Decoding Tombstones

First-Year Experience class observes the past and ponders the present with trip to Oakwood Cemetery

On a warm day in mid-October, Lenoir-Rhyne University students gathered at Oakwood Cemetery, located just a few miles from campus. Their professor, Christy Lohr Sapp, scheduled the trip to the cemetery to teach them about vocation as part of their First-Year Experience (FYE) course. The setting of the trip makes more sense when considering the course material for the class: Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book, a young adult fantasy novel about a boy who is raised by the supernatural occupants of a graveyard.

“In the book, the protagonist often defines people by what is written on their tombstones. I want to use this as a prompt for my students to think about what will one day be written about them,” Lohr Sapp explained.

After a brief history lesson on Oakwood from City of Hickory Manager Jon Hogan, the students dispersed throughout the cemetery to examine the tombstones, statues, mausoleums and other markers. This was Angel Lopez-Arrendondo’s first field trip of any kind for a college class.

“I didn’t think I’d like it,” he said. “It’s a sad place to be in, but now that I’m here, I’m glad to take some time away and just think. I tend to focus on myself and what I’m doing, but now… it gives me some time to think about others.”

It’s that kind of thoughtfulness Lohr Sapp hoped would result from the trip.

“The point is to get them thinking about how they want to be remembered and how that informs the lives they live today,” she said.

The Graveyard Book was selected as this year’s LR Campus Read, and author Neil Gaiman is scheduled to present on campus this Thursday as part of Lenoir-Rhyne’s annual Visiting Writers Series. Following their trip to Oakwood, students Kara Cline and Eleni Diakou are motivated to attend Gaiman’s presentation.

“I think it will be a good experience after this,” Diakou said.

Visiting Writers Series events are free. For more information and to register, visit the Lenoir-Rhyne University calendar.