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Summer is officially over, and whether you like it or not, school is back in session.
U students spent their summers in various ways. Some took summer classes, others vacationed and many worked. Kiera Norton, an incoming freshman, spent her summer traveling through Europe before coming to the U.
“My summer was amazing,” Norton said. “[Europe] was a lot of fun.”
But despite the break, Norton said she doesn’t feel ready to be back at school yet. She hasn’t purchased her textbooks because she’s looking forward to the activities outside of the classroom more than the coursework. Norton said she’ll be cheering for the football team in the stands of Rice-Eccles Stadium as a part of the MUSS this fall and enjoying school events, like Crimson Nights.
“I’m so excited to be a part of the atmosphere as a student,” Norton said.
Brittany Ellis, a junior in finance, is also looking forward to participating in the MUSS this semester, which she has been a member of for two years.
“That’s what I’m excited for,” Ellis said. “I love it every year.”
Ellis admits she has a bit of a tough semester ahead of her, but she’s ready to get back to school. She took the summer off to take a break from classes and get a new job that she plans to keep during the school year.
“It’s hard to say goodbye to summer, but it’s got to come,” Ellis said. “Football season’s got to come.”
Students aren’t the only ones heading back to campus this fall. Professors and faculty are also getting ready for classes. Disa Gambera, professor in the Department of English, spent part of her summer preparing to teach a new course in the David Eccles School of Business called Mercantile Culture in Chaucer.
Gambera spent the summer reviewing material from Chaucer and Shakespeare to integrate into her class in a way that students will enjoy.
“I’m going to be teaching them how to think critically about these things, but hopefully they’ll be teaching me as well,” Gambera said.
Gambera is excited to teach this new course. She usually teaches Intellectual Traditions within the Honors College, but she looks forward to branching out into the business school, applying her English curriculum to a new group of students.
“No student should have graduated from this university without having taken an English class,” Gambera said. “It is a necessary component of education. The kind of skills that you learn in a classroom are applicable to anything.”
While she knows Fall Semester will present new challenges and that, like her students, she’ll be nervous for the first few days, Gambera feels ready to start the school year.
@Shaun_atTheU
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