Below are three of our "signature" programs which are unique to Elon. They touch the lives of students both at the beginning of their college careers and as they prepare to leave. These programs encourage students to appreciate the communities they have come from and the one they will experience at Elon.
Hot chocolate, carol singing and hundreds of luminaries lining the walkways will mark Elon’s annual Festival of Holiday Lights.
The H. Shelton Smith Lecture Series honors a native of North Caroilna and a 1917 graduate of Elon College. Dr. Smith was the founding director of graduate studies in religion at Duke University and founder of the North Carolina Council of Churches in 1935 and served as its first president. His vision of the Council was that it would be "an interdenominational agency to deal with problems of social justice, racial relations ... or problems that confront the churches."
This year's Lecture was held Wednesday, March 2, Yeager Hall, Fine Arts Building. The speaker was Dr. Gail O'Day, Dean of the Wake Forest University School of Divinity and A.H. Shatford professor of preaching and New Testament. Her talk was entitled "Friendship and the Gospel of John: Love as Christian Practice." Dean O'Day's scholary research focuses on the gospel of john, the bible and preaching, and the history of biblical interpretation. She has written a number of books and articles, including the commentary on the Gosepl of John in The New Interpreters Bible (1996) and most recently, Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary: A Guide (Abingdon Press, 2007).
The Truitt Center is proud to honor the legacy of Dr. Smith by continuing the conversations he began on the issues of social justice, racial relations and the church’s role in society.
The goal of Elon University's Hometown Heroes Program is to bring to campus persons who use their time, energy and skills not only to achieve personal goals but also to benefit their local communities. The program "celebrates lives of moral purpose which inspire others and strengthen community." Students of the Class of 2014 were invited through their Elon 101 sections to nominate persons who they would like to invite to campus to be honored at this special event!
On November 8, 2010, in McKinnon Hall, Moseley Center, Elon honored persons who make a difference in their communities during the seventeenth annual Hometown Heroes awards ceremony. Members of the Class of 2014 nominated people from their hometowns whose contributions to the community are exemplary. Two of the heroes honored by the students and their Elon 101 groups for this 2-day event were Mark Watros from Greenwich, Connecticut and Meaghan Murphy from Lexington, Massachusettes.
Meaghan Murphy Mark Watros
Since the spring of 1998, Elon has celebrated the 21st birthday of more than a thousand juniors and seniors. This quarterly program brings together students and their faculty or staff mentors at a commemorative dinner.
Senior administrators, including President Lambert, have welcomed the students to this rite of passage ceremony. Elon focuses on this 21st birthday transition to help students fully accept their new adult status in life and move with greater confidence into the future.
Faculty members offer inspirational after-dinner talks, sharing the wisdom of their life experiences. Each program ends with the toast: "The best is yet to be!"
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