The world as classroom: Faculty-staff panel discusses past, present and future of 黑料正能量鈥檚 unique cross-cultural program

Professor Kim Brenneman calls the 鈥渢he ultimate classroom.鈥� Most 黑料正能量 alumni who have participated in the program agree.

Each semester and summer, 黑料正能量 students spread out across the globe, usually accompanied by faculty and staff who have lived in the area and who, with the help of natives, introduce a perspective into the culture that is far more intimate than just visiting the usual tourist sites. The experience is much more unique than typical study-abroad programs in which students are housed in universities and take traditional academic coursework.

Several graduate programs also offer cross-culturals, including the and , MA in biomedicine [read more and ], and .

View a of 黑料正能量鈥檚 cross-cultural program.

The unforgettable experience of her semester travels in France and the Ivory Coast 鈥渟till permeates my life 20 years later,鈥� said Carrie Stambaugh Bert at a 2014 . More recently, student Sarah Regan shared that her Central Europe travels 鈥渞eally broadened my view.鈥�

鈥淚 learned so much more about things I never even thought about at home, things I never thought existed to know,鈥� she said.

A panel discussion, 鈥�Drinking in Knowledge at the Source: 黑料正能量鈥檚 Cross Cultural Program,鈥� at the 2017 faculty-staff conference discussed the origins, goals and changes over the years of one of 黑料正能量鈥檚 most unique programs, which started formally in 1982.

Panelists included:

is a nursing professor, director of the Humanitarian Action Leadership program and interim cross-cultural program director. She and her husband Jim have led several cross-culturals, most recently to Guatemala and Cuba. The couple spent 10 years in church-sponsored service in Central America.
, program assistant, has accompanied groups with her husband Brian Martin Burkholder, most recently to Bolivia.
, emeritus professor of German, was one of the first cross-cultural leaders. His introduction to the cross-cultural experience came with an alternative service tour in Austria with Pax, a program of created in response to the reinstatement of the military draft in the United States after the start of the Korean War. Glick helped to launch Goshen鈥檚 Study-Service Term in 1968 and led a year of this program (1969-70) in Guadeloupe, FWI.
聽has led the local context cross-cultural and groups to the U.S./Mexico border, Guatemala and Cuba, often with his wife, Professor Deanna Durham;
, psychology professor, has led groups to India, where she spent many years as a teenager;
聽is a professor of history and director of the Washington D.C.-based , housed in the Nelson Good House in the Brookland neighborhood. She has also led two groups to Europe.

Audience members included faculty and staff alumni who had experienced cross-culturals themselves as students, faculty and staff trip leaders, prospective leaders, and one faculty member, speaking for many others, who said he was 鈥渏ealous 鈥� When do we get to go?鈥�

Challenging changes: technology and globalization

The first broad theme to be discussed was notable changes over the years. Technology came up several times. Instead of leaving behind their family friends, students have access to phones and computers, which leaders say can be a distraction and even a destabilizing presence.

鈥淚t鈥檚 difficult for the experience to be an immersive one,鈥� said Brenneman.

This accessibility also impacts parental demands and expectations: 鈥淪ome parents think that because their child can contact them every day, that they should be talking or Skyping every day, and when they don鈥檛, that becomes a challenge for the student,鈥� one panelist said.

Peachey also mentioned creeping globalization: for example, visiting an American-style mall in Guatemala 鈥渃an make you think you鈥檙e in Bethesda, Maryland.鈥�

At WCSC, Washington D.C.鈥檚 rapid gentrification has changed the demographics and diversity of the area. Schmidt, a longtime D.C. resident, points out that when she first started as director in 1999, the city had more than 70 percent African American residents; that number has fallen to just over 50 percent.

She pointed out, though, that the cross-cultural experience is very much shaped by the choices of the leader. For example, one could visit Germany with students, as she did this summer, and completely ignore the current refugee crisis. Her students did not; they interacted with Syrian refugees. 鈥淚t鈥檚 all in how you teach it and what you expose your students to,鈥� she said.

Defining and measuring 鈥榮uccess鈥�

Professor emeritus Ervie Glick posed a question about measurement of success to his fellow panelists. 鈥淭here is no test afterwards,鈥� he pointed out, adding that the extensive journaling required of student-travelers often provides a window into unwitnessed and subtle changes to student worldviews.

Burkholder said a 鈥済rowth in empathy鈥� was a quality she considered to be a favorable measurement. One group of students, when visiting a poor area of a South American city, showed increased awareness of how their presence might be perceived negatively by residents.

Brenneman shared an anecdote of two students who became lost in Kolkutta 鈥斺€渙ne of the safest cities in Asia鈥� 鈥� and eventually, using broken Hindi, found their way back, exhilarated by their new-found confidence.

Within a day of arriving at WCSC, Schmidt says students are sent on a scavenger hunt around the nation鈥檚 capital, using any combination of public transportation to visit known and not-so-known places. The tradition builds confidence in a very tangible way.

鈥淚n our culture, there鈥檚 not enough opportunities for proving themselves and taking risks and having an adventure,鈥� said Peachey, theorizing about what makes the cross-cultural program such a transformational experience for undergraduate students. 鈥淚 think that鈥檚 one of the big draws.鈥�

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