Eighteen students from Warren Wilson College in Asheville, North Carolina took advantage of the winter break from classes to travel to Guam, Palau, and Pohnpei. On the 11th of January at Pacific Missionary Fellowship in Pohnpei they performed a well attended concert benefiting the Conservation Society of Pohnpei.
They performed Appalachian Ballads, Celtic tunes, gave a demonstration of early American shape note singing, African traditional songs, and a few of their own singer/songwriter favorites.
On the following evening they 'sang for their supper' at The Village in an open "jam session". Singing everything from Appalachian folk tunes to Lynyrd Skynyrd tunes for the diners in the restaurant. Even Father Frances Hezel of Micronesian Seminar joined in singing with them.
Dr. Milton Crotts, who directs the Warren Wilson College Chorale, Chamber Orchestra, and teaches a Music Cultures of the World course at the college and is coleader of the trip played a Takamine Jasmine guitar that the college left with Father Hezel. Kathryn Burlson, Ph.D. who's area of expertise is sociocultural developmental psychology was the other co-leader for the trip.
Warren Wilson College is a liberal arts institution with many degree offerings. The school's signature Triad Education Program blends an interdisciplinary academic curriculum, a work program that requires each resident student to work 15 hours per week for the College, and a service-learning program that requires each student to do 100 hours of community service over four years.
The college also offers qualified students the opportunity to travel off campus in its WorldWide cross-cultural and international learning program. Warren Wilson's land-use plan emphasizes green space, sustainability, and a strong sense of community on a 1,100 acre campus that includes a working farm, managed forest, and pesticide-free garden. See www.warren-wilson.edu for more information.