Student Spotlight: Ashley Ciccarelli

Name: Ashley Ciccarelli
Major: Anthropology
Hometown: Hurley, SD or Lincoln, NE (I have in these two places the longest in my life)
Year at UNL: Junior

Favorite book and why:
My favorite Book series would be Stephanie Plum by Janet Evanovich. This entire series is filled with humor, action and is filled with a lot of relatable characters. The main character Stephanie makes a lot of mistakes; however she shows a lot of grit and resilience. There is a perfect amount of crime and laugh out loud moments throughout the book, that it’s a very fast read.

Favorite movie and why:
The Godfather is my favorite movie. This movie is a timeless classic. The Godfather explores themes of family loyalty, power, and the American Dream. I think this makes it relatable to many different generations. The performances by Marlon Brando and Al Pacino are outstanding. There are many iconic lines and explores family culture, psychology, history, and evolution of organized crime.

Why Anthropology?
I love Anthropology. Like many students, I had my first exposure to Anthropology watching Indiana Jones or Bones. Because anthropology is so diverse, I have been able to explore history, biology, language, and archaeology. I have found that I really enjoy cultural anthropology. It is fascinating learning about different cultures, traditions, social structures, and even language.

I had the opportunity to take ANTH/GLST 214: Food and Culture. Food is something that is vital to all cultures. In this class I was able to learn about food sustainability, alternative protein sources, and was able to participate in several different cultural food experiences. I had not previously experienced a lot of different types of curry before this course. I am happy to say after this class that I really enjoyed majority of the different types of curry that I tried at Curry Clash. I would have not had the opportunity to experience this many different types of curry without this event and class.

In my current semester, I have had the opportunity to take ANTH 412: Marriage, Family and Kinship. This class has helped me to grow when to comes to remaining open minded to families and cultures that practice norms very different than those we see regularly across the United States. I have really enjoyed this class because of the open discussion and listening to others' opinions. We all come from a family and it's interesting to see how dynamics have changed throughout history. Dr. Ibrahimpasic always keeps class engaging and interesting.

My favorite not anthropology major classes that I have taken would be with Dr. Gorman. If anyone gets a chance to learn about Ancient Rome or take Ancient Greek as a foreign language, I highly recommend taking these courses. Ancient Rome is very fascinating and sometimes the history is comparable to that of a modern day soap opera. Ancient Greek with both Dr. Gorman’s is taught using online tools versus memorization. I think the way that they taught the three semesters helped with my writing skills and also helped my understanding of grammar / parts of speech. I also learned a lot about treeing sentences and translating.

When I tell people that I’m a Anthropology student, the usual comment that I hear is, oh I took an Anthropology class and it was one of the most fun classes I have taken. I completely agree. Anthropology has so much to offer because it is so diverse. These classes encourage critical thinking outside the box, a deeper understanding of social dynamics, active engagement, and they cover such a wide variety of topics. It offers a unique perspective on the world.

Extracurricular Experiences:
One of my favorite extracurricular experiences would be being involved in the 2020 Undocumented Migration Project, Hostile Terrain 94. With project included a Toe Tag Wall. This project showcased 3200 hand written toe tags that represented migrants who died trying to cross the Sonoran Desert of Arizona between the mid- 1990s and 2019. I learned about this project from my Intro to Cultural Anthropology with Dr. Talley. Being a volunteer, writing out toe tags for people who had not been identified, was a reminder of what Anthropologist do, they tell a persons story. This project was a way for those who had died to be remembered and have their story told, even if they had not been identified.

One of my other favorite experiences at UNL was attending Nebraska day at Memorial Stadium last fall. Seeing Nebraska rally around a female sport and watching our school be the breaker of many records was very exciting! 92,003 people in attendance, the energy inside of Memorial Stadium was comparable to a high stakes football game, if not even more intense.
I think anytime a student has a opportunity to participate, they should. You never know where inspiration may strike and lead you to your next step in life.

Post-Graduation Plans:
I think about this question more as time nears graduation. I think I would be the happiest using my Anthropology degree and still working in a fitness and wellness environment. Anthropology relates to every aspect of life. I have had the opportunity to work in the fitness and wellness industry for twelve years. There is many areas that I would like to research when it comes wellness initiatives across the United States and look at ways to make fitness culture a more welcoming and accessible environment for all.