Professor swims Dardanelles to stimulate interest of students
Associated Press
LANCASTER -- Ohio University Professor L.A. McElwee took a lesson from the
ancients when looking for a way to get his students to dive into classical
Greek literature.
"The ancients were people who believed in doing things," he said. "They
didn't just think and write. They did."
What McElwee, 43, of Worthington, did this summer was swim from Europe to
Asia across the 1.3-mile Dardanelles in Turkey - to re-create the mythical
journey of Hero and Leander.
The main purpose of his Homeric feat was to stimulate the interest of his
students in the classics.
"That really was a large part of the reason for doing it," he said.
"If students know a professor is out doing something other than just
reading and sitting at a desk all the time, it might capture their interest."
McElwee, who teaches at the Lancaster campus, said the hardest part of his
job is persuading students to try his classes.
"It's a little bit difficult to get them in the door, because the sound is
so ominous. But once you get them in, the material is so good it captures
their imagination."
McElwee wasn't about to follow the fate of his classical role models (they
both drowned). The professor swims a mile a day, and in his spare time is a
cliff diver.
His swim across the strait took him 45 minutes, as he dodged ships and a
strong current.
Any sharks in those waters? McElwee isn't sure.
"Ignorance can be bliss," he said philosophically.
He set up his attempt through contacts made as the director of Globe Travels,
organizing and leading tours of the classical lands of Greece and Turkey.
He is hoping to use his experience - complete with slides taken from the
chase boat - as part of his curriculum next year.