Livia Lee, a rising junior at Nottoway High School, plays Getting to Know You BINGO with classmates during UMW’s Summer Enrichment Program. Photo by K Pearlman.
Bingo! Livia Lee waves her winning card to collect a prize. But rather than numbers, this card is covered in questions that reveal personal characteristics to help classmates get to know one another. What’s your favorite color? Do you recycle?
The specialized version of the traditional game gave students like Lee, a rising junior at Nottoway High School in south-central Virginia, an opportunity to explore the principles behind the ways in which we connect.
The exercise was part of University of Mary Washington Associate Professor of Communication Adria Goldman’s “COMM Play” session, one of more than 20 academic courses offered during this year’s Summer Enrichment Program (SEP) at UMW. Teens from Virginia, Georgia, Maryland, New Hampshire, Oregon and Pennsylvania – even as far away as Vienna, Austria – took part in the fourth annual event, a six-day slice of college coursework and campus life for rising 10th- through 12th- graders.
“SEP provides a truly unique opportunity for students to explore diverse academic topics, engage with faculty and experience a bit of college life,” said Senior Biology Lecturer Michael Stebar, who co-directs the program with Associate Professor of Communication Elizabeth Johnson-Young. Read more.