The advanced speech and communication class from Seymour High School poses in front of the Simon Sculpture on Indiana University’s campus in Bloomington.
Courtesy of Quinnlyn Burgmeier
The advanced speech and communication walks through the campus of Indiana University in Bloomington.
Courtesy of Quinnlyn Burgmeier
Photos inside the Eskenazi Museum of Art at Indiana University in Bloomington.
Courtesy of Quinnlyn Burgmeier
The advanced speech and communication class from Seymour High School poses for a picture inside Mother Bear’s Pizza after touring the campus of Indiana University.
Courtesy of Quinnlyn Burgmeier
The advanced speech and communication class from Seymour High School gets ready to depart from Mother Bear’s Pizza after touring the Indiana University campus.
Courtesy of Quinnlyn Burgmeier
Seymour’s Claire Marshall and Tori Fee pose for a picture inside the Eskenazi Museum of Art.
Courtesy of Quinnlyn Burgmeier
Seymour teacher Tim Perry, right, takes a photo with Robert Terrill and Joseph Brentlinger outside the Sample Gates at Indiana University.
Courtesy of Quinnlyn Burgmeier
BLOOMINGTON — The advanced speech and communication class at Seymour High School recently had the opportunity to leave the building for a day and take a trip to Indiana University and experience what it’s like to be on a college campus for a day.
Tim Perry, who teaches the class, brought around 50 kids to Bloomington, and the group started out by experiencing The Media School inside Franklin Hall.
Students scattered the halls, exploring the different work stations, such as Beckley Studio, podcast booths, newsrooms, classrooms and more.
“I saw a radio and TV talk show area, and that was very cool,” Seymour junior Aleia Findley said. “I would definitely be interested in sports media.”
In fact, just this past week, the class was doing it own TV talk show-style debates, so seeing some of that stuff in Bloomington gave them a better idea of what they might want to do in their own class.
The advanced speech and communication class is an equivalent to Ivy Tech Community College’s COMM 101 (Fundamentals of Public Speaking).
When Perry was doing graduate work in 2002, he was taught by Robert Terrill in a speech composition course. Terrill is a professor at IU and director of rhetoric, writing and communication. Perry’s relationship with Terrill has allowed him to take his classes numerous times for trips like these over the years.
After touring The Media School, Terrill and Joseph Brentlinger, who also is in the English department at IU, took the Seymour students through the campus to the Eskenazi Museum of Art.
“I think it’s really beautiful,” Seymour junior Daniela Jimenez said of the campus. “I like all the nature surrounding it and the statues. It gives you an inside of this experience.”
Inside the Eskenazi Museum of Art, the class was split into different groups and got to tour different galleries in the museum.
“My exhibit was Greek and Roman mythology and all their artwork and stuff. It was really neat,” Findley said.
Students were encouraged to take pictures to capture their experience, which they did.
Once that was over, the group walked southeast to the classic Mother Bear’s Pizza to enjoy a hearty lunch.
One of the things Brentlinger said to the group at the start of the day was even if they think they’re not college material to not give up on that possibility. The students took that to heart.
“I think it helps get an idea of what college is like for us and see what our future could be like because we graduate high school and see what kind of careers we can pursue,” Seymour junior Bret Perry said.
“I think it’s pretty neat,” Seymour junior Lucas Fisher said. “I didn’t know what college was like, if it was just like high school and one big building, but it’s kind of cool to see. It looks a lot older than I thought it’d be, but it looks nice.”
After eating at Mother Bear’s, the class grabbed as many leftovers as they could and then jumped on the bus to head back to Seymour.
It was only fitting that a college-level class took a day out of its curriculum to offer a college-level experience, and Perry hopes to keep this tradition going to continue to give his students these kind of opportunities.