Last weekend, 1,520 freshmen gathered together under the oaks in the North Carolina heat patiently waiting for their acorns. Unbeknownst to them, three freshmen would be singled out by Leo Lambert, president of Elon University.
Their achievements and transitions from high school students to freshmen would be documented in a speech to the entire class. One of the three students, freshman Serena Archer, like the other two, was taken by surprise when she heard her name called.
“I was sitting next to my roommate, and they said the first two names, and I thought that they were so impressive,” Archer said. “My mom texted me during the program and said, ‘Your dad is in tears right now.’”
The world through her lens
Archer was recognized for her cinematography and equestrian work.
Her start in cinematography began accidentally in high school when she was taking a painting class. In the class, students were asked to paint a place that was significant to them — and for Archer, it was her equestrian home.
“I’m kind of a perfectionist and I realized that I wouldn’t be able to perfectly paint the place that meant so much to me,” she said.
Her teacher suggested that she film her sanctuary instead, something that came more naturally to her.
“I fell in love with cinematography, so I started taking film classes, and I did an independent film study my last two years of high school, studying film, philosophy and literature,” Archer said.
Her passion for riding is much older. She has been riding horses since her early childhood, is an award-winning equestrian and used to teach kids near her hometown in Minneapolis how to ride horses.
“I’ll get involved with 12 to 20 kids depending on the season, ranging from ages two to 12,” she said.
Archer teaches the children how to ride on trails and in the ring. Although her love for horses hasn’t faded, she no longer rides in horse shows. Instead, Archer takes her students to the shows and cheers them on.
“I would love to continue teaching people how to ride,” she said and added she hopes to do the same next summer.
Twirling into Elon
Freshman and Leadership Fellow Tres McMichael heard his name mentioned as well. Like Archer, McMichael was involved with his community while attending the George Washington Carver Center for Arts and Technology, a magnet school in Baltimore.
“I served on an executive council during all four years of high school to serve my community to make sure there were programs and opportunities for the youth that would benefit them,” McMichael said.
Additionally, he served as the student council president for all of the public schools in Baltimore County, overseeing about 110,000 students.
“I wanted to make sure that they had an opportunity to do what they were passionate about in an environment where they felt safe,” McMichael said, an opportunity he himself felt he had during his education.
Although he was a leader in his community, McMichael had a bigger presence on stage.
McMichael first became interested in musicals in sixth grade, but focused solely on his singing and acting skills. It wasn’t until his theater instructor suggested working on his dancing abilities that he looked into programs.
“My teacher told me, ‘If only you danced, you would be so much better at your craft,’” he said.
He wasn’t sure where to begin, until a flyer for a scholarship from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency that funds and promotes the arts, caught his eye.
“I had to go in and audition for the program, and a week later I found out that I got the scholarship,” he said.
Since then, McMichael has focused on ballet, receiving numerous awards and dancing with the Inertia Dance Company, Mid Atlantic Youth Ballet and Carver Center. He has also been featured in various news outlets such as Time Magazine and The Baltimore Sun.
McMichael’s passion for dance and helping others has extend beyond the country’s borders. During his junior year of high school, he went to Ghana for 21 days, where he helped build a library and paint a medical school.
He plans on returning with a more arts focused purpose.
“I’m thinking about going back to Ghana in January with Elon’s study abroad programs,” he said.
The highest of honors
On the other side of the United States, freshman Selina Guevara from Danville, California made her mark. In addition to trying to find her rhythm sophomore year like most of her peers, Guevara prepared for a two-month trip to Costa Rica in the summer.
The program, called “Amigos de las Americas,” sends students to various communities across the Americas to fully immerse them in different cultures and lead projects that have a meaningful, local impact.
“I want to say it’s like volunteering, but I hate using that word, ‘volunteering’ abroad, because the focus wasn’t on helping other people as much as it was learning from living in Costa Rica,” Guevera said.
While in Costa Rica, Guevera lived with a host family in a rural community. An average day for her included helping her host father pick coffee beans and her host mother milk the family’s cow.
“I also had a partner that lived with us too,” Guevera said. “She was the only other one who spoke English.”
During the day, Guevera and her partner would go to the local school to connect with and help the children there. One of their main goals was to raise awareness about the environment and the harmful effects of
pollution.
“We played some games and tried to connect them to the environment, but really we learned way more from them,” she said.
To fully experience what it was like to be a child growing up in Costa Rica, Guevera and her partner used unconventional and slightly uncomfortable methods.
“We had to go out of our way to talk to people, so we would ask the kids to take us home with them after school,” she said. “It was a little creepy in the American context, but it ended up being a great experience.”
After the trip, Guevera signed up to be on training staff to help the new participants for Amigos de las Americas with their journeys. She hopes to stay connected to immersion experiences abroad by studying voluntourism, tourism where travelers volunteer to help communities in the area they are visiting, while at Elon.
“I’m hoping to write my honors thesis on voluntourism abroad and how you can help rather than hinder efforts in poor countries,”
she said.
In addition to her passion for volunteering and immersion, Guevera is an Honors Fellow and this year’s recipient of the William R. Kenan Honors Scholarship, Elon’s highest academic award.
Where they bELONg
Though all three differ in the activities they were involved in during high school and the paths they are taking, all found Elon to be the perfect fit.
For Archer, it was the cinematography program and the environment which sealed the deal.
“I chose to come to Elon because of the communications school,” she said. “I also wanted a small, discussions based environment. I felt that Elon combined those things so well.”
Similarly, Guevara loved the community that she felt while on campus.
“There are always people who are willing to help you, even when I just arrived here,” she said. “The librarian just asked if she could help me. The professors also seem super interested in what they’re teaching.”
McMichael was attracted to Elon because of the people on campus.
“They were so nice and so accepting,” he said. “I could see that there was a clear vision of service, and that has always been something I have been passionate about.”
Additionally, Elon aligned with McMichael’s core values, which he hopes to further during his time on campus.
“One of my personal philosophies is that my passion is service and the way that I choose to serve others is through my love of musical theater,” he said.
He hopes that Elon will help him hone his skills so that he can make the arts more accessible to low income communities.
“I want to work as hard as I can to make some difference in the world,” he said. “I hope Elon can help me narrow down what I can do to make a change.”
With Elon’s values heavily focused towards becoming global citizens and a united campus, these three have already started making strives in connecting the community through horses, travel and volunteering.