Many, many Americans are fans of at least one Big Ten University, but how often is it that someone gets to visit them all within a summer? Mr. Gibson was recently awarded the Lilly Teacher Creativity Fellowship Program where he plans to travel to all fourteen Big Ten universities in America. In case you are extremely interested or even jealous of Mr. Gibson being able to visit all the Big Ten universities, you can tune in to what he calls the “21st Century Memoir”. 

     Part of the Lilly Teacher Creativity Fellowship Program is to be creative with what you are planning to do with the grant money. For example, Ms. Sonafrank chose to recreate each lighthouse she visited with a different art medium. However, Mr. Gibson is choosing to be more public with his experiences so he, along with others, can look back on his memoir of memories. Mr. Gibson created what he calls a 21st Century Memoir, where he plans to upload as many pictures and videos as possible of local museums, restaurants, and of course the various fields and campuses of the Big Ten schools. Mr. Gibson also plans to show students what they are uploading to social media can be meaningful while also saving his memories, “My plan is to take as many photos and videos as I can and upload them to various social media platforms and build a 21st-century memoir that collects my experiences, as well as doing some audio recordings of my thoughts and journaling about the experience each day. Right now I’m looking into making a website to act as sort of the central hub where I can upload audio recordings, and write up journal entries along with the links to social media and all the photos. That way, people can basically follow along on the journey and I can even show students that what they’re doing online every day is making a time capsule of these times in their lives, even if they aren’t writing a 300-page book!”

     Because of the endless possibilities the Lilly Teacher Creativity Fellowship program offers teachers, Mr. Gibson had to narrow down what he wanted to experience. You could most likely guess Mr. Gibson is a huge Indiana University fan because of the various amounts of shirts with the IU emblem, so his showing interest in Big Ten schools may not come as a huge surprise. When asked about how he chose to visit the Big Ten schools, Mr. Gibson showed his deep fascination with the schools and the grant. “The plan came together from a number of things really. About five years ago, another teacher told me about the program and I became fascinated with the idea, long before that I’ve had a goal of visiting every Big Ten basketball arena for a home game. While there won’t be games in the summer, I knew this program was a perfect opportunity to blend visiting those cities and campuses, and I wanted to tie it in with other things I enjoyed, like visiting museums and eating at local and iconic restaurants. Probably close to ten years before applying, my best friend and I somewhat joked about how there should just be a show where you learn about game day traditions, local restaurants, and amazing places to visit for college campuses and that always stuck with me. Now I’ll get to do that with the current Big Ten schools!” Mr. Gibson is set on visiting and touring iconic locations that make the Big Ten schools what they are known for. “For my trip, I’ll be traveling to fourteen different cities over a six week period, and in each one, I’ll be touring a Big Ten Campus to check out their iconic statues, architecture, and gardens as well as their museums and, hopefully, some of their basketball arenas and football stadiums. Some of the athletic centers may not allow visitors but if I can, I’m absolutely taking a tour! While I’m in each town, I’m also going to eat at a different restaurant for each meal, and each restaurant that I’ve planned to visit is one that is considered an ‘absolute must’ or ‘right of passage’ kind of location for the schools. Kind of like a ‘you didn’t attend Indiana University if you didn’t eat at Mother Bear’s Pizza’ or ‘Everyone at Purdue ate at Triple XXX at least once,’ so I’ll experience what makes these places iconic and some of the best places to visit. And I’ll also see what else could be along the way, whether it’s additional landmarks or anything else fun the city has to offer. And being that I love comic books, I’ve also got a list of the best comic shops in each city to check out!” 

     Since this grant has so much time that goes into applying and planning, it goes without doubt Mr. Gibson’s nerves were through the roof waiting to hear if he got the grant. Mr. Gibson admitted he actually enjoyed the application process, but keeping his application to five pages was difficult for him. Mr. Gibson enjoyed researching the various Big Ten schools and cities, but unfortunately, the Lilly Foundation will not read past the fifth page of an application. He credits Ms. Sonafrank for helping him with specific details to put into his application since the application can be overwhelming to tackle on your own. As for stress, Mr. Gibson stated, “The most stressful part was the waiting. The closer it came to the deadline for announcements, the more stressed I became about not getting the grant.” However, all the time and stress he had put into his application clearly paid off.

     Because of Mr. Gibson’s hard work, Lewis Cass is lucky enough to have yet another Lilly Teacher Creativity Fellowship Program award winner. If you see Mr. Gibson in the halls, be sure to congratulate him on this B1G win. If you are as jealous as I am, I encourage you to keep up with his 21st Century Memoir (look for digital links on Kings’ Courier as they become available). Congratulations, Mr. Gibson and have a wonderful summer!