THERE’S MORE TO SUMMER THAN SUMMER SCHOOL —

This past summer, professors and staff made the most of their vacation time, both on campus and away.

Kelly French, manager of The Space, was on campus helping to run a program called the Institute. This year, the program consisted of 16 Wofford students who stayed on campus from July 7 – Aug. 1.

According to French, students practiced professional speaking skills and built their strengths in the areas they were interested in for a career. This program is for all majors who want to work on professional skills. If you are interested in the Institute for the summer of 2015, French urges students to apply quickly because they can only accept 20 applicants.

While some professors and staff stayed on campus, others were all over the place this summer. Dr. John Akers had surgery on both of his hips at once and was on the move the very next day.

“I feel and move so much better,” says Akers. Not even a month after the surgery, Akers tested his new hips by attending the New Mexico guitar festival in Albuquerque that lasted for a week. The workshop within the guitar festival “was really focused on young guitarists and didn’t bring in big names.” According to Akers, there were two different guitar orchestras: one with 20 guitarists and another with 35 guitarists. All were classical guitarists, performing at all levels.

Continuing with his love of classical guitar, Akers also performed a classical guitar program on Carl Sandburg in Bluffton, S.C. Once Akers came back to Spartanburg, he did two programs for kids at Arcadia Elementary and the Boiling Springs Library on Carl Sandburg. Akers says that one of the highlights of his summer was an emersion program in the Village that lasted one weekend for South Carolinian teachers, Wofford alumni and friends. Although it was a small turnout this year, Akers hopes he can do it again next summer but with a bigger outcome.

Other professors such as Dr. Charlie Bass got to leave town for some hiking and kayaking after summer school. From his small town in Mississippi, Bass was able to spend some time with his parents as well.