ST. BONAVENTURE (April 18) – Barry Gan, a St. Bonaventure University philosophy professor, refused to participate in an on-campus active-shooter emergency drill two years ago, conducting class off campus that day.
Gan and his students met at Sprague’s Maple Farms in Portville that morning. After breakfast, he conducted class at his house in Olean, said Gan, director of the Center for Nonviolence.
“I would’ve happily done that at Mt. Irenaeus,” said Gan.
Mt. Irenaeus, a Franciscan retreat in West Clarksville, provides Bonaventure students, faculty and staff a getaway from campus, said Kevin Kriso, one of the five friars who live there.
Mt. Irenaeus, affectionately known by the friars and students as “the Mountain,” provides home-cooked meals, group discussions and chapel time for those visiting, said Kriso.
Having been on two class trips there, junior Tommy Socci said the Mountain, a home away from home, allows visitors to escape stress.
“Walking on the trails and not seeing or hearing any form of civilization is tranquil and calming,” said Socci, a finance major.
Sophomore Amanda Koneski said she enjoys the Mountain’s natural setting.
On an overnight visit, the men chopped wood outside while the women picked blueberries for the next morning’s pancakes, said Koneski.
During their summer orientation, Koneski and other incoming freshmen swam in the pond and cooked on a grill, forming lasting relationships, she said.
“If you develop a relationship at the Mountain, it’s going to last because it was based on open-mindedness,” said Koneski, a journalism and mass communication major.
Kriso, the middleman for the Mountain and campus, said some students might have preconceived notions and fears about the Mountain and avoid it.
Kriso encouraged people to visit the Mountain. “Then you can decide whether it’s for you or not,” he said.
Sophomore Greg Horvath said he lacks information about the Mountain, preventing him from visiting.
“To be honest, I don’t even know where it is,” said Horvath, a journalism and mass communication major.
Sophomore Ryan Cooke said he has never been required to visit the Mountain, so he never has.
“I don’t plan on going voluntarily because I don’t have any motivation to,” said Cooke, a journalism and mass communication major.
Horvath agreed. “I need to be told to go.”
Sophomore Molly Inglut, required by her professor, visited the Mountain last year with classmates.
Students should not be forced to experience the Mountain’s beauty, said Inglut, a journalism and mass communication major.
Inglut’s professor, Sandra Mulryan, said she saw a connection between the Intellectual Journey, a course requirement for all students, and the Mountain.
“Bonaventure [a Franciscan from which the university derives its name] went up to a mountain, gathered his thoughts and found peace,” said Mulryan, an English professor. “When students visit Mt. Irenaeus, they do the same.”
Students learn about each other and their professors as they talk informally, prepare a meal and clean up together, said Mulryan.
Students learn important life lessons like, “How do I communicate with others?” said Kriso.
“The Mountain can serve as an atypical classroom,” said Kriso. “There are no lectures like in classrooms.”
Gan said class Mountain trips would be beneficial, but requiring students to visit outside of their scheduled class time would be ethically wrong.
“I would love to do it, but it’s not what the students signed up for,” said Gan. “I could do it on a voluntary basis, but then I couldn’t call it a class.”
Cooke said he would not visit the Mountain if his professor made the class trip optional.
“There are better things I could do, like schoolwork or go to the gym,” Cooke said.
Sophomore Carly Dell’s coach, Christy Malone, required her and the rest of the women’s lacrosse team to visit the Mountain.
The group discussion conducted there helped them bond, creating team chemistry, said Dell, a journalism and mass communication major.
Malone agreed.
“Team chemistry is important,” said Malone. “Having the players bond like this helps that chemistry to roll onto the field.”
Had she not been required to go to the Mountain, Dell probably never would have because her friends have never expressed interest in it, Dell said.
At the Mountain’s cookout during Senior Week, a celebratory week in spring for senior students, some seniors will say, “Why did I wait four years to come here?” said Kriso.
“Bonaventure not only educates its students but helps them grow and develop as individuals,” said Kriso. “The Mountain supplements that.”
“Everyone needs to experience the Mountain before they can say they graduated from St. Bonaventure,” said Koneski. “It’s part of being a Bonnie.”
No comments:
Post a Comment