Mississippi College Students Take Summer Road Trips

Picture of Windsor Ruins by MC student Matt Faries

Camera in hand, Matt Faries clicked away on a summer journey taking him to historic cemeteries, churches, and courthouses in the Magnolia State.

As a student in professor Michael Hataway’s photography class, the 22-year-old Mississippi College senior was fascinated by the recent trips to Port Gibson and Raymond as well as the short walk to Olde Towne on the brick streets of Clinton.

The MC class “has given me an excellent opportunity to go and take photos in many places that I’ve never been before,” says Faries, a graphic design major from Madison. “Even when shooting in more familiar places, this photography class has meant having the time and freedom to explore these areas and look at things in a new way.”

Hataway brings more than three decades of experience teaching photography classes. In late June, the graphic design professor joined students on road trips taking them to Southwest Mississippi treasures like the Windsor Ruins, the remnants of a plantation built in 1859-61.

They traveled to Rocky Springs off the Natchez Trace Parkway to shoot pictures of its old church and nearby graveyard. The Mississippi agricultural museum in Jackson with its small town from more than a century ago was another popular destination point.

While Hataway enjoys class sessions going over PowerPoint presentations and teaching students to use the Adobe Photoshop for editing purposes, the professor from Raymond relishes the learning experiences away from the Clinton campus.

“My goal is that my students leave the class with a knowledge of how to take a good photograph with their cameras,” he said.

With temperatures hitting the mid-90s, the MC travelers worked up a sweat as they captured unforgettable images of Mississippi.

Faries wants to make photography a big part of his life well after his Mississippi College graduation. “I only hope I can find a job where I’ll always have my camera in hand.”

Cameras were also put to the test when the Mississippi College Department of History and Political Science sponsored its second annual road trip to visit historical and cultural sites in Tennessee, Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Washington, D.C.

In late May, professors Glenn Antizzo and Tricia Nelson joined 13 MC students and family members as they stopped to see Civil War battlefields in Gettysburg and Antietem, the historical jewels of Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, and the memorial where Flight 93 crashed to the fields of Shanksville, Pa., amid the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

“The memorial was very moving – it recognized the real heroes of our country,” said MC student Ashley Crane of Quitman.

After a successful trip a year ago that took MC students to Virginia see sites related to the Colonial period, the two professors produced the 2012 sequel and drove both vans thousands of miles.

The Mississippi College delegation also visited sites like Fort Necessity of the French and Indian War, Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Fort McHenry of the War of 1812 and Civil War battlefields in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Other long-distance journeys this summer will take 31 Mississippi College student missionaries to such lands as Slovenia in the Alps of Central Europe, spots in Asia and around the United States to share their faith.