Wise Words from an Amazing Source

Prof. Allan Chapman visited Bemidji State University on Sept. 19.  While there he shared with them his knowledge on the topic of mass communication and his involvement with the university’s Eurospring program.

By Jenna Long

Oxford Prof. Allan Chapman began his lecture to an overflow crowd of students when he set his gold pocket-watch onto a desk in front of him, mumbling something about how he always seemed to run out of time.  Exactly 50 minutes later, the lecture was finished but the students were still mesmerized by what they had heard.

Prof. Chapman giving his lecture. 

Prof. Louise Mengelkoch likened Chapman to the white rabbit from “Alice in Wonderland” in her personal blog about her 2011 Eurospring adventures–an apt comparison.  The silver-haired man was dressed in a well-worn black suit, a green waistcoat with brassy buttons, a golden watch fob and dull black dress shoes.  His green print bowtie hung crookedly around his neck and he held an antique-looking pocket-watch.  He wore his wedding ring on his right hand and pinned to his lapel was a British Flag -- both details indicated that the man hailed from Europe.

The crowded lecture hall had previously hummed with the impatience and small talk of roughly 140 mass communications students.  Once they realized the man had appeared at the front of the room, however, they quieted to near silence.

After a brief introduction by Assoc. Prof. Dave Smith, the academic director for Bemidji State University’s 2012 Eurospring program, Chapman began to share his knowledge on the history behind mass communication and his experience with Eurospring.

As soon as Chapman began to speak, it became glaringly obvious that he was indeed British –every word he spoke was peppered with a British accent and enunciated perfectly. It also became obvious that he was a well-practiced and excellent speaker. He used no visual aids or notes as he spoke; his words came purely from his well-researched knowledge.

As the lecture progressed and Chapman began to speak on the role ancient Greek culture has on mass communication, his personality began to shine through.  “They invented what we are doing here today,” he said, laugh lines visible as he smiled, “listening to a windbag speak to younger people.”  He spun a story of the history of mass communications, including the ancient Greeks, the Olympics, Europe and the start of the printing press, the Protestant religion, piracy, scandalous magazines, the American railroad, and inventions of the telegraph and telephone.  The lecture was packed with dozens of facts and anecdotes, even though the lecture had only been assigned to him just minutes before class.

Though most who have the opportunity to hear him speak consider him a gifted speaker and accomplished scholar, his intelligence hasn’t always been acknowledged.  “He is by far the most intelligent person I have ever been in the same room with,” Erin Sundvall, a participant in the 2011 Eurospring adventure said about Chapman. “He does not stutter. His facts are extremely precise.  He always amazes me.”  Chapman actually came from a very humble background, according to an essay by Mengelkoch published in The Journey that Matters: Travel Essays by 2005 Participants in Bemidji State University Travel Programs.  His family had a very limited education, but they were literate.  Even though he dropped out of high school, he managed to gain admittance to the University of Oxford on full-scholarship to pursue his interests in astronomy and history.

Dr. Chapman has authored six academic books including Mary Somerville and the World of Science, and has been in two BBC TV series, “Gods in the Sky: Astronomy, Religion, and Culture from the Ancients to the Renaissance” and “Great Scientists.”  He is also a founder member and president of the Society for the History of Astronomy.

In addition to his studies and writings, Chapman still makes the Eurospring program a priority in his life. Bemidji State University and Minnesota State University-Moorhead are the only universities in Minnesota that utilize the program.  Not only does he speak to the schools annually about the benefits of the program, but he also teaches two courses and gives 26 lectures to the students in while they are in Oxford.  However, he will be the first to admit that he is not the best person to ask about the program.  “Ask students who’ve been on it,” he said. “They are the closest friends to [Eurospring].”

Jenna Peterson, 79, Altered Lives of Hundreds of Children

Date of story:  07/15/2072

Jenna Peterson, the founder of a thriving primary school in Honduras and a leader in the effort to make sure all families in Honduras had electricity, died at home on Sunday night at age 79 after a long history of heart complications.



Mrs. Peterson at age 17



Her death was confirmed by her husband of 54 years, Skylar Peterson.

From the very beginning of her adult life, Mrs. Peterson was not afraid to tell people her dream. “She would always come up with brilliant plans for her future and forget them a few months later,” said Alison Ramsley, Mrs. Peterson’s childhood friend. “So when she began to tell us she was going to start a school in a third-world country we all thought she was just off on another tangent.  Boy, did she prove us wrong.”

In 2020, at just 27 years old, Mrs. Peterson moved herself, her husband, and her young son, Liam, to Honduras to pursue her dream.  She was hired by Transitions Abroad to help manage an elementary school in Comayagua, the seventh largest city in Honduras.  Once established, she began to make major changes to the school, especially in the curriculum.  Mrs. Peterson worked side by side with the teachers and students to figure out the best way to accomplish the school’s goals.

The school improved markedly, but Mrs. Peterson was still not content with what she had accomplished.  She started a sister school in a more rural area so that it would be more easily accessible to students that lived outside of the city limits.  She contracted a bus to pick up students from their homes that were outside of walking distance so that they didn’t have to pay a bus fare.  Most families in the area knew who Mrs. Peterson was and why she was in Honduras; she was respected.

Jenna Brianne Long was born on April 23, 1993, to Christopher Long and the former Ona Ellingson in Littleton, Col. She was the third of four children.  Growing up, she liked to play by herself, but never rejected a playmate if one crossed her path.  In 2003, her mother, now divorced, moved the family to Buffalo Center, Iowa, where they lived for four years. After her mother remarried to Mr. Rory Knudtson, the family made a final move to Kiester, Minn.  Mrs. Peterson went to United South Central High School in Wells, Minn.  She was very involved with extracurricular activities such as yearbook, student government, band, tutoring and mentoring. She also worked as a lifeguard at the Wells community pool and worked as a student aide at The Shepherd’s Inn, an assisted living home.

Mrs. Peterson’s career was actually inspired by a two-week mission trip that she took in 2010 as a senior at United South Central High School in Wells, Minn.  The trip inspired her to major in business administration at Bemidji State University so that she would have the tools she needed to run a school in Honduras.  After five years, the young Mrs. Peterson graduated from the honor’s program offered at BSU with a bachelor of science in business administration.

The same year that she graduated college, Mr. Skylar Peterson asked for her hand in marriage.  They married on June 15, 2017.  The couple had five healthy children: Liam, Charolette, Wyatt, Oliver, and Chloe.

By 2026, her school had 170 students age 5-12 enrolled full time along with seven full-time staff; Mrs. Peterson was right in the middle of her biggest dream.  Her family, however, was struggling on the miniscule income and in the very unique culture of Honduras. In 2028, she finally admitted her family’s unhappiness and moved back to the United States, leaving her school and her students in the capable hands of Mr. Carlos Rico, her second-in-command.  “When Jenna left, I knew that it would be a struggle for the school to keep up morale and stay on track, but I also understood why she had to go.  Family always comes first. Looking back, it was a time of turmoil, but we survived and thrived even after she left,” Mr. Rico said of his companion and employer.

Even after returning to the states, Mrs. Peterson didn’t lose the determination to help the people of Honduras.  Once back in the U.S., she began to find investors to help her install solar panels at her school and at the homes of those who lived too far away from the city to get electricity.  The four-year project proved successful –the main investors of her project were GM and Shell.

Though she never got the chance to go back to Honduras, Mrs. Peterson continued to help the school and the people from afar both fiscally and by gaining American support. She spent the rest of her life on a small ranch in northern Minnesota.

Mrs. Peterson is survived by her husband; children, Liam (Mary) Peterson, Wyatt (Carrie) Peterson, Oliver (Hattie) Peterson, Charolette (Richard) Smith and Chloe (Daniel) Fisher and fifteen grandchildren.  She is preceded in death by her siblings Corey Roof, Megan (Roof) Graham and Connor Long; her mother and her step-father Rory Knudtson. 

TO THE EDITOR

Re “Educators Tackling Problems in Two Crucial Age Groups” (Sept. 9) 

Whenever a school is composed of students from different areas where each has been taught in a different style, at a different pace, and by a different teacher, getting everybody on an equal level of understanding is going to be a challenge.

The struggle Johnson College Prep has in trying to get all of its 9^th grade students on the same page is something most high schools, colleges and universities across the nation can relate to.  It is difficult for a student to excel in class when he never learned the information and skills the teacher or professor expects.

Regulating the information every U.S. elementary and high school feeds its pupils and at what pace could potentially fix this problem. Some may consider this restricting, but isn’t equal education worth letting the government be reasonably heavy-handed?

Jenna Long

Bemidji, Minn., Sept. 9, 2011