Hey! I’m Riley Schurr, one of the sophomore industrial and innovative design majors here at Cedarville, and I’d like to take you through a day on campus! I’ll share a bit about myself, first: I’m from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Go Birds!), and I live in Marshall Hall, one of the dorms included in The Hill. I spend much of my time drawing, but you can also find me reading or playing card games with friends.
Okay, with that introduction out of the way, let’s see what life is like for an industrial and innovative design student!
On a usual Thursday, I wake up at about 7:30 a.m. so I have enough time to wake up and get some breakfast at the dining hall. Since most of my friends are still asleep or don’t usually grab breakfast, I tend to hang out alone and do my morning devotional. This year, I’ve been going through Charles Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening, and it’s definitely been thought-provoking each morning. Once I finish breakfast, I make my way to the Apple Technology Resource Center and watch as the sun rises before my first class, Intro to Literature!
Intro to Literature is a pretty interesting class. Even though I’m not a big fan of everything we read, Professor Hodgin helps facilitate good discussions in class and keeps it engaging. Now, in full honesty, I picked this class simply because it’s one of my general education classes that I’m required to take. However, I really did want to take it with Professor Hodgin. I heard some good things about him from friends, and what I’ve heard seems to be true! I totally recommend taking the class with him — he’s very intentional about getting to know each student.
When we’re dismissed from class, I head to chapel with some friends. Chapel is a very special time on campus — many people call it the heartbeat of Cedarville, and there’s definitely some truth to that. It’s a time where all of campus gathers into one building to sing praises to the Lord and hear the Word of God preached. It’s an encouraging daily reminder that we are a body of believers and not alone in the world.
That’s one of the main reasons I chose to come to Cedarville. I wanted to get a Christian education. I wanted to be educated in the Bible before I head out into the real world. It’s a good idea to know what you believe before you are confronted with many other beliefs. I wanted to not just be familiar with the Bible but to also be able to apply a biblical perspective to my major and whatever else I study. I wanted to pursue Industrial and Innovative Design, and it just so happened that Cedarville was one of the few schools that offered it from a Christian perspective. Designing with God in mind helps me keep the focus on people, who are not just cogs in a machine but have actual needs just like I do.
A big part of learning how to help people through design is knowing where design comes from, which is just what History and Influences of Design, my next class after chapel, is all about. The class is very interesting. I’m a big history nerd, so learning about the different art movements and how they interact with each other is really neat. Professor Huffman teaches the class well. He’s very knowledgeable in this field and presents the information in a manner that is simple to understand while ensuring that we are truly learning and internalizing it.
Once HID finishes up, I quickly make my way over to The Cafe in the Scharnberg Business and Communication Center (nicknamed “the Berg”) for lunch. The lines are pretty short by this time (about 12:30 p.m.), so I manage to zip through and grab my usual Cafe meal: a cheesy bagel sandwich with two sugar cookies. As I’m eating, I make my way back to Tyler for my third class of the day: Previsualization with Professor Phipps!
Previsualization is a very helpful class that prepares me and other students to pursue interior/stage design. And it’s only made better by Professor Phipps. He has a great sense of humor and keeps the class engaged. He’s the technical designer for the mainstage theatre productions that are put on at Cedarville, so he’s got a good deal of knowledge about how design works.
After Previsualization, my final class is Theology I with Dr. Alligood. This is my fourth Bible minor class during my time at Cedarville, and it’s with one of my favorite professors on campus. Studying theology seems difficult because of all the big words and confusing topics, but it’s amazing to learn all of this because it deepens our understanding and awe of God. And that’s the key point that Dr. Alligood drives us back to every class. We don’t learn all this stuff just because we want more head knowledge but because we want a deeper worship of God.
After my class, I grab dinner with my friends and head back to the dorm room to do some homework. A lot of my homework this semester consists of reading, whether it’s for Intro to Literature or for Theology 1. It’s a lot of reading, but it can be really interesting. Around 9 p.m., I try to spend a little bit more time with people and play some games. Tonight, I grab my roommate and a friend and play a card game we enjoy! After the game wraps up a few hours later, I head back to my room and do my nightly devotionals (reading my Bible and finishing up the section from Morning and Evening). I often find myself sitting and reflecting about the day shortly before heading to bed.
I’m glad you got to join me as I walked through one of my days in college at Cedarville! If anything that I wrote about sounds like fun or beneficial to you (it has certainly been both for me!), I encourage you to take a look at the Industrial and Innovative Design major. And even if you don’t want to pursue Industrial and Innovative Design, there’s definitely a major that will suit you here at Cedarville. The faculty and staff here are very committed to ensuring that we not only grow academically but spiritually too. Come and experience it for yourself!
Major: Industrial and Innovative Design
Year of Graduation: Class of 2027
Tags: #academics, #classes, #day-in-the-life, #education, #experience, #experiences, #helpful, #industrialandinnovativedesign, #major, #personal, #student, #studentguide, #studentlife, #students
Posted in: Student Guide, Student Life