Walking through Benham-Pence Student Center and Shouvlin Center in the heart of campus on Friday, April 8, I saw students crowding the hallways, conference rooms, classrooms, and atriums, dressed in their best and prepared to share some of their top academic work during Wittenberg’s annual Celebration of Learning.

The event provides a way for students to present their academic work in research posters, presentations, cross-disciplinary panels, and live performances.

Not only are Wittenberg students able to share their own work, but they are able to learn about and celebrate the work of their peers, particularly through the event’s cross-disciplinary panels.

This year, I had the honor of sitting on a panel titled “Rethinking Genres: Comedy, Animation, and Drama” with a fellow communication major and an English major.

I shared my own work within the genre of comedy, and heard about the work of my peers on the genres of animation and drama. The three of us had varied interests and came from different academic backgrounds, yet we were still able to share studies that complemented one another. To me, this is what a liberal arts education is all about: crossing the borders between disciplines by building connections, sharing our experiences, and learning from one another.

In my opinion, this event embodies the liberal arts education like no other event hosted by Wittenberg,. Students take ownership of the work they have done inside and outside of the classroom and interact with and learn about the work of other students across campus.

I am a communication major who learned about character development in Shakespeare’s plays, what happens when crayfish are exposed to the herbicide Roundup, and how environmental issues are portrayed through media. I stepped outside of my own discipline and experienced the work of others, learning from my peers. I was able to experience the liberal arts. I was able to celebrate learning.