Residents of Kirksville, Missouri are in for a real treat if they have a teenager that is really into zombies. Truman State University is putting together a class of 50 9th-12th graders to give them real training on how to survive if a zombie outbreak were to actually occur. Think of how many skills you actually need to deal with not only zombies but living in a post-apocalyptic world? There will be many real world applicable skills that are taught here and they will be taught in a setting that is FUN for the students to learn.
An office at Truman State University is taking the threat of a ?zombie apocalypse? seriously ? if only long enough to elevate public awareness of the need to prepare for natural and human-made disasters. The University?s Truman Institute is teaming-up with a veritable ?Who?s Who? of health professionals, researchers, and literary figures to launch ?The Zombie Scholars Academy: A Problem-Based Exploration of Science, Literature, and Leadership.?
The one-week residential camp experience for rising 9th-12th graders will take place on Truman?s campus July 7-14, 2013, and feature topics in both the sciences and the humanities using the fictional zombie threat as a thematic framework. ?There are many fascinating topics that connect to disaster awareness as diverse as anatomy and physiology, epidemiology, neurobiology, mathematics, literature, film, psychology, and human relations,? explains Dr. Kevin Minch, Professor of Communication and Director of the Truman Institute.
Minch?s conclusion seems supported by recent actions in government. In May, 2011, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention launched its own zombie preparedness initiative, garnering significant public attention. The initiative spawned a graphic novel, posters, awareness kits, and numerous references to disaster preparedness objectives. In September, 2012, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and elements of the U.S. military adopted similar zombie training programs.
Max Brooks, New York Times bestselling author of the Zombie Survival Guide and World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, and a member of the Academy?s Board of Advisors, observed, ?Zombies are a ?safe? way of exploring our worst fears. We all have an ego defense mechanism, a mental barrier that keeps our fears and anxieties from driving us insane. Discussing something as horrific as a natural disaster or a terrorist attack triggers many people?s ego defense mechanisms. They shut down. They tune out. They don?t want to talk about [the] worst-case scenario. However, if the catalyst for that ?worst case? is fictional, it circumvents our ego defenses and allows us to talk about the gritty details of preparedness.?
Students at the Academy will participate in common coursework in biology, epidemiology, psychology, and ethics, then separate into tracks focused on critical problem solving and writing and the media. Coursework will be punctuated by recreational activities that build upon the idea of fending-off the fictional gnarling zombie horde while acquiring practical life and leadership skills.Advisory Board member, Dr. Steve Schlozman, Co-Director of Medical Student Education in Psychiatry for Harvard Medical School, who uses zombies as a discussion vehicle in the classroom, commented on the value of the fictional walking dead as an educational tool, ?You?re going to pay more attention to the literal walking dead than you are to the threat of say global warming or global conflict. That?s in part because zombies aren?t real, so we can contemplate the global crises that ARE real in the displacement that zombie stories afford. It also turns out that we learn what we might do to AVERT global crises by watching where humans appear to screw up in zombie movies. Every good zombie movie emphasizes multi-cultural relationships, overcoming differences, and creative problem solving. When the protagonists just start firing guns, things almost never go well. We have these GREAT BIG BRAINS. Studying a zombie apocalypse helps us to get comfortable using our brains in more real-life scenarios.?
Students and parents interested in the Zombie Scholars Academy can learn how to register by visiting http://zombie.truman.edu, sending an inquiry to [email?protected], or calling (660) 785-5406.
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