Hannah Thigpen, Class of 2018
Burlington, NC
I am junior physics and music double major with a German language background, and I hope to advocate for and reinforce my own interdisciplinary experience on our study trip in Vienna. My physics major has altered the way I process information and strengthened my analytical thinking. Just as the inherent logic in studying physics strengthened all my academic interactions, so too has music nurtured my creativity. Along that balance point of the logical and the imaginative, I will tackle challenges in Vienna with every intention of contributing a rounded voice.
I am told that Vienna is one of the happiest places in the world, the loveliest place to live, one of the most invigorating centers for intellectual pursuit and creativity, but I am baffled by the strength of the country’s far right and the mistrust Austrian citizens have in their government. Dr. Ceka’s Western European politics class was my first entrance into political thought, and I am excited to explore the paradoxes and complexities that Vienna presents us through that lens.
I will be spending the summer post-Vienna studying vocal technique and pedagogy with Dr. Chris Gilliam, director of choral activities at Davidson, in addition to conducting research in the atomic and molecular optics lab for the physics department.
