convey Heritage”, Cross-cultural Moments.
  • Dr. Scott Relyea
    Title: assistant professor.
    Campus unit: Department of History.
    Photo title and category: “Having lunch for the Buddha,” Global Learning.
  • Jamille Wallick
    Title: adjunct instructor.
    Campus unit: Department of Curriculum and Instruction.
    Photo title and category: “Wide-eyed Dragon at the Festes de Gràcia,” People and Portraits.

2018 runners-up

Students

  • Reagan Conner, senior
    Major: history, social studies education.
    Hometown: Gastonia.
    Photo title and category: “A Yellow Flower,” Artistic or Abstract.
  • Alumna Alli Elam ’18
    Degree: Bachelor of Science in communication, journalism.
    Hometown: Charlotte.
    Photo title and category: “The Spice Keeper,” People and Portraits.
  • Hannah Gibson, junior
    Major: communication, advertising.
    Hometown: Mecklenburg.
    Photo title and category: “The Great Wall,” Landscapes or Wildlife.
  • Emily Sassen, senior
    Major: commercial photography.
    Hometown: Mills River.
    Photo title and category: “Maghrebi Mint Tea,” Cross-Cultural Moments.
  • Alumnus Jack Terrell ’18
    Degrees: dual B.S.B.A. degrees in international business and economics.
    Hometown: Boone.
    Photo title and category: “Remembrance,” Global Learning.

Faculty/staff

  • Sarah Donavan
    Title: lecturer.
    Campus unit: Department of Social Work.
    Photo title and category: “Home Away From Home,” Global Learning.
  • Lynn McNeil
    Title: adjunct instructor.
    Campus unit: Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures.
    Photo title and category: “Discovery in Sun and Shadow,” Cross-cultural Moments.
  • Dr. Lubna Nafees
    Title: assistant professor.
    Campus unit: Department of Marketing.
    Photo title and category: “Who says Trash is Waste!”, Artistic or Abstract.
  • Dr. Gregory Reck
    Title: retired research professor.
    Campus unit: Department of Anthropology.
    Photo title and category: “Woman Planting Rice in Saipu, Nepal,” People and Portraits.
  • Dr. Terry Waldspurger
    Title: adjunct instructor.
    Campus unit: General Education Program.
    Photo title and category: “Curious Lion,” Landscapes or Wildlife.

To learn more about International Education Week at Appalachian, click here.

For more information about International Education Week worldwide, visit http://iew.state.gov.

A national leader in education abroad

Appalachian has been recognized as a top-10 school for students who study abroad in the Institute of International Education’s "2018 Open Doors Report." The university received the following rankings:

  • 6th nationally among comprehensive master’s degree-granting institutions for the total number of students who studied abroad for credit in 2016–17.
  • 3rd nationally for the number of students who participated in short-term programs for academic credit during 2016–17.
International Education Week
International Education Week

A joint initiative of the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Education

International Education Week (IEW) is an opportunity to celebrate the benefits of international education and exchange worldwide. This joint initiative of the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Education is part of our efforts to promote programs that prepare Americans for a global environment and attract future leaders from abroad to study, learn, and exchange experiences.

Learn more
Global Learning at Appalachian
Global Learning at Appalachian

It’s not enough to be globally aware. Appalachian graduates must be globally competent.

National surveys indicate that high school seniors and their families — as well as employers — expect college graduates to develop an increased global awareness and/or competency, as they will likely encounter coworkers, clients and neighbors from different cultures in their professions. Appalachian has adopted Global Learning for its Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), an important component of our accreditation.

Learn more

About the Office of International Programs

Appalachian State University combines a strong liberal arts foundation with a comprehensive, pervasive and integrated commitment to global engagement. The Office of International Programs assists App State in fulfilling its global engagement mission by working to develop awareness, knowledge, appreciation and respect of cultural differences — in both domestic and international contexts — in the university’s students, faculty and staff, as well as in the surrounding communities. Learn more at https://international.appstate.edu.

About Appalachian State University

As a premier public institution, Appalachian State University prepares students to lead purposeful lives. App State is one of 17 campuses in the University of North Carolina System, with a national reputation for innovative teaching and opening access to a high-quality, affordable education for all. The university enrolls more than 21,000 students, has a low student-to-faculty ratio and offers more than 150 undergraduate and 80 graduate majors at its Boone and Hickory campuses and through App State Online. Learn more at https://www.appstate.edu.

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Appalachian Today is an online publication of Appalachian State University. This website consolidates university news, feature stories, events, photo galleries, videos and podcasts.

If you cannot find what you're looking for here, please refer to the following sources:

  • Podcasts may be found at Appalachian State University Podcasts
  • Stories and press releases published prior to Jan. 1, 2015 may be found in University Communications Records at the Special Collections Research Center.
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Appalachian Today is an online publication of Appalachian State University. This website consolidates university news, feature stories, events, photo galleries, videos and podcasts.

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