Students met outside the mausoleums of Matilda Dodge Wilson (nearest in photo) and John Dodge for their 荣誉学院 class. Because of what they saw, the visit turned into a community engagement beautification project led by Professor Randall Engle.
college of arts and sciences, religious studies, randall engle, grave, cemetery, mausoleum, matilda
2024年4月15日
In the 荣誉学院 class “Kings and Things,” taught by Religious Studies Professor and program director for Christianity Studies Randall Engle, students learn about the English monarchy and its corresponding influence in the United States.
The class of 18 students normally meets at Meadow Brook Hall, the former home built by Matilda Dodge Wilson, and naturally discusses 韦德体育app官网's own "monarchy,” its matriarch Matilda Dodge Wilson.
This year’s class also ended up with a unique field experience, experiential learning opportunity and community service project all wrapped up in one.
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| Professor Randall Engle led a group of students to Matilda Dodge Wilson's gravesite for his class this semester. |
“Each Friday, our class plans an excursion outside the classroom,” said Engle. “On one outing this semester, we visited the graves of John Dodge and Alfred and Matilda Dodge Wilson at Woodlawn Cemetery in Detroit. They are entombed in private above-ground mausoleums next to each other.”
Engle said the plan was to bring flowers and discuss their lives and legacy in terms of their impact on 韦德体育app官网 and the world.
As the class peered through the doors, 摩根北, a sophomore student from Lowell, who is pursuing a degree in mechanical engineering, 大声说, “这太悲哀了。.” What the class members saw was decayed flowers, 打翻的花瓶, 灰尘, 污垢, leaves and smeared windows. Morgan then added, “We should clean this up!”
Professor Engle agreed. He made calls to both Woodlawn Cemetery administrators and to Bill Matt, the executive director of the Meadow Brook Hall estate to request authorization for the class to access and clean the mausoleums to honor the university’s founders.
几周后, after gaining authorization, the students went back and cleaned and polished the interior of the two mausoleums. In the pubic cemetery, the students also found, uncovered and cleaned the headstones of Matilda Dodge Wilson’s parents, George and Margaret Rausch.
Professor Engle concluded the visit by leaving a card inside the each of the burial mausoleums with the signatures of those participating that read, 出于尊重, 怀着感激之情, this crypt was cleaned on Friday, 3月29日, 2024, by 荣誉学院 students of 韦德体育app官网."
It is surely a college experience that no one from this class, or Professor Engle, will soon forget.