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Looking back on her recent spring break trip to London, Beth Bartuska said the best part was exploring Westminster Abbey.
“I could not stop thinking about it, that it was so old and had seen so much history,” said Bartuska, 19, of Hunlock Creek, who traveled to England with five other students from Penn State/Wilkes-Barre’s honors program and two advisors.
“Famous people like (poet Geoffrey) Chaucer and (slavery opponent) William Wilberforce are buried there. It was just really cool.”
Bill Bachman, an assistant teaching professor of communications who accompanied the students, echoed Bartuska’s enthusiasm.
“You can stand next to the coffin of Edward the Confessor,” Bachman said. “I stood next to the Sarcophagus of Sir Isaac Newton. The remains of King Henry VIII’s daughter, Queen Elizabeth I, are there.”
Less than half a mile from the famous Westminster Abbey, Bachman said, he was also fascinated by a tour of the underground bunker “from which Winston Churchill led the free world’s fight in Europe” during World War II.
But the trip wasn’t just a chance to soak up history. Each of the students on the trip used some of her time there to conduct research for an individual project which she will present during a Celebration of Scholarship competition, to be held April 25 in the athletic and recreation center at the local campus.
“All of the projects are different,” Bachman said, noting they deal with with such topics as government, gender and education, Scotland Yard and the administration of justice, the poor and homeless and urban and green belt planning.
Green belt planning is Bartuska’s topic, and her research delved into the question of whether London, with a growing population and a high demand for housing, should build houses on land that had been reserved as green space.
“Around a lot of the major cities there is an area of land that is legislatively protected, to be conserved,” Bartuska said. “There’s a massive debate going on in London, whether or not to build houses.”
“London is an always growing city and there is a housing crisis right now. A lot of younger people aren’t able to afford houses,” she said.
“Speaking as someone who’s in college, finding housing is a huge concern,” said Bartuska, who is a biological engineering major. “But I’m looking into conservation and I also want to keep that space green. There really are no easy answers.”
Other students who participated in the trip include Claudia Leu, Lindsey DeLazzari, Susan Huey, Emily Lencoski and Courtney Snow. The local campus’ Student Engagement & Outreach Librarian, Megan Macgregor, also traveled with the group as an advisor.