Hillgrove Student Participates in Inaugural Samford Program

student Alexandra MacLean participated in the inaugural Great Ideas Summer Institute at Samford University, which lasted from last Tuesday until Monday.

MacLean was among 21 "intellectually ambitious high school students chosen for the week-long academic experience," sponsored by Samford's University Fellows honors program, according to a news release from the university.

"Greece, Rome, and the American Republic" was the theme of the institute. Students and their faculty leaders discussed the Greek origins of western politics, Roman political theory, how the American Revolution utilized ideas from ancient history and philosophy, Federalists and anti-Federalists debates surrounding constitutionalism, and conceptions of republicanism seen in the works of John Calhoun, Abraham Lincoln and Thurgood Marshall.

Participants had three classes each day, resided in campus housing and ate meals in the university cafeteria. The schedule also included visits to the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute and other Birmingham sites.