A new, free HealthEU course, offered during Winter Term, allows students to engage more with the Alamance County community.
A new Winter Term HealthEU course is encouraging Elon students to step beyond campus boundaries and engage more deeply with the surrounding community, offering hands-on experiences across Alamance County that blend civic learning, volunteerism and local exploration.
The course, Beyond the Elon Bubble, is designed to help students better understand their role as residents of the community and to recognize how local engagement can make a meaningful impact.
“One of my hopes is that students just get to see a little more of the county beyond campus, meet some interesting people and learn more about interesting places,” said Kyle Anderson, associate director of the Kernodle Center for Civic Life.
Anderson is co-teaching the course with Sara Beth Hardy, assistant director for community partnerships in the Kernodle Center. Anderson says many students spend much of their time on campus and may overlook the opportunities available just minutes away.
“Whether they know it or not, you’re a resident of this community. So, part of it is learning how to be a responsible community member,” he said. “Hopefully they’ll take some lessons out of the experience and, then, whenever they graduate, they’ll come back to this and said, ‘I had this experience when I was an Elon student and I learned how to engage with my community.”
For the first time during Winter Term, Elon is offering HealthEU courses at no cost. The one-credit courses are designed to empower students to develop skills to aid their wellness journey. Students can enroll in courses from a variety of wellness dimensions (physical, emotional, social, financial, purpose, and community wellness). Courses address one or more dimensions, while also reflecting on the holistic and interdependent nature of wellness and well-being.
A central component of the Beyond the Elon Bubble course is a series of weekly field trips that introduce students to different aspects of the county. Early in the term, students visited downtown Burlington, where they met with city officials, including the city manager and assistant city manager, and explored local parks and businesses.
For Anderson, one story shared by the mayor of Elon during a class visit captured the heart of the course. The mayor recalled how a broken playground slide for her daughter led her to become involved in local government.
“You can see an issue and you don’t have to throw your hands up,” he said. “You can actually try and do something about it.”
Additional trips included volunteering with the Alamance Dream Center, meetings with local nonprofit leaders and a visit to downtown Mebane, where students took part in what Anderson described as a “mini cash mob,” using gift cards to shop locally.
Beyond field trips, the course includes weekly “community challenges” inspired by the book “This Is Where You Belong: Finding Home Wherever You Are” by Melody Warnick, which is integrated into the course. In the book, the author details her attempt to fall in love with her new home moving six times. For the course, students choose from a list of activities, such as attending a local council meeting or identifying a community issue, and reflect on what they learned.
“Our hope with these challenges is that students can see you can actually do something about some of these issues,” Anderson said. “You can choose to engage positively, not just complain.”
Ultimately, Anderson hopes students leave the course feeling empowered. “Especially locally,” he said, “they can make an impact.”
