Honors College students gain unique experience through cemetery visit

In the Honors College class "Kings and Things," taught by Religious Studies Professor and program director for Christianity Studies Randall Engle, students learn about the English monarchy and its corresponding influence in the United States.

The class of 18 students normally meets at Meadow Brook Hall, the former home built by Matilda Dodge Wilson, and naturally discusses Oakland University's own "monarchy," its matriarch Matilda Dodge Wilson.

This year's class also ended up with a unique field experience, experiential learning opportunity and community service project all wrapped up in one.

"Each Friday, our class plans an excursion outside the classroom," said Engle. "On one outing this semester, we visited the graves of John Dodge and Alfred and Matilda Dodge Wilson at Woodlawn Cemetery in Detroit. They are entombed in private above-ground mausoleums next to each other."

Engle said the plan was to bring flowers and discuss their lives and legacy in terms of their impact on Oakland University and the world.

As the class peered through the doors, Morgan North, a sophomore student from Lowell, who is pursuing a degree in mechanical engineering, spoke up and said, "This is sad." What the class members saw was decayed flowers, toppled over vases, dust, dirt, leaves and smeared windows. Morgan then added, "We should clean this up!"

Professor Engle agreed. He made calls to both Woodlawn Cemetery administrators and to Bill Matt, the executive director of the Meadow Brook Hall estate to request authorization for the class to access and clean the mausoleums to honor the university's founders.

Several weeks later, after gaining authorization, the students went back and cleaned and polished the interior of the two mausoleums. In the pubic cemetery, the students also found, uncovered and cleaned the headstones of Matilda Dodge Wilson's parents, George and Margaret Rausch.

Professor Engle concluded the visit by leaving a card inside the each of the burial mausoleums with the signatures of those participating that read, "Out of respect, and with gratitude, this crypt was cleaned on Friday, March 29, 2024, by Honors College students of Oakland University."

It is surely a college experience that no one from this class, or Professor Engle, will soon forget.

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