Ben Rhine ’20 (Photo provided)
By Jackie McMahon, Staff Writer
Gettysburg College senior Ben Rhine is thankful for how the college’s liberal arts curriculum has helped him pursue his various passions. “The liberal arts setting of Gettysburg and the Conservatory quality level of education have helped me both pursue my interests as a musician and explore any secondary and tertiary interests outside the Conservatory,” says Rhine, a Music Major and Civil War Era Studies minor. “Gettysburg is truly a unique college.”
The end of Rhine’s Gettysburg tenure has hit some unexpected road blocks due to COVID-19 and the transition to online classes for the rest of the semester. Luckily, he has already completed his senior recital, for which he is exceptionally grateful. “My recital capstone was completed before the closure of campus and am thus not affected by the closing in this avenue (thankfully!)” Rhine says. His violin recital was on Sunday, March 1, and now Rhine is focusing on the rest of his senior year and beyond. “Generally, the transition to online classes has not been too terribly awkward for me.” Rhine tells us. “It is definitely a unique experience, to “attend class” in my bedroom and then return back to the family room. It’s also quite difficult to find the motivation to work at full capacity when I’m home. But all of my professors have been honest in their equal (if not greater) frustration in the transition, and have been exceedingly accommodating and understanding.”
Despite its unconventional end, Rhine’s Gettysburg experience has been overall positive and he hopes to one day find himself again on a liberal arts campus. Rhine says, “I will be going off to graduate school after graduation, hopefully to earn a doctorate, and teach music classes in a liberal arts institution of higher education.”
