Furman Engaged ’22

On April 12th, 2022, the fourteenth annual Furman Engaged took place! What is Furman Engaged you may ask? Well, Furman Engaged is a day when students get to share about the opportunities that The Furman Advantage (TFA) has granted them over the past year of study. If you haven’t heard of The Furman Advantage, it’s essentially an all-access guarantee to engaged learning experiences for Furman students, and these experiences consist of anything from internships and studying away to undergraduate research and service projects! Furman Engaged is an entire day where we all get to share the amazing opportunities that TFA has given us; we get to talk about our passion projects, life-changing experiences, and latest accomplishments with the community that we call home.

My Presentations This Year

As a sophomore, I am so grateful to say that I had two presentations at Furman Engaged this year. That’s what The Furman Advantage is all about! I’ve had many high-impact engaged learning experiences over the past two years, and I was beyond excited to share about two of them with my peers and mentors today! 

(1) About My Internship

First, I presented on an internship that I’m completing this semester. I currently work at the CommunityWorks Women’s Business Center in Downtown Greenville! The Women’s Business Center serves to empower entrepreneurs in South Carolina through advocacy, outreach, education, & support. Working with entrepreneurs especially from underserved communities, I connect clients with one another, learn and share client stories, and have even launched an Instagram page to advocate for local female business owners earlier this semester! I was also able to get four credit hours towards my Communication Studies major by working at this internship. Because of this, I was able to create a poster to share my internship story with onlookers at Furman Engaged!

(2) About FOCUS 2022

Next, I presented on a study away experience that myself and 19 peers shared through a program led by the Cothran Center for Vocational Reflection. This experience was known as FOCUS 2022! Over the semester, the twenty of us participated in workshops every other Monday night in which we got to know one another, explored our identities, and learned more about conflict resolution and peacemaking. We then traveled to Northern Ireland over Spring Break. We visited many sites in Northern Ireland, including Belfast, Derry/London Derry, and Ballycastle. Throughout the experience, we learned about the historical Northern Ireland sectarian conflict known as the “Troubles” and the many peacemaking efforts currently surrounding this conflict. Specifically, we spent many days at the Corrymeela Centre, which is a community of volunteers and professional peacemakers who consistently work to bring people together through education and collective support. Corrymeela’s mantra is “together is better,” and I can attest that myself and my peers experienced the value of togetherness, peace, and understanding as we engaged in this experience. Then, we all presented this experience at Furman Engaged–which was so fun in and of itself–and we were able to share what we learned and the immense impact of this experience with those that we care about right here at home!

More FUN at Furman Engaged!

 

 

In addition to presenting myself, I was able to attend some of the other 200+ presentations that occurred at this year’s Furman Engaged. I personally attended three other presentations, ranging from topics such as undergraduate research in mathematics to music internships and the Shucker Leadership Institute. My close friends and peers led each of these, and I cannot express how wonderful each of their discussions was! It’s inspiring to see just how many students use The Furman Advantage to their full advantage and to hear my peers talk about topics that they are truly passionate about.

When I wasn’t attending a presentation, I was enjoying the many other activities that Furman provided for students on this exciting day. For one, I enjoyed a lunch led by the Furman University International Students Association (FUISA). This lunch was an international food festival complete with many tasty options representing the variety of nations that Furman students call home! Everything I had from this lunch was amazing, and the jazz music on the Trone Patio–provided by the Furman Jazz Ensemble–was the perfect entertainment by which to enjoy my treats. Finally, I attended the end-of-day celebration sponsored by Furman’s very own Heller Service Corps in Timmons Arena and the Music Honors Recital at Daniel Recital Hall!

 

Overall, I had loads of fun at Furman Engaged and was thankful to share this experience with my peers, mentors, and the Furman community. If you’d like to learn more about Furman Engaged and view the schedule for this year, please click THIS LINK! And feel free to message me with any questions about anything that’s on your mind!

 

Thanks for reading! 🙂

– Logan Coffee