HONORS
S C H O L A R LY P U R S U I T S Elizabeth Kijowski ’21 Not everyone starts college knowing exactly what they want to study when they first enroll as a new student. However, Elizabeth Kijowski ’21 was confident in her interests in music, art and psychology before she signed up for her freshman year classes. Choosing to attend Olivet was a natural choice for Elizabeth, given the wide variety of academic study offered and her goals of having a robust, multidisciplinary academic adventure. An added bonus was the opportunity to participate in the University Honors Program. After taking four core classes as a cohort during their freshman and sophomore years, Honors Program students formulate a topic proposal for a capstone research project. Students then spend their junior and senior years diving into the topic under the mentored guidance of a faculty member in their field of study. During her freshman year, Elizabeth immersed herself in the fall semester honors course Exploring Humanities and Faith, anticipating that the class and Honors Program experience would broaden her worldview and challenge how she understood her personal faith. The discussion-based course allowed her to explore meaning and purpose in how humans interact in a modern society.
Outside the classroom, Elizabeth left no stone unturned in pursuing her interests and seeking creative collaboration. She played the flute in the ONU Tiger Marching Band, the University Orchestra, flute choir and jazz combo; handled media for the marching band; took photos for the Office of Marketing; worked as a ceramic technician in the Department of Art and Digital Media; and participated in MuKappa, a club for students from international missionary or military homes, forging deep friendships and gaining valuable exposure to various art media. During the sophomore Honors Program weekend trip to Chicago, Elizabeth’s cohort saw the musical Hamilton. The experience was pivotal in her artistic journey. “Throughout the years at Olivet, I have been inspired to create more art because I have had more opportunities to take in and appreciate more art,” she reflects. “I was so inspired to see a piece of art that has made a big impact on today’s culture by retelling a historical story using dance, music and dialogue.”
with the project to tell the Biblical story of Ruth through an immersive art exhibit. During her junior year, Elizabeth traveled to Rome with the Tiger Marching Band to perform in the New Year’s Day parade and take in cultural sites. Wandering through the Sistine Chapel to glimpse Michelangelo’s majestic painting of Biblical characters and narratives helped Elizabeth flesh out her capstone idea of interpreting old literature in a contemporary setting. “I knew I wanted to illustrate the redemption that happens in the story, but my biggest hurdle was deciding what medium to use,” she explains. “I tried watercolor, pastel and chalk pastel, but started experimenting with clay and charcoal a bit more and found the archaic earthen materials fitting for telling such a story.” As a general music and general art double major with a minor in psychology, Elizabeth also wanted to incorporate an original piece of music to illustrate the story in a different dimension.
That same year, Elizabeth began work on the annotated bibliography required for Honors Program students who want to complete the capstone project. She was approved to combine her senior art show
The culmination of students’ Honors Program research is published in ELAIA: The Honors Journal of Olivet Nazarene University, featuring the work of the previous year’s graduating class. The 2021 ELAIA will be
published in early September. For more details about the Honors Program and application information, visit www.Olivet.edu/Honors.
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