Mallory Nilles––Staff Writer 

After a semester of learning about Dante and the Italian Renaissance, the HIST-329 class took a 9-day trip to Italy to deepen their learning experience. The course is offered fall odd years and is co-taught by History professor Dr. Walker Cosgrove and English professor Dr. Josh Matthews. 

“Students gain an all-encompassing Renaissance Italian Catholic worldview––often contrasted with an all-encompassing Dutch Reformational worldview,” Cosgrove said. 

The trip allows students to explore the Renaissance worldview in areas like planning, architecture, artwork, and religion. 

“[The trip] is great for historical reasons, as well as cross-cultural reasons as a class,” Matthews said.  

During the trip, the students followed an itinerary until noon, with free time to wander and explore after that. Some students went to Rome and visited the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, St. Peter’s Basilica, the Pantheon, and tourist shops. Some students also visited the ruins of Pompeii. 

Though all on the same trip, each student had a unique experience and takeaways that translated into their own worldview and overall appreciation of Italy and its abundant history.  

“I learned so much about the history of Christianity as it relates to Italy and Italians, in a more close and personal way than a class could ever really impart,” said Ethan Haeder, a senior History major. 

Anna Janssen, a senior Secondary History Education major, appreciated the experience on a vocational level. “I think the most valuable part of the trip for me is now being able to say I have seen it all. I want to teach, and I think being able to experience something is so much more valuable than just learning it, and you just remember it all better, too,” Janssen said. 

Matthews’ favorite part of the trip was seeing the student’s reactions to the sites for the first time.  

“They only have head knowledge of this place or know something they’ve seen in a book. Seeing it in person is different in scale and experience,” Matthews said. 

Cosgrove said many students on this trip loved visiting the Medici Chapel.  

“This has never been my favorite part, and I could probably never see it again and be okay with that,” he said.  “But given the students’ wonder and awe at the chapel I was able to get caught up in the grandeur and beauty of it through their experience.”  

Immersion is often said to be one of the best ways to know something, especially a place. “I was amazed by the architecture and the historical feel that everything had,” said junior Secondary Education major Isabel Boer. “[I] kept trying to imagine how it truly would have looked and felt in the past.” 

“Nothing truly beats getting to visit historic places in order to bring history to life,” Cosgrove said.  

Matthews and Cosgrove will teach the course again in the Fall of 2025.