A Road Trip to the State’s Capital

By Alexus Bomar

Students had an opportunity to learn more about Lansing, the State Capitol and Michigan overall.

Every year, the College of Arts and Sciences features a theme that provide opportunities for the OU community to learn more about topics of interest.  The college offers events that highlight the different parts of a single concept through the perspectives of art, literature, science, humanities and social science.

As a part of the College of Arts and Sciences “Cracking Codes: Literary Now” 2015-2016 theme, students had the opportunity to take a trip to the State Capitol on Saturday, Nov. 14.

“This trip is another way to learn more about the State’s Capitol,” Jean Ann Miller, director for the Center for Student Activities and Development, said.

Students had the chance to tour The Library of Michigan, which is a library of Michigan government publications, journals, books and newspaper clippings.

Miller selected The Library of Michigan as one place to tour because she thought it was a good place to go to learn about different Michigan artifacts and history.  

“I actually didn’t know about The Library of Michigan until I did some research about it,” she said.

Sheryl Reed, a senior journalism major, went on this trip because of the various things being offered.  After the trip, Reed really understood the meaning behind literacy and learned more about The Library of Michigan. 

“I learned that The Library of Michigan holds all sorts of newspaper clippings and federal documents,” she said.

Students also had their choice of visiting the Capitol Building, the Michigan Women’s Historical Center & Hall of Fame or the Michigan Historical Museum.

All of the students decided to tour the Capitol Building.  A tour guide took the students through each level of the Capitol and explained the legislative and executive branches of the government, the House of Representatives and Senate, along with historical knowledge about the building.

After spending the morning in Lansing, the students got to enjoy some free time at Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland and in Frankenmuth.

Frankenmuth is one of the more popular travel destinations because of the different restaurants, stores and family activities available.

According to their website, Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland is the “World’s largest Christmas store,” which offers many styles of Christmas ornaments, trees, lights, nativity scenes and collectibles.  For more information about Bronner’s, visit bronners.com.

The students all agreed that it was a great experience to learn more about the State Capitol and they all enjoyed free time at Frankenmuth and Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland.

More events are to come in the winter semester, including LeVar Burton of “Star Trek” and “Reading Rainbow” talking about literacy at the Martin Luther King Day celebration on Monday, Jan. 18.  

For more information about the College of Arts and Sciences 2015-2016 theme, visit the College of Arts and Sciences page of Oakland’s website and select “College Theme.”