Telling the stories that happen outside of the classroom is important to Grace Lim and her journalism students.

“I teach students who want to be journalists. For them to be journalists, they have to do journalism,” said Lim, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh journalism instructor and editor of Beyond Classroom Walls, an online publication that highlights the excellence in teaching and learning that occurs at the University.

Beyond Classroom Walls has sent students into waist-deep waters, prisons, to China and more.

“Journalism often takes place beyond the four walls of a classroom,” Lim said.

On Wednesday, Oct. 12  two of Lim’s former students and multimedia interns – Tom Hanaway and Kristen Manders – will have the opportunity to share their story of a three-week journey to China through a presentation, The Midwest in The Far East. Hanaway and Manders were among more than 30 math education and business/economics students who made the educational trip to China last summer.

“This is, without a doubt, one of the greatest experiences I’ve ever had in my life,” said Hanaway in a Behind Classroom Walls video, which was created from atop the Great Wall of China.

Lim also believes the China experience – along with other outside the classroom experiences – was great for students.

“It’s experiential learning at its best,” she said. “(The students) said the trip changed them for the better. They all said they learned more than they ever expected.”

The Midwest in the Far East will be held at Reeve Union Theatre at 6 p.m. Oct. 12 and is open to the public. Manders and Hanaway will answer questions following their presentation.

 

Other Behind Classroom Walls spotlight stories:

• 9/11 Remembrance Concert – Patriotic songs and the American flag filled the air at the 9/11 Remembrance Concert. Led by music director and conductor Andre Gaskins, also the director of Orchestral Activities and Cello at the UW Oshkosh, the concert attracted thousands to the Leach Amphitheater.

• “Primetime Authorship” podcast – In this audio-only podcast, radio-TV-film Professor Doug Heil discusses the ideas and work behind his book “Primetime Authorship.”

• Rock Ridge Music Camp – For five weeks each summer at 9,300 feet above sea level, UW Oshkosh Professor Eli Kalman blends his passion of teaching and music with the rustic life at Rocky Ridge Music Camp, which is situated in the heart of the Rocky Mountains.

Learn more:

• Beyond Classroom Walls