Vanida Chanthaphone
December 2, 2015
By Emma Alexander, Honors Communications Intern
This week I had the pleasure of speaking with sophomore Vanida Chanthaphone. Vanida is an English Education major with minors in both Spanish and Linguistics. When asked what she plans to do with her degrees, she shared,
I want to teach English as a second language in other countries for a couple of years before returning to the U.S. to teach English in inner city schools.
Although she is just wrapping up her third semester at Purdue, Vanida is already very involved. The list is rather extensive. Vanida is in the leadership learning community, the secretary of the Phoenix Club (Hillenbrand’s Hall club), an associate director of career opportunities in the Liberal Arts Student Council, a College of Liberal Arts Dean’s ambassador, an ambassador for the Multinational Integration XChange program within International Programs, an active member in the Purdue Student Education Association, an active member in Purdue Wishmakers (an organization that works with the Make a Wish Foundation), a volunteer in Boiler Out, the student member for the College of Liberal Arts Education Policy Committee, and a peer buddy for the Best Buddies chapter on campus. Vanida is also the Inclusivity/Educational Committee Chair for the National Association of College and University Residence Halls (NACURH) 2017 Bid Team which is currently bidding to hold the annual NACURH conference here at Purdue in the summer of 2017.
Vanida is obviously a very prominent leader on campus; however, that’s not quite all. Vanida is also a member of the Honors College, and she is currently conducting rather interesting research on the significance of liberal arts degrees. Through her research Vanida is hoping to show the significance of the role played by the humanities and liberal arts at universities and in education in general. How did Vanida get involved in this research? As a matter of fact, it began in one of her honors seminars. Vanida shared,
In Dr. Facinelli’s HONR 19903 course, I was able to conduct research on the role the humanities and arts play in a STEM based university, such as Purdue. Purdue University is mainly academically centered on disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), and many students in these fields are perceived as “better-off” than those students in disciplines within humanities and the arts. I conducted interviews with Purdue undergraduate students and sent out a survey to the student body as well. What I found was that many students in non-STEM related majors encounter negative perceptions of how hardworking they are and that their majors are usually perceived as “easy”. Being a Purdue undergraduate student myself, I have noticed the negative perspectives towards the humanities and art majors. As a Liberal Arts major, many students in STEM majors will approach me to argue that my work is not as difficult as those in STEM related fields. I wanted to look at the negative stigma placed on the humanities and arts majors on Purdue’s campus and also explore the issue of whether or not there is a place for the humanities and arts at Purdue University.
Expounding more on her research and goals, Vanida told me,
It has been a redundant statement that students are highly encouraged to major in STEM related fields in order to have a profitable future. Students should consider the ways that studying the humanities and STEM together can help them. I want to encourage students to not underestimate the power of the humanities and the arts. If you’re majoring in Engineering, take the humanity classes you’re taking seriously. It’s important to note that your future employers are looking for a diverse and broad-thinking employee. It is important to be successful in your major, but also be able to write, think critically, and speak intelligently.
Vanida is yet another one of our great leaders in the Honors College, and she is not yet halfway done with her college career. I, for one, am certain her future at Purdue and beyond will be very bright.
