Winter Term is a time of year when Oberlin students are encouraged to conduct independent or group projects outside of courses related to their majors. Pursuits can be done on or off campus with students choosing to work almost anywhere on the map. This year we highlight some of the projects by the more than 900 students who completed their projects right here in Oberlin.
We expose students to what it’s really like working in a museum, and to the variety of jobs that are possible, from curating a collection to becoming an educator, registrar, art handler, or administrator.
Students take a guided tour led by one of the curators of the Monroe House in the History at the Museum project.
These students were approaching [their introduction projects] from their own area of artistic familiarity, everything that was brought in astonished me with regard to how mature and developed it was.
Printing History
Director of Language Technology and Academic Support Abe Reshad works with a student in the 3D Printer Build project.
A collaboration involving two projects—3D Printer Build and Practicum in Exhibit Design—results in a pair of 18th-century wooden snow glasses being reproduced for an upcoming exhibit in Oberlin’s Mary Church Terrell Library. The printed glasses will grant visitors a hands-on experience with history.
In this studio intensive, students make books and paper by hand in the context of global history and culture. Taught by artist and award-winning author Aimee Lee ’99, field trips included Morgan Conservatory and Zygote Press in Cleveland and Special Collections at the Terrell Main and art libraries on campus.
More than Music
Students in Sonic Arts in Society prepare for planned spring semester projects by engaging Elyria Medical Center hospital system populations in creative arts-based workshops.
This project [Phlox ensemble], along with the Winter Term Phlox Orchestra, are important because they help to further the wide efforts toward gender inclusion within classical music by providing greater awareness and access, both in the classroom and on the stage.
Flute Maintenance and Repair
Beginning Viola Da Gamba
Students in the Film and Television Scoring intensive take center stage in the Joseph R. Clonick Studio with television and film composer Adam Cohen ’91.
String Quartet Intensive
The Phlox Ensemble choir practice historical and contemporary works by women, trans, and non-binary composers. Phlox Ensembles are a choir and orchestra made up of women, trans, and non-binary musicians organized by Oberlin Students for Gender Inclusivity in Music.
Dance, Leap, Learn
Seeing my interests converge through ‘Beast’ showed me new possibilities for life after Oberlin. I can definitely see myself in arts administration, and I would love to work in opera.
Real World Lessons
Bold and Cold: Bringing the Obie into the Corporate World, a series of workshops led by Melissa Donohue ’87.
Hollywood insider and Oberlin trustee Steve Dolcemaschio instructs students on the basics of business in this Business for Life session.
Faculty, staff, and students attend the History Design Lab Institute, a series of workshops that provided digital methodologies and techniques for creating oral history projects.
Immersed in Language & Literature
Intensive Latin
Intensive Ancient Greek
Intensive Elementary Russian
Teaching Writing to Anyone
R is a tool that not only allows us to carry out data analysis, but to also communicate those results in a common language with other scientists around the world.
Bridging the Gap: Dialogue Across Campus in a Time of Political Polarization with nationally recognized facilitator Simon Greer.
Ninde Scholars Program at Oberlin High School.
Students in the Practicum in Exhibit Design project work on a community-informed exhibit of Alaska Native cultural objects that will be displayed in the Mary Church Terrell Library in the spring.
Investigations and Analysis
Students conduct independent projects in Assistant Professor William Parsons’ lab.
Students in PERSIST Intro to Research learn how to read primary literature, use scientific search engines, and communicate and present scientific ideas.
Dark Matter Research
A student studies dark matter in Associate Professor of Physics Jason Stalnaker’s laser lab.
Students work with laser light in Professor Jason Stalnaker's Optical Magnetometry project.
Visiting Assistant Professor of Cinema Studies and Creative Writing Joshua Sperling explores the practical skills involved in telling and analyzing popular screen narratives.
Students in Professor Jan Cooper’s Podcasting Oberlin News project learn the historical background of the emerging podcast industry, and how to record and edit stories about people doing cool things to enhance life in Oberlin.
A student interviews Ms. Kim, owner of Kim’s Grocery & Carryout in downtown Oberlin, for their Podcasting Oberlin News project.
Photography by
- Oli Bently ’21
- Mike Crupi
- Dustin Franz
- Yvonne Gay
- Julie Gulenko ’15
- Yevhen Gulenko
- Dale Preston ’83
- John Seyfried
- Peter Swendsen ’99